Looking back at World War II Family Histories
Surveys in recent history have shown that many Germans want to believe that their ancestors had nothing to do with the crimes committed by Nazi Germany. Members of the younger generation, though, now want to know for sure — also out of concern for Germany’s political future
By Susanne Beyer, Der Spiegel Geschichte 19/2025, May 3rd 2025
„Children, meanwhile, have an extremely intimate relationship with their parents, says the Cologne-based doctor and psychotherapist Peter Pogany-Wnendt, the descendant of Holocaust victims who is a member of the board at the Working Group for Intergenerational Consequences of the Holocaust. First and foremost, he says, because children are existentially reliant on their parents during the first years of their lives. „The close bonds remain even if they don’t get along well” – which means, he says, that the stories told by parents are often not questioned.“
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