Knowledge, Feelings, and Attitudes of German University Students toward the Holocaust

Abstract

Abstract Immediately after German unification, social scientists had a historic chance to conduct “binational” comparative research on the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Until then the states had been two separate, independent political entities with different and partially antagonistic political and economic structures. Social science got the chance not only to study the peaceful process of unification, transformation, and integration of two societies but also to conduct research that had not been possible for decades because of the tense and hostile political atmosphere between West and East. Thus, for instance, it suddenly became possible to do comparative research within these two societies on the effects of the very distinct process of political socialization and its impact on knowledge, emotions, and attitudes. The question was: What are the most striking typical differences in knowledge, emotions, and attitudes of young West Germans and East Germans as a result of the two antagonistic socio­political systems? My own research about East and West German students’ knowledge and attitudes concerning the Third Reich and the Holocaust conducted in 1992 is unique in that respect.1 It concentrated on two fields:2 (I) the investigation of differences and similarities in knowledge, emotions, and attitudes related to the Holocaust among students in West and East Germany; 3 (2) the exploration of the political background of knowledge, emotions, and attitudes related to the Holocaust.