The Memory of Justice (1976)

Eugen Kogon: Self - Author

Quotes 

• Eugen Kogon, Himself : The Nuremberg trials are a historical fact that from the very beginning wasn't accepted by the overwhelming majority of the German people. The trials, in the eyes of most Germans, constituted an accusation from outside that was supposed to prove the collective guilt of the German nation. As a result, the whole thing was rejected from the start. But, of course, they simply swept everything under the carpet and started dreaming up excuses they could use to exonerate themselves. So, what attitude were they suppose to take to publicly proved crimes? That would have forced a decision. For if they had begun to call crimes by their right name and refused to have anything to do with the people that committed them or refused to deal with them in their daily lives, it would have brought about a total transformation of the country's political landscape. But they hadn't got the courage for that or the motivation either. So instead of carrying out a process of moral purification, they choose instead to jump on the merry-go-round of mutual recrimination. And that was truly pernicious for the merry-go-round got stuck fast. They didn't change anything. They all sat on the wooden horses and didn't move. "You did this. You did that. And if I was a scoundrel, so were you." As though that could solve anything.