Doping after Germany's defeat

As we all know, after World War II, the Federal Republic of Germany (referring to the West Germany during 1949- 1989 and the United Germany after 1990) thoroughly reflected on the evil history of Nazi Germany, which was in sharp contrast with Japan. 1970, the scene of Federal Chancellor Brandt kneeling in front of the Jewish Monument in Warsaw has become a classic symbol of Germany's repentance and rehabilitation. However, in addition, there is little understanding of Germany's reflective history in China. Under the influence of Brandt's kneeling scene, people generally tend to oversimplify the conclusion of German thorough introspection after World War II. Although this conclusion is correct, it cannot be ignored that the reflection of Nazi history in the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II has gone through a long and complicated process.

1. From 1950s to mid-1960s: the stage of silence and avoidance.

The biggest contrast with the image of Germany today is the historical attitude of 15 years after the founding of the Federation. At this stage in West Germany, the reflection and liquidation of Nazi history is only a phenomenon and has not yet formed a scale. On the contrary, what we see is more ignorance, silence and avoidance of Nazi history.

Let's start with 1945. After World War II, Germany was devastated and full of sorrow. Ordinary Germans have lost their souls and homes, and they are rushing for the most basic survival every day. The liquidation of Nazi history is a matter for the western occupation authorities. The evil Nazi leader was tried in Nuremberg. Nazi officials were expelled from government agencies. For ordinary Germans, the US military took "non-Nazi" measures in the form of registration and review in the American-occupied areas. However, due to the large number of people related to the Nazi regime and the strong resistance of the German people, they had to be transferred to the special court set up by the German local government. The local court also perfunctory, let countless Nazis pass, so the "non-Nazi" movement fell by the wayside.

1949 after the founding of the federal Republic of Germany, there was no active liquidation of Nazi history. On the contrary, in 1949 and 12, the Federal House of Representatives passed a bill to pardon Nazi criminals (1954, the House of Representatives pardoned a number of Nazi criminals again). 195 1 year passed a law to restore former Nazi officials who were dismissed in 1945. With the intensification of the cold war, the western occupying power also lost its interest in thoroughly cleaning up the Nazis. They are more concerned about quickly supporting West Germany to become a member of the Western camp. After the Korean War broke out, NATO encouraged German Chancellor Angela Adenauer to rebuild her army. In order to take advantage of the professional abilities of former Nazi senior officers, the Allied Forces and the West German government released Meinster and other senior Nazi generals in advance. Adenauer personally visited other Nazi generals in prison and invited Meinster to the Prime Minister's Office for discussion. Adenauer himself was a conservative, and he was persecuted by the Nazi regime. He advocated reconciliation with western countries, especially France, and also supported the establishment of friendly relations with Israel and compensation for Jews. But what he cares most about is how to rebuild Germany and gain the national sovereignty of West Germany from the western victors as soon as possible. To this end, he needs many professionals whose Nazi history has nothing to do with him. During the period of Adenauer, a large number of former Nazi senior civil and military officials were able to return to government organs. No Nazi-era judge was prosecuted or lost his post. Gorobek, Secretary of State in the Office of the Prime Minister of Adenauer, was the drafter and critic of the Nuremberg law of Nazi persecution of Jews. Therefore, people call this phenomenon "Gorobok phenomenon". East Germany thus cracked down on Nazism and was restored in West Germany. Although there was no restoration of Nazism in West Germany, due to the cover of the Cold War and Adenauer's conservative tendency, many sinful Nazis got away with it.

Second, from the mid-1960s to the 1970s: the turning point and breakthrough stage.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, there was no way for the Federal Republic of Germany to deeply reflect on and liquidate Nazi history. By the mid-1960s, the situation began to change fundamentally. At this time, a large-scale student movement broke out in western countries and West Germany. Their common goal of opposition is the US invasion of Vietnam and their own conservative forces. In West Germany, the history of Nazi Germany and its remnants in West Germany are the unique goals of the student movement in West Germany. At that time, it was only more than 20 years since the end of World War II, and most conservatives who held important positions in the government, military and educational institutions had disgraceful Nazi history. These people passed the 1950s relatively safely. After the outbreak of the student movement, their Nazi history was ruthlessly liquidated by the younger generation. West Germany's reflection and liquidation of Nazi history officially kicked off.

