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raccoongremlin's review
4.0
Overall I really liked it, it's well written and Schlink clearly is well educated and thought out on this subject. I would be delighted to read more non-fiction work by Schlink. I didn't have high hopes for this book as I had previously read " Der Vorleser" , a book that I did very much not enjoy. But I have found Schlink a lot more likeable in this book.
One of his points that almost made me laugh was when he said he couldn't comment on the guilt of people in other countries, who had been the perpetrators of traumatic events (genocide usually) and then gives native Americans and white Americans as examples, which I feel completely ignores that most white Americans whose ancestors would have been settler colonisers and murderers of Natives, mostly don't feel any guilt and the USA really has not gone through the same process that Germany did. I would greatly wish that Indigenous peoples all over the world would get the same kind of reparation's and treatment now that Germany did after the Shoah.
I also felt that Roma and Sinti were really left out of the conversation here, though obviously the book did focus on Germans, but for all the times Jewish people were mentioned, Roma were mentioned hardly any times if at all despite the fact that they were the second largest group targeted by the Nazi's and they also wanted to exterminate them.
One of his points that almost made me laugh was when he said he couldn't comment on the guilt of people in other countries, who had been the perpetrators of traumatic events (genocide usually) and then gives native Americans and white Americans as examples, which I feel completely ignores that most white Americans whose ancestors would have been settler colonisers and murderers of Natives, mostly don't feel any guilt and the USA really has not gone through the same process that Germany did. I would greatly wish that Indigenous peoples all over the world would get the same kind of reparation's and treatment now that Germany did after the Shoah.
I also felt that Roma and Sinti were really left out of the conversation here, though obviously the book did focus on Germans, but for all the times Jewish people were mentioned, Roma were mentioned hardly any times if at all despite the fact that they were the second largest group targeted by the Nazi's and they also wanted to exterminate them.
roguepingu's review
5.0
In a global political climate where "alternative facts" have become the new norm, Schlink's collection of essays becomes essential reading. Anti-Semitic attacks have been on the rise in Europe for the past few years and the refusal of key political leaders to engage with human rights violations is common. The survivors of WWII are gradually slipping away from us and along with them a collective memory of the past and the lessons that come with it.
Schlink examines the tension between the individual and the political landscape, both sculpted by the ghosts of their pasts. He navigates long-held debates of comparing the Holocaust with contemporary events, whether diplomacy or protest is the best method to the opposition, and the complexities of representing the Holocaust within fiction. This book doesn't pretend to have answers to these questions, but does offer well-considered opinions and insights. Schlink poses important questions for his readers on how past events shape a nation's future - questions which, especially in this day and age, should not be ignored.
Schlink examines the tension between the individual and the political landscape, both sculpted by the ghosts of their pasts. He navigates long-held debates of comparing the Holocaust with contemporary events, whether diplomacy or protest is the best method to the opposition, and the complexities of representing the Holocaust within fiction. This book doesn't pretend to have answers to these questions, but does offer well-considered opinions and insights. Schlink poses important questions for his readers on how past events shape a nation's future - questions which, especially in this day and age, should not be ignored.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
5.0
‘The past is unassailable and irrevocable.’
The six essays contained in this book were originally presented as the Weidenfeld Lectures by Bernhard Schlink at Oxford University in 2008. Bernhard Schlink is a professor of law, and a writer. Professor Schlink explores the phenomenon of guilt based on the German experience after World War II.
‘The lesson we drew from the past was a moral one rather than an institutional one.’
Professor Schlink argues that when some members of a collective commit crimes, other members have a duty to identify and exclude them. By not doing so, they become caught in the crimes themselves and share their guilt. However, responsibility for not punishing a crime is not the same as being responsible for the crime in the first place and this guilt should be confined to their inaction about identifying and expelling Nazis not an assumption of the guilt for the original actions of the Nazis.
This is an important distinction: it is up to the original perpetrators to seek (and perhaps be refused) forgiveness. Those who were not directly involved cannot be contrite for acts they did not commit. The children of perpetrators may not owe the children of victims an apology but respect is essential. How else is it possible (and it is surely desirable) to seek reconciliation as a way of acknowledging and moving on from the past.
These six brief essays raise a number of different issues, perspectives and possibilities, including:
How does the legacy of the past impact on different generations? Can the past be dealt with through law, is retroactive punishment a possibility? (And, should it be?)
What are the problems surrounding literary representations of the past, especially fictional treatments of the Holocaust?
I found these essays thought-provoking and far broader in application than to post-war Germany. We each live in some form of tribal society and thus thinking about the possibility of collective guilt in some circumstances and its consequences is worthwhile.
‘The future of the presence of the past is history.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The six essays contained in this book were originally presented as the Weidenfeld Lectures by Bernhard Schlink at Oxford University in 2008. Bernhard Schlink is a professor of law, and a writer. Professor Schlink explores the phenomenon of guilt based on the German experience after World War II.
‘The lesson we drew from the past was a moral one rather than an institutional one.’
Professor Schlink argues that when some members of a collective commit crimes, other members have a duty to identify and exclude them. By not doing so, they become caught in the crimes themselves and share their guilt. However, responsibility for not punishing a crime is not the same as being responsible for the crime in the first place and this guilt should be confined to their inaction about identifying and expelling Nazis not an assumption of the guilt for the original actions of the Nazis.
This is an important distinction: it is up to the original perpetrators to seek (and perhaps be refused) forgiveness. Those who were not directly involved cannot be contrite for acts they did not commit. The children of perpetrators may not owe the children of victims an apology but respect is essential. How else is it possible (and it is surely desirable) to seek reconciliation as a way of acknowledging and moving on from the past.
These six brief essays raise a number of different issues, perspectives and possibilities, including:
How does the legacy of the past impact on different generations? Can the past be dealt with through law, is retroactive punishment a possibility? (And, should it be?)
What are the problems surrounding literary representations of the past, especially fictional treatments of the Holocaust?
I found these essays thought-provoking and far broader in application than to post-war Germany. We each live in some form of tribal society and thus thinking about the possibility of collective guilt in some circumstances and its consequences is worthwhile.
‘The future of the presence of the past is history.’
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
emmkayt's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent, thoughtful series of essays about collective guilt and the relationship between the present and terrible acts of the past. Schlink is a German lawyer, judge, and novelist, and he focuses primarily on how Germans are to relate to the legacy of the Nazi era. I liked his exploration of the very German-concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, sometimes translated as 'overcoming' or 'mastering' the past, which of course assumes an endpoint. He also explores in interesting ways the notion of reconciliation, a term that is much-used in Canada these days with respect to the terrible wrongs done to indigenous people.
nimsaw's review against another edition
5.0
Guilt About The Past is a series of six essays that tries to answer, rather opens the disussion, on a very sad chapter from history - the Holocaust.
I had seen this documentary film couple of weeks ago - Hitler's Children - which had reflections from the grand children of the Nazi top rung, and how they are dealing with the guilt of their forefathers. It was quite an intense film as it asked the current generation about their forefathers. That one segment where Rudolf Höss's grandson comes face to face with a Holocaust survivor, was particularly moving.
This book takes that same theme and tries to address it from a collective German perspective. The themes touched upon include forgiveness, reconciliation, the legal aspects and uprisings in the later decades. The second chapter explains how the past is still present for a lot of the post war generation and the following generation. The parts where Schlink touches upon forgiveness and reconciliation, is a lot philosophical, making you think a lot on those themes after reading that essay.
Finally, Schlink ends with an essay on how Holocaust and other historical events when portrayed in fictional accounts - literary books, dramas, films - could become a double edged sword. Schlink argues that it is important for Holocaust to be looked at through multiple lenses in order to increase awareness. But at the same time there are ground rules to how you depict the victim and perpetrators. It's not one single black or white argument, but certainly has multiple layers.
Personally speaking, the film's I've seen which are inspired by real life events (Schindlers List) or even fiction (Das Leben der Anderen or even Goodbye Lenin) have definitely prodded me on to dig deeper into the history. But at the same time if victims raise objection to any aspect of the said depiction of events, one isn't in a position to make judgement as an outsider looking in.
All in all a great examination of the aspect of a shared past guilt of a nation.
I had seen this documentary film couple of weeks ago - Hitler's Children - which had reflections from the grand children of the Nazi top rung, and how they are dealing with the guilt of their forefathers. It was quite an intense film as it asked the current generation about their forefathers. That one segment where Rudolf Höss's grandson comes face to face with a Holocaust survivor, was particularly moving.
This book takes that same theme and tries to address it from a collective German perspective. The themes touched upon include forgiveness, reconciliation, the legal aspects and uprisings in the later decades. The second chapter explains how the past is still present for a lot of the post war generation and the following generation. The parts where Schlink touches upon forgiveness and reconciliation, is a lot philosophical, making you think a lot on those themes after reading that essay.
Finally, Schlink ends with an essay on how Holocaust and other historical events when portrayed in fictional accounts - literary books, dramas, films - could become a double edged sword. Schlink argues that it is important for Holocaust to be looked at through multiple lenses in order to increase awareness. But at the same time there are ground rules to how you depict the victim and perpetrators. It's not one single black or white argument, but certainly has multiple layers.
Personally speaking, the film's I've seen which are inspired by real life events (Schindlers List) or even fiction (Das Leben der Anderen or even Goodbye Lenin) have definitely prodded me on to dig deeper into the history. But at the same time if victims raise objection to any aspect of the said depiction of events, one isn't in a position to make judgement as an outsider looking in.
All in all a great examination of the aspect of a shared past guilt of a nation.
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