Hitler's Children Revisited: West German Terrorism and the Problem of Coming to Terms With the Nazi Past

Abstract

The origins of West German terrorism are closely linked to post-war Germany's problems of dealing with the National Socialist past. The terrorist groups defined themselves as “antifascist” and accused the Federal Republic of Germany, the USA, and Israel of continuing “imperialist” Nazi policy, which was supposed to justify their “armed struggle.” On the other hand, the terrorists themselves have been described as “Hitler's children” in the sense that they had adopted key aspects of National Socialist ideology, including anti-Semitism. The article reviews the evidence for such an assessment in the context of Germany's debates about the legacy of National Socialism.