You wrote:
“I posted the article because, despite the horror of it, I thought it was quite unique that the author referred to the Germans as perpetrators, and not the historically convenient catch-all description of “Nazis”.”
I don’t think I ever questioned why you posted the article. But when you say, “I thought it was quite unique that the author referred to the Germans as perpetrators, and not the historically convenient catch-all description of “Nazis”,” I have to ask who else is well known to have been Nazis other than the Germans? Yes, I know about the Dutch, Croatians, Slovaks, Ukrainians, etc. but “unique”? And wouldn’t “Nazis” make more sense than “Germans” since not all Germans were Nazis, but all Nazis were Germans or were people who worked for them?
I’m just saying...
Hitler was Austrian, but then again Stalin was Georgian, not Russian.
I know you did not question me re posting article! Yes, maybe the association between Nazis and Germans is still strong. However, I have found that with the passage of time, and talking to youngsters, both here and abroad, there seems to be a disconnect, so much so that some of the death camps and concentration camps in Poland are seen as “Polish” camps, when they were not.
You are so right! As well at the guilt shared by other nations, are those that were not Nazis but refused to give refuge to Jews including the US gov’t.
The article is larger than the Jews. It is man's inhumanity to man. The suffering includes everyone who was affected by the war. Consider the history and memories the progeny of the perpetrators have to reconcile...it impacts Germany, especially, to this day.
The German people knew what was happening - their hands as dirty as the SS... Those Germans with a conscience - the few - tried to help the Jews and others. Those with small amounts of conscience used St. John’s Wort to push away the depression caused they their willingness to commit such evil. The rest of them were soul dead monsters who ran the trains and worked the machinery ... I’m stunned you would have any sympathy for them at all...