The Reader

Hey, sorry for not blogging for almost 2 weeks but I've been pretty busy recently and just haven't got round to it. I realise that all my blogs seem to be based on fictional works releated to history and I apologise if this is an issue but it is often literature that sparks an interest with me. For example I read 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini last year for my english lit course and I found it really refreshing as it opened my eyes to the past of a country not widely explored, which is Afghanistan. So I may do some research and blog about that in the future.

Anyhoo I recently read Bernard Schlink's 'The Reader', and when I say recently I read it on Sunday all in one go. So I admit I wasn't busy this Sunday!! Haha. Schlink is a German author, and the book is translated from the German original. It is a nice short read which manages to deal with the Holocaust without exploiting it as the main focus, (if you know what I mean) and it also approaches the Holocaust from a more original viewpoint. For example it follows the story of a young boy who has a love affair with an older woman. She then leaves town and he doesn't see her for many years. He becomes a lawyer and then works on the case in which this woman happens to be being tried for commiting a dreadful crime during the war. The book follows the case and the title eventually relates to this (I don't want to give too much away!!).

Why is this relevant from a more historical point of view I hear you cry? =D. Well I thought this novel really explored the collective feeling of shame and guilt that the post-war generation of Germans feel, and indeed still feel today. There is this idea that they have to apologise constantly for something which they weren't even alive for when it happened, and of course the actions of the Nazi's and the Holocaust were pure evil, but who really was to blame? Can we really blame each and every individual German who got caught up in the situation? The camp guards who carried out the shootings and led thousands to their deaths? Ordinarily these people would naturally be the culprits but where does fear and odedience end and free-will and 'evil' begin? For example at one point in the book the woman on trial asks the judge "well what would you have done?" and the judge us unable to answer. So the point I aim to make is really who was to blame? And who can realistically be punished? Indeed most of the obvious Nazi leaders have now been sentenced and caught, only last week I believe three more were finally found, but how far can people feel sympathy for those in the middle. The ones who neither initiated the terrible policies nor challenged them.
The feeling of collective guilt is similar to that of Americans and the Vietnam war, although naturally on a larger scale. The difficulty with such situations is, particuarly the Holocaust, is that the point is not that Germans agree with what happened, obviously they achknowledge that what happened was awful, it's that they feel collectively ashamed as a result. For no one can justify what happened and Germans must live with this stereotype and label as sadly Hitler has become one of the most recognised faces in History and if you were to ask someone about German History, the Nazis would spring instantly to mind. And so they accept this shame and are stuck in it. However this leads to the debate of individualists vs structuralists, can we just say it was the Hitler and his close followers that allowed the Holocaust to happen? I would say we can't, we need to explore the social factors which made it possible and therefore challenge the famous quote "The history of the world is but the biography of great men". For I, personally, believe the role of the individual is overplayed. But then again, in contradiction to myself the whole of Germany at the time cannot be to blame either. We should take a sociological viewpoint and look at the wider context, such as the economic situation etc. Dilemma much.

Ok so I rambled on and got stuck into a little deep debate with myself!!! Sorry about that, but I hope you understand the complicated issue I am trying to address and which this book highlighted in my eyes. So give this book a read, it might just make you think. There is also a film version with Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, but I haven't seen it yet so cannot pass judgement. I'll give it a watch and report back.

Over and out.