PAUL SCHWARTZ
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distinguishes between the Soviet Communists' intention to exter–
minate the bourgeoisie as a class, which did not include the intention
to kill every bourgeois, and the Nazis' intention to kill every single
Jew. Whatever the abstract validity of this distinction, it would
surely be of little comfort to a bourgeois slated for execution. Also,
this differentiation suggests that the evil of the Nazis rests in their be–
ing more consistent and thorough-minded than the Soviets.
In the midst of this controversy, Habermas published a second
piece in
Die Zeit.
Rather than debating the originality of Auschwitz,
Habermas went to the heart of the matter: the "inner connection"
between "our own life and the context of life that made Auschwitz
possible." He explains, "Our form of life is bound with the form of
life of our parents and grandparents through a difficult to unravel
net offamily, local, political and also intellectual traditions - hence,
through a historical milieu which has made us into what and who we
are today."
Habermas raises the issue of the consequences to be drawn
from the existential connections of traditions and forms of life im–
poisoned by unspeakable crimes. A narcissistic question, he admits:
how should the Germans place themselves in relation to their own
heritage? "Can one continue the tradition of German culture without
assuring the historical liability for the form of life in which
Auschwitz was possible? His conclusion is that the German liability
for these crimes can only be answered for "by the united memory of
the irreparable and by a reflexive, scrutinizing attitude towards one's
own founding tradition." Habermas argues that the public settling of
liability by Nolte and Fest does not serve to enlighten and that the
rationalization they offer will only hurt Germany. He states: "They
affect the political morale of a community that - after a liberation by
allied troops without any action on its own part - was established in
the spirit of the Western understanding of freedom, responsibility
and self-determination."
This essay by Habermas is the most important reflection on the
"guilt question" for the post-war generation now inheriting power
in West Germany. The "inner connection" that Habermas sees
binding the Germans to their past is everywhere to be found. The
German language itself bears the scars of the Nazi period. Certain
terms, like
Sauberungsaktion
(cleansing operation, used to mean the
extermination of humans);
ausrotten
(to root out, used to mean the
extermination of a race of people); and
Endlosung
(final solution) are
contaminated beyond cure. All too alive is the characteristic of Ger-