1968165438+1October 7th, in public, the female journalist Krasfeld gave a loud slap to former Nazi party member, senior official and German Chancellor Kissinger (not former US Secretary of State Kissinger). She said she slapped in the face in the name of the younger generation. In her view, only 20 years after the end of World War II, a former Nazi party member and senior official can become the Federal Chancellor, which is a shame for Germany. 1969 At the beginning of the year, Federal President lubbock was attacked by public opinion because of his working experience in a construction company that designed concentration camps during the Nazi period, and had to step down in a hurry.

1In the autumn of 969, the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party came to power under the vigorous promotion of the student movement. Brandt, the chairman of the Social Democratic Party and the anti-fascist fighter of that year, served as the Federal Chancellor. After Brandt came to power, he carried out democratic and liberal reforms at home and sought reconciliation with the socialist countries in Eastern Europe ("Oriental Policy"). On February 7th, Brandt signed a treaty of peace and friendship with the Polish government in Warsaw on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany. On the same day, he paid tribute to the Jewish Uprising Monument in Warsaw. It was there that he made the world-famous apology mentioned at the beginning of this article. In West Germany, he was attacked and criticized by the right wing. But his great action touched the world public opinion. 197 1 At the end, the Nobel Committee awarded Brandt the Nobel Peace Prize. He not only won personal honor, but also won the world's respect for the Federal Republic of Germany. Since then, the attitude of world public opinion towards Germany has changed fundamentally.

It should be mentioned that the reflection of Nazi history by the student movement in West Germany has also shown a far-left trend. Convinced that "capitalism leads to fascism", a few college students formed the so-called "Red Army" and tried to overthrow the social system in West Germany by violence, so they went astray from terrorism. 1In the autumn of 977, extreme left terrorism reached its peak. Under the tough attack of Schmidt's government, the "Red Army" failed and fell into a trough.

However, the reflection on Nazi history and the cleansing of former Nazis triggered by the student movement continue. 1978, former Nazi naval judge and then Governor of Baden-Wü rttemberg Hans? Fei Bing was forced to step down under the pressure of public opinion. In the last days after the end of World War II, he continued to sentence soldiers to death. After the war, he insisted that "if it is legal, it can't be illegal now".

1979, local television stations in West Germany broadcast the American drama Holocaust for four consecutive nights. The tragic fate of a Jewish family persecuted by the Nazis in the TV series deeply shocked the hearts of the audience. According to statistics, only 20 million people watched the program at that time. For West Germany with a population of only 60 million, this is a very huge number. The success of the program angered neo-Nazis, who tried to intervene by persecuting TV equipment, but failed.

Third, the 1980s: the stage of repetition and argument.

After 1980s, the attitude of the Federal Republic of Germany towards Nazi history fluctuated again. This is closely related to the re-emergence of conservatives headed by Cole at the end of 1982. Since the mid-1960s, conservatives have been bitter about the left's criticism of Nazi history and German conservative tradition. After taking office, Cole announced that he would achieve a "political and moral turning point". Cole himself doesn't want to vindicate Nazi history, but other conservatives think it's time to reevaluate German history.

1983, the so-called "Hitler Diary Scandal" appeared in West Germany. The famous Star magazine published the so-called Discovery and Hitler's Diary. German public opinion was shocked. The conservative forces were ecstatic and shouted "It's time to rewrite the history of Nazi Germany". However, the "Hitler Diary" was soon proved to be a forgery. Although the "diary" is false, it reveals the conservative desire to tamper with history is real.

