Good German

Good Germans is an ironic term — usually placed between single quotes such as 'Good Germans' — referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way.[1][2] The term is further used to describe those who claimed ignorance of the Holocaust and German war crimes.[2]

Pól Ó Dochartaigh and Christiane Schönfeld edited a volume on different cultural representations of the 'Good German' and state in their introduction: "After the division of Germany in 1949, finding 'good Germans' whose record helped legitimize each of the new German states became a core aspect of building a new nation in Germany and of the propaganda battle in this respect between the two German states."[3]

See also

Citations

  1. ^ Rich, Frank (October 14, 2007). "The 'Good Germans' Among Us". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah (1996). Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-679-44695-8.
  3. ^ Ó Dochartaigh, Pól; Schönfeld, Christiane (2013). "Introduction: Finding the 'Good German'". Representing the Good German in Literature and Culture After 1945: Altruism and Moral Ambiguity. Camden House. ISBN 9781571134981.
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