I – 18 – born guilty

Born Guilty –

In our liberal democracy, we have adopted liberal forms of social interaction and deeply embedded them in our institutions, yet the family conflict continues to rage in private life. When reading Peter Sichrovski’s book “Born Guilty”—in which he interviewed children of Nazis in the 1980s—it is striking how little has changed to this day regarding the origins of the conflict and the problems arising from it, even though the book was published nearly 40 years ago and a new generation has since grown up. Sichrovski writes:

“However, when the children of Nazis reached an age where they learned of their parents’ true role during the war, they often became victims themselves—victims of their parents. Many of the interviewees presented themselves in this role: as victims of a mentality that, even though the war was lost, continued to perpetuate a fascist way of thinking at least within their own homes. The external framework had changed; Germany and Austria had long since become democratic states, yet National Socialist ideology was deeply rooted in the minds of the perpetrators and their accomplices, so that the postwar generation was confronted with a democratic environment on the one hand and a fascist-like family structure on the other.” Peter Sichrovsky; Born Guilty: Children from Nazi Families; Cologne, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1987, p. 17ff

Photo: “Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft – We Serve the Nation” – Source: Exhibition at the Natzweiler-Struthof Memorial