1985 is the 40th anniversary of the victory of the world anti-fascist war. May 8th is the 40th anniversary of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender. As this historic day approaches, European and American countries are preparing for grand commemorative activities. Therefore, the Federal Republic of Germany once again set off a climax of reflection on Nazi history. But this reflection has changed the tone. Some people think that May 8th is a "day of victory and liberation" for the victors, but it means failure and disaster for the Germans. Can Germans still celebrate "Victory Liberation Day" with the victorious countries? At the beginning of May, then US President Ronald Reagan came to West Germany to commemorate the end of World War II with German Chancellor Kohl and to show the reconciliation between the German and American peoples. Cole arranged condolences to the cemetery of German soldiers killed in World War II in Bitterburg. However, the media soon revealed that dozens of members of the Waffen SS, the core organization of the Nazi Party, were buried in the cemetery. Jewish organizations therefore called on Reagan and Cole to give up the condolence plan. But Cole insisted on going to Bitterburg with Reagan. The glorious image of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Nazis was cast a shadow.

On May 8, the Federal Republic of Germany held a grand commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II in the House of Representatives. Facing the doubts of public opinion in West Germany about the nature of this historical day, Federal President weizsacker clearly pointed out in his speech that "May 8" was a memorable "liberation day" for Germans, because it liberated all Germans from Nazi violent rule. Germans should not associate the disaster they suffered at the end of the war with this day, but with193365438+1October 30, the day Hitler came to power. Germans should not bear a grudge against the victorious country in those years, but should blame their misfortune on the evil Nazi rule. Weizsacker's wonderful speech not only won warm applause from the German House of Representatives, clarified the historical doubts of the German public, but also won praise from western public opinion, which removed the shadow from Germany's international image.

However, the debate about Nazi history in West Germany is not over. 1986, the so-called "debate among historians" appeared again. This debate originated from the right-wing historian Nolte. In a newspaper article, he complained that Nazi Germany has been extinct for 40 years, but this history still cannot be "past". He believes that Nazi Germany's massacre of Jews is not unique in world history, and similar massacres have occurred in other countries. Moreover, Hitler's massacre of Jews is probably a response to Stalin's "great cleansing" and an "Asian-style torture", just like self-defense. The famous sociologist Habermas, together with left-wing historians, made a timely and powerful counterattack against Nolte. They believe that the Nazi massacre of Jews is unique in the history of the world, because the Nazi country carried out a comprehensive genocide against a race regardless of gender, age and age by modern factory means, and this crime occurred in Germany, a civilized country in Europe. If you look for it, you can always find "comparability" with other countries' massacres. However, this "comparability" naturally cannot be the reason for Germans to lower their moral standards. The key depends on whether the Germans are complacent and relieved, and whether they are willing to regard themselves as backward countries and escape the condemnation of their conscience. As for Nolte's second point of view, it's completely nonsense. He is trying to excuse Hitler.

Fourth, since the 1990s: the stage of deepening and diversification.

1990 10 in June, Germany, which had been divided for 40 years, was unified. After reunification, Germany inherited the name of the former West Germany and its fine tradition of reflecting on Nazi history. After reunification, the reflection and liquidation of Nazi history deepened. In the past, the purpose of clearing Nazi history was mainly aimed at the Nazi history of important figures and institutions of the former Nazi regime or important figures in the political circles of the Federal Republic of Germany. Now, it is ordinary people and organizations in Nazi period who enter the critical field of vision.

In the early 1990s, Gerhard Hagen, an American historian, published a doctoral thesis entitled "Hitler's Voluntary Suicide-Ordinary Germans in the Holocaust". In this book, Gedehagen, through the study of the German police officers who participated in the Holocaust during the Nazi period, draws the conclusion that ordinary Germans during the Nazi period were all Hitler's voluntary accomplices in the massacre of Jews. After the book was translated into German, it caused an uproar in Germany and triggered the so-called "Gedehagen Debate". In this debate, the younger generation mostly supports Goldhagen's point of view, while their parents, that is, college students who became university professors in the 1960s, are somewhat backward because they criticize the professional defects of Goldhagen's works too much.

