Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875 – 1961), speaking from his office on VE-Day (May 8, 1945), spoke broadly of all the heavy lifting that lay ahead if the German people were ever to honestly recognize their guilt for the various atrocities they committed between 1933 through 1945:
“Today, the German resembles a drunkard awakening with a hangover, not knowing or not willing to know what he has done.”
“He will try frantically to rehabilitate himself in the face of the world’s accusations and hate – but that is not the right way. The only right way is his unconditional acknowledgement of guilt.”
“The American therapy of conducting the German population to concentration camps and making them see all the atrocities committed there, is thus quite correct. But such object lessons must not be combined with moral instruction – instead German penitence must come from within.”
Click here to read about the fall of Berlin.
Click here to read Jung’s thoughts on Hitler.
