Page "Consequences of Nazism" Paragraph 40

After the war, the German people were often viewed with contempt because they were blamed for Nazi crimes by other Europeans.

Germans visiting abroad, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, attracted insults from locals, and from foreigners who may have had their families or friends live through or perish in the atrocities.

Today in Europe and worldwide ( particularly in countries that fought against the Axis ), Germans may be scorned by elderly people who were alive to experience the atrocities committed by Nazi Germans during World War II.

This resulted in a feeling of controversy for many Germans, causing numerous discussions and rows among scholars and politicians in Post-War West Germany ( for example, the " Historikerstreit " argument in the 1980s ) and after Reunification.

Here, the discussion was mainly about the role that the unified Germany should play in the world and in Europe.

Bernard Schlink's The Reader documents how post-war Germans dealt with the issue.