The question of guilt. On the political responsibility of Germany

German philosopher Karl Yaspers in 1946–1947. He poses a painful question: whether all Germans are responsible for the crimes of the Nazi regime.
For the first time, four types of guilt have been identified: legal, political, moral, metaphysical.
The preface to the book was written by Nikolai Epple - a researcher of historical memory, laureate of the Enlightener Prize (2021).

The treatise of the largest thinker of the 20th century, the German philosopher, psychologist and psychiatrist Karl Yaspers, written by him after the defeat of German fascism, during the days of the Nuremberg process over Nazi criminals. At that time, the defeated Germany was in the ruins, and society was in confusion and the deepest depression. The German people faced the task of rebuilding themselves, developing a new national identity - to melt, revive, discard everything pernicious. Jaspers raises a painful question of whether all Germans are responsible for the crimes of the Nazi regime, and for the first time distinguishes between four types of guilt: legal, political, moral and metaphysical. The treatise is published in the classic translation of Solomon Apta.

Quotes

"The question of guilt is even more than the question of others to us, our question to ourselves. Our current worldview and self -awareness depends on how we respond to him in heart. This is a matter of life for the German soul. Only through it can there be a turn that will lead us to updating our essence. When the winners declare us guilty, this, of course, has the most serious consequences for our existence, is political in nature, but does not help us in the most important - to make an internal turn. Here we are left to ourselves. "

If I did not risk my life to prevent the murder of others, but at the same time I was present, I feel guilty in such a way that no legal, political and moral explanations are suitable here. The fact that I continue to live when this happened is laid on me with an indelible guilt. "

"You can even curb yourself in war. Kant’s position “In the war, it is impossible to allow actions that make reconciliation in the future simply impossible” - Hitler Germany was the first to neglect Kant in principle. As a result of this, violence, the same in essence since primitive times, but in its fighter capabilities, depending on the technique, today does not know restrictions. To start a war at the current situation in the world is what is monstrous. ”

"Metaphysical guilt is the lack of absolute solidarity with a person as a person. She does not withdraw her claim even when a morally meaningful requirement is already excluded. This solidarity is violated if I was present in case of injustice and crimes. It is not enough that I risked my life with caution to prevent them. If they took place, and at the same time I was and survived, while the other was killed, that is, in me some kind of voice, thanks to which I know: the fact that I am still alive is my fault.

"such a move of thoughts is possible: how a man is responsible for the choice of a lover, with whom he will connect his fate, so the people are responsible for the one to whom he will obey. A mistake is the fault. For its consequences, you must brutally pay. But this is just wrong. What is possible and what is appropriate in marriage, then in the state already at the basis of its detrimental is an indispensable connectedness with any person. The fidelity of the retinue is a non -political relationship in narrow circles and in primitive conditions. In a free state, everything is subject to control and replacement. ”

For whom

For everyone who is interested in the issues of philosophy, ethics, historical memory, rethinking historical injuries, collective guilt and responsibility, as well as the history of Germany after the Second World War