Survey: Germans say fed up about Holocaust guilt [25% -Muslims should not be allowed into Germany]

Haaretz ^ | 12/11/2003 | Reuters

[yonif]

BERLIN - Almost 70 percent of Germans say they are annoyed at being held responsible for the Holocaust and many believe Jews use Germany's Nazi past to their advantage, a major German university survey showed on Thursday.

The survey by Bielefeld University showed 69.9 percent were irritated at still being held responsible today for crimes against Jews.

A quarter of 3,000 people surveyed also agreed with the statement: "Many Jews try to use Germany's Third Reich past to their advantage and want to make Germans pay for it". A further 30 percent said there was "some truth" to the statement.

Almost two thirds said they believed too many foreigners live in Germany, while 30 percent said foreigners should be sent home when jobs are scarce.

Some 60 years after the end of World War Two, Germany is still haunted by guilt and it has spent decades debating how to atone for the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

Endorsing the survey, German parliamentary president Wolfgang Thierse said he understood why so many wanted to shed the guilt for what happened before they were born. He said the survey did not prove there is widespread anti-Jewish sentiment.

"It's a surprising figure at first. But when you think about the thought process behind it, it is understandable," he said. "The people alive now are not the perpetrators."^ There was a new distinction between guilt and a responsibility to stop history repeating itself, he said.

The authors of the survey said they found Germans who are worried about security threats and losing their jobs had become more hostile to Jews, Muslims and immigrants.

"Particularly with regard to the jobs market, foreigners are increasingly seen as a burden," said Wilhelm Heitmeyer from Bielefeld University, whose study is set to run to 2032.

One in 10 German workers is unemployed and more than a quarter of the survey's respondents said they expected to lose their job in the next five years. People found life increasingly hard and were looking for scapegoats, said Heitmeyer.

Some 7.3 million foreigners live in Germany, which has a population of just over 82 million. Three million of those foreigners are Muslims, mostly of Turkish origin.

The 2003 survey, the second to be carried out by the university, introduced some new questions but also repeated ones from 2002. The comparison showed xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Semitism and sexism had all risen slightly.

Thierse said the results were "not grounds for hysteria". "I have looked at studies in other countries and my impression is this problem is not specifically German, in a European context we are no different to other countries."

New questions in the survey also highlighted hostility towards Germany's three million Muslims and the authors warned attacks by Islamist groups could lead to more tension.

Indeed, more than a quarter of respondents said Muslims should not be allowed to come to Germany.

Basel Allozy from the German-Muslim integration group Inssan said the figure was not surprising. "It's high time people start dealing with anti-Islamism. The expression needs to become an everyday one because the problem has existed for a while.

[yonif]

Ping.

[knak]

I'd like to see a study like that done here.

[RLK]

As a guilt reaction to Hitler's madness, Germany is destroying itself.

[geedee]

I wonder if we could use this argument for the "slave reparations" crowd? I don't know about you for sure but, as far as I know, Jim Robinson is the only FReeper alive old enough to be held accountable for owning slaves.

[Guillermo]

What, to see if Americans feel guilt about Americas role in the Holocaust?

[witnesstothefall]

many believe Jews use Germany's Nazi past to their advantage

Of course they do. The wages of genocide must be paid for generations. Similarly, the United States is still paying the price for slavery, and will continue to do so for some time.

But wounds do heal with time, even the deepest.

[onedoug]

Stinking Europe.

[MattinNJ]

Japan rearming and Germany saying they have had it with paying the price for the last WW. Deja vu all over again.

[xzins]

Almost 70 percent of Germans say they are annoyed at being held responsible for the Holocaust and many believe Jews use Germany's Nazi past to their advantage, a major German university survey showed on Thursday.

This contradiction is almost hysterical if it weren't so deadly.

They blame the Jews for their Holocaust guilt.

[Jackson Brown]

"I have looked at studies in other countries and my impression is this problem is not specifically German, in a European context we are no different to other countries."

This is a bit like being in an emergency room, where everyone looks pretty bad off, so -- comparatively -- you don't seem so bad...it doesn't make for an accurate picture of their true state. The EU is headed for a major crisis and may NOT make it. Look for the new members ready to come on to bolt. Also, look for their constitution to never see ratification.

[11th Earl of Mar]

"Many Jews try to use Germany's Third Reich past to their advantage and want to make Germans pay for it".

Still blaming the Jews. Haven't changed much have they?

[knak]

uh no, the rest of the survey about immigrants and muslims and if Americans think they all out to go home

[quadrant]

Remember: guilt, like salvation, is individual.

No society is going to allow itself to be labeled as criminal once thouse guilty of crimes are dead.

If the United States continues to pay the "price for slavery", it is because Americans allow themselves to
be saddled with something for which they are innocent.

Wounds heal when the wounded desire healing above all else, and when they realize that keeping a wound alive injures no one but themselves.

[thoughtomator]

I'm Jewish and I'm fed up with Holocaust guilt. There are current holocausts in progress that the Holocaust merchandising crowd willfully ignores.

[BBell]

imagine the reaction if this were the opening sentence:


Washington - Almost 70 percent of White Americans say they are annoyed at being held responsible for slavery and many believe Blacks use Americas racist past to their advantage, a major American university survey showed on Thursday.

[Malcolm]

How many Germans are still alive today that were adults in the 1930s/1940s??? Why are those who were not of age being asked to pay for something they had no part in? Germany was guilty, but I believe that most, if not all, of that 30s/40s generation have died out, or are in their 80s/90s. Its time to at least start the process to allow Germany to be considered like every other nation.

I read something in the past that the US would not allow German Jews to come here in the pre-WWII period, thereby helping the Nazis. But we won the war, so, we didn't get quizzed on that one. What Germany did was almost unforgivable, but there have been 2, (maybe 3?), generations of Germans since then. Enough is enough.....

[Brian Allen]

<< I wonder if we could use this argument for the "slave reparations" crowd? I don't know about you for sure but, as far as I know, Jim Robinson is the only FReeper alive old enough to be held accountable for owning slaves. >>

But can JR -- and/or, come to that, any of the American "reparations'" crowd -- beat this [True] one:

My last ["White"] slave ancester died, in Australia, in 1939.

After the loathsome limeys quit shipping Africans to their pal's plantations, they started in on Celts -- and included several of my Scots and Irish ancestors in their sweeps and roundups.

[geedee]

imagine the reaction if this were the opening sentence:

Washington - Almost 70 percent of White Americans say they are annoyed at being held responsible for slavery and many believe Blacks use Americas racist past to their advantage, a major American university survey showed on Thursday.

Yikes! There's not a newspaper in the country that would print that survey. LOL.

The liberals are determined that us Americans are born responsible for all the world's problems . . . and it's their jobs to remind us how naughty we are every damn day. We're never to be allowed to shed this cloak of guilt . . . hell, that would drive the libbers' constituencies out of business.

[Bob Mc]

I agree, as you say, today's Americans are innocent of criminal slavery. Those criminals are all dead.

And I would also say, today, there are no "wounded". The victims of slavery are all dead.