With the deepening of the debate, the role of Nazi Germans in World War II and the Holocaust has once again entered people's field of vision. Prior to this, Germany had a whitewash saying that "the national defense forces were clean" and that they only "obeyed orders" and participated in "normal" battles, but did not participate in crimes such as the Nazi Holocaust. In this regard, Linzma, a rich German tobacco businessman who belongs to left-wing liberalism, and his social research institute organized a historical photo exhibition called "The War of Extinction-Crimes of the National Defence Force 194 1- 1945", showing hundreds of lies that debunked "The National Defence Force is clean". The exhibition toured major cities in Germany, causing great shock. However, it also caused attacks from the far right. They found some technical mistakes in it and tried to overturn the conclusion of the whole exhibition, but failed.

After entering the 1990s, the forms of reflection on Nazi history in the Federal Republic of Germany gradually diversified, and the role of film and television media became more and more important. As mentioned earlier, as early as the end of 1970s, the American drama Holocaust played a great role in promoting the reflection of Nazi history in West Germany. In the 1990s, the American film Schindler's List also caused great repercussions in Germany, and German primary and secondary schools organized students to watch and discuss it collectively. In this regard, the German film and television industry has also made very eye-catching works. Internationally renowned German films are all about Nazi history and its influence. As early as 1980, the German feature film of the same name based on the novel Tin Drum by the famous writer Grass won the Hollywood Oscar for Best Non-English Feature Film. In 2002, Love in Africa, a feature film about a Jewish family in exile in Africa during the Nazi period, won this honor again. In the mid-1990s, Stoke, a German feature film satirizing 1983 "Hitler's Diary Scandal", was nominated for this award. Last year, the German film industry released a feature film "Death" reflecting Hitler's doomsday, which caused a sensation in Germany and won a nomination award in Hollywood this year. In addition, since the mid-1990s, German National Television 2 has produced a series of documentary TV films about Nazi history, which has produced great repercussions at home and abroad. Different from positive history education, film and television works can make young people born after the war contact Nazi history more intuitively. Movies with the theme of Jewish fate can make them more sympathetic to the victims, while movies featuring Hitler can make them more immune to their ghosts through Dating with the Devil. The success of the latter film not only shows the artistic level of the German film industry, but also reflects their political maturity.

At the turn of the new century, the Federal Republic of Germany has set another milestone in the process of reflecting on Nazi history. After two or three decades of repeated discussions, the Federal House of Representatives passed a resolution on June 25th 1999 to build a large memorial hall in Berlin to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. The House of Representatives passed the forest of steles designed by American architect Peter eisenmann. Built in Potsdam Square, the forest of steles is located in the center of unified Berlin, with an area of about 150m square, in which the height of 27 1 1 forest of steles ranges from 30cm to 4-5m. Monument forest will warn generations of Germans to remember the evils of Nazi period and never let the dark history repeat itself. In May this year 10, the Holocaust Memorial Forest was officially unveiled.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion

However, even in the new century, Germany's process of reflecting on Nazi history is still full of twists and turns. In 2002, German historian Jorge Friedrich published the book Fire. The book describes in detail the air strikes on German cities by the victors in World War II and the disasters suffered by the German people. The author compares the indiscriminate bombing of Germany by the victors with Hitler's massacre of Jews, which has aroused fierce controversy. Neo-Nazis also took the opportunity to provoke the relationship between Germany and the victorious countries. They called the bombing of Dresden by warring countries on February 1945 a "bomb massacre" and threatened to hold a demonstration in Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate on May 8 this year.

On that day, people all over the world saw a moving scene from the German capital on TV: thousands of Germans stood quietly in the streets around the Brandenburg Gate with candles in their hands. While praying for permanent peace, they also used this action to prevent neo-Nazis who provoked in the surrounding streets from going to the Brandenburg Gate and from tarnishing Germany's international image.

This picture can be used as a symbol of the process and present situation of the Federal Republic of Germany's reflection on Nazi history after World War II. Germany's reflection is thorough, but it has gone through a long and complicated process. This process has been deeply rooted in people's hearts and made remarkable achievements, but it is still going on. Let's bless it!