Should ordinary Germans be blamed for the Holocaust?

Answer 1

This is a difficult question. Very few Germans disagree that their country as a whole bears some responsibility for the Holocaust - the question is how much.

One of the shocking things about the Holocaust was that, although it was the initiative of the Nazi leadership, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, went along with idea with little or no complaint. There were relatively few acts of disobedience or resistance by ordinary Germans in relation to the Holocaust - they certainly took place, but there weren't very many. If there were more, 6 million Jews would not have died.

When you say "punishing", it depends on what you mean. Accepting responsibility for something, like the way that the current German government has apologised to Holocaust victims, paying reparations to Israel, etc. - these things are arguably not punishment at all, just an act of responsibility.

I don't think anyone would argue that this is appropriate. More extreme measures might not be appropriate.

There are some Germans who believe that their country has been forced to do too much in relation to making amends for the Holocaust. They are a minority however.

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I'm not sure I understand the question properly. Do you mean punishment now, in 2009? If so, my answer would be a resounding no. Germans under the age of about 64 weren't even alive then, Germans under about 75-80 now were too young to be responsible. One of the things the Allies, quite rightly, criticized the Nazis for severely was collective punishment ...

There's a point in first answer that I find problematical. It reads:

'One of the shocking things about the Holocaust was that, although it was the initiative of the Nazi leadership, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, went along with idea with little or no complaint'

The Nazi regime went to great lengths to try to keep the Holocaust secret, precisely because it feared it did not have the support of many Germans. The above seems to assume that ordinary Germans (1) knew exactly what was happening and (2) actively 'went along' with that. The assessment by the historian Helga Grebing, writing in 1959, much closer to the time, strikes me as much more plausible, namely that the prevailing attitude was one of 'hear no evil, see no evil'. In other words, many Germans had some idea of what was going happening to Jewish neighours but made a point of trying not to find out more.

Obviously, one can argue that that was dishonourable, but punishable? Surely not!

As for making amends, there is something significant not mentioned above. Since 1990 Jews have been allowed to settle in Germany with very few questions asked, and over 100,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union have taken up the offer.

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Punishing the Germans for the Holocaust would make as much sense as punishing the white population of the US for massacring Native Americans. Please use a little common sense.

Answer 2

Well, it is a very controversial topics with many opinions expressed so to an extent the German Nation is to blame, interrogating many sources i have found out that the majority of them blame the Germans and very little back the Germans up so yes, to an extent the German Nation holds part of the blame.

Answer 3

My purely personal opinion is no. In any case, terms like the Germans and the Nazis are too vague. I don't see how a German civilian with only a vague notion of what was going on can possibly be held guilty in the same way as those who actively planned and carried out the Holocaust.

Please see the related question, too.