Is guilt ever constructive? How much should children know about what preceded them, what brought about the conditions in which they live? Why, how and to what extent should we pass on historical guilt to our children?
From my experiences of meeting young Germans of my own age, this seems to be exactly the task that Germany has set itself (and its post-war born children) – to soberly, bravely and consciously confront its own guilt and try to find lessons for the future from it, producing many young Germans who try to be active, aware citizens today.
To take one example from our local area, there is the organisation Živá Pamět´, which every year fosters a young German volunteer in České Budějovice to work with Holocaust survivors, from helping with basic daily chores such as washing windows and fetching shopping to discussing the memories and open questions of the German-Jewish relationship in our town in the twentieth century.
So why do these young Germans consider it important to work with Holocaust survivors? For some it represents a pragmatic, sensible way to do good and travel. For others it adds up to a sense of sühnezeichen or „atonement“. Present volunteer Emanuel definitely sees this as an important part of his work in ČB: „Whilst I do not feel guilty for the crimes of the past I do see that the German economy today greatly benefited from the war years. You only have to look at companies such as Bayer (formerly IG Farben), Volkswagen and Hugo Boss which profited from this period of crime and built with that profit the capital (not only money but also knowledge) that makes those companies as strong as they are today. I see it as my responsibility to pay back some of that unfairly earned privilege, whether here in Budějovice through assisting Holocaust survivors or in training as a doctor to help sick people in countries who have not been so „lucky“ in their histories“
Another volunteer, Fritjof, feels a personal connection to the Second World War because „every German has relatives that fought or died in it and although I do not feel responsible I feel it is my duty to take action to make sure such a war never happens again“. Fritjof goes on to caution, however, that this aware strata of German society does not represent the whole nation, which includes many who do not care or care to think about the issue, as well as some who actively attempt to relativise the past and play down Germany‘s role in the Holocaust.
So how does Fritjof explain the desire of young Germans like him to work with and atone for the country’s violent recent past? „ I think the difference is that since the war Germans have always thought of themselves as perpetrators, whereas dealing with the past is easier when you are a victim“.
How have the Germans accomplished this and why don’t other former perpetrators try to make sense of their past in such a productive way? Coming from the UK, I can vouch that British history teaching does not encourage such a clear-eyed analysis of our nation‘s past. There are many wars, place names, a mysterious golden empire of good times past and the Indians who still use our trains and love to play cricket. It is rosy, confused, divorced from the present and anything but analytical.
Fritjof points out that he does not think that schools provide the best environment to confront such a difficult topic: „It is hard to visit Terezín whilst at the same time trying to act cool“, but that in Germany opportunities to learn more are everywhere for those who seek them. Emanuel would agree „It is such a huge and current issue. Politicians are constantly aware of the past and what happened. Every level of the state is aware“.
There is no such connection to past crimes in Britain; Empire days are far away, mainly a matter for academics and historians. A friend of mine who went on a gap year to a former British colony in Africa complained that people in that country kept speaking to him of atrocities in that land committed by the British. „It seemed a drag, why bring that up, why blame THAT on me?“
It is a drag and unpleasant and totally unfair to pin old crimes on new children born after their completion. But if these children do not work on this material then who will? It sometimes seems to me that since the Holocaust the German nation and the Jewish one which arose partly from it have digested and processed those horrors until they have reached a whole new place entirely, for better or worse. But what of the rest of us, those who dismiss and brush away our history and pretend it doesn‘t affect the present? Where can it go and how can we move on from it? Maybe this is the reason why Britain is somewhat lost and drifting now, in terms of politics; the memory of Empire which so influenced and formed the country just does not fit into the present, so we just drift around it, confused.
And what of the Czechs? As Fritjof says „you cannot compare the Holocaust to the forced displacement of Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia. But you can also not conceal the fact that many Czech people helped to keep Jewish people in Terezín or that a lot of awful crimes happened during the displacement of Germans“. Many Czechs would agree that these crimes are painful to talk about, or are often dwarfed out by the larger crimes of the Nazi era. „It is difficult to think about the way the Germans were expelled“ says Sara from Strakonice. „But if I imagine myself as a Czech in this period, whose formerly friendly German neighbour suddenly transformed into a superior, Nazi supporting occupier, I can fully understand the rage and desire for revenge“.
Would we want to burden Czech children with more of the responsibility for this past, to think about what their country was and how it came to be how it is?
What is the best way to burden our children to help them grow and to take us with them?
Natalie Czaban 
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