Which Jews dislike contemporary Germans: Range and determinants of German aversion in Czech and U.S. Holocaust survivors and young American Jews.

Abstract

We assessed the degree of discomfort reported by U.S. and Czech Holocaust survivors (Study 1) and Jewish American college students (Study 2) to the prospect of physical proximity to a wide range of contemporary Germans with varying linkages to Nazi Germany, and a range of objects or activities associated with Germany (e.g., riding in a Volkswagen). On both measures, there was a very wide range of aversions, from almost absent to almost complete. A substantial number of participants were uncomfortable with Germans born after World War II. The Czech survivors showed the least aversion, less than the students, probably because the Czechs had a great deal of experience with Germans and German culture prior to and following World War II. Trait forgiveness did not predict aversion. Degree of blame for Germans and Jewish identity predicted current aversion. German essentialism-the idea that "Germanness" is inherent, indelible, uniform, and transmitted across generations-may be the best predictor of total German person aversion and is the only predictor that can easily explain the fact that that many individuals are uncomfortable living near Germans who were born after World War II.

Explaining the Inexplicable: Differences in Attributions for the Holocaust in Germany, Israel, and Poland

“…Polish participants in general had a more positive attitude than Israelis towards present‐day