EDITH KURZWEIL
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killed under the same circumstances, once again fudges distinctions
between victims and perpetrators. Goldhagen, who postulated hatred as
the driving force that allowed for setting up the "machinery of death,"
was severely criticized by, among others, Fritz Stern in "The Goldhagen
Controversy"
(Einstein's World
[1999]), for simplifying the historical
framework when, for instance, overlooking that anti-Semitism in the
nineteenth century was endemic to the entire Western world, and that
prejudice towards Jews has been wide-ranging-from classifying them as
"vermin" to be exterminated to lessening their preeminence in realms
such as journalism and banking.
GERMANS CONTINUE to deal with the consequences of the Nazi legacy
on a daily basis. But can they truly examine the ethics of responsibility
before they stop denying, or whitewashing, their culpability?
It
keeps
coming up in debates about whether or not to raze a remaining killing
or detention site or preserve it as a
lieu de memoires;
whether or not
and where to erect a monument to the Jews exterminated during these
years, and how prominent it ought to be. But can one blame the sons
and grandsons for their fathers' deeds? Indeed, when the present gen–
eration of young Germans reads the works of Goethe, Schiller and
Heine, and Austrian schoolchildren add the comedies by Nestroy,
Raimund, and Grillparzer before tackling Gunther Grass, Peter
Handke, and Heinrich Boll, they are bound to inquire about what was
written during the Third Reich. The myths about the Holocaust in the
former Eastern Germany, that explained it all in terms of a capitalist
conspiracy against communism (allegedly perpetrated by Jewish
bankers), muddle these issues even more. Consequently, the shadow of
the Nazi era hangs over and confuses every current political election
and decision, cultural event, and celebration. And it invokes questions
of whether or not terrorist acts by skinheads against foreign workers
are portents of organized anti-Semitism and racism, or isolated inci–
dents by extremists.
The same holds true for Austria, where in March 1938 Hitler was
welcomed with open arms-even more so, since Austrians managed to
deny their complicity for forty years. They first faced it when it became
clear that Kurt Waldheim, the longtime Secretary General of the United
Nations, had been an SS officer. While stationed in the Balkans during
World War II, he had been responsible for the deaths of scores of Jews.
But because (with the assistance of the victorious Allies) Austria had
