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''Good Germans'' is an ironic term — usually placed between single quotes such as 'Good Germans' — referring to
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
citizens during and after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
who claimed not to have supported the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way. The term is further used to describe those who claimed ignorance of the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
and
German war crimes
The governments of the German Empire and Nazi Germany (under Adolf Hitler) ordered, organized and condoned a substantial number of war crimes, first in the Herero and Namaqua genocide and then in the First and Second World Wars. The most notable ...
Pól Ó Dochartaigh and Christiane Schönfeld state in non-ironic way: "After the division of Germany in 1949, finding “good Germans” whose record helped legitimize each of the new German states became a core aspect of building a new nation in Germany and of the propaganda battle in this respect between the two German states."
See also
*
German collective guilt
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
*
Italiani brava gente
"Italians, the good people" ( it, Italiani brava gente) is a phrase coined by historians to refer to Italian popular beliefs about the allegedly limited, even non-existent, participation of Fascist Italy and the Royal Italian Army in the Holocau ...
* ''
Résistancialisme
"''Résistancialisme''" (French; ) is a neologism coined by historian Henry Rousso to describe exaggerated historical memory of the French Resistance during World War II. In particular, ''résistancialisme'' refers to exaggerated beliefs about t ...
''
*
Responsibility for the Holocaust
Responsibility for the Holocaust is the subject of an ongoing historical debate that has spanned several decades. The debate about the origins of the Holocaust is known as functionalism versus intentionalism. Intentionalists such as Lucy Dawidowi ...
* ''
The Good German
''The Good German'' is a 2006 American neo-noir crime film. A film adaptation of Joseph Kanon's 2001 novel of the same name, it was directed by Steven Soderbergh, and stars George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire. Set in Berlin followi ...
'' – a 2006 Steven Soderbergh film
*
Wehrkraftzersetzung
''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' or ''Zersetzung der Wehrkraft'' (German for "undermining defence force") was a sedition offence in German military law during the Nazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945.
''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' was enacted in 1938 by decree ...
*
Good Russian
Citations
German people of World War II
German culture
The Holocaust
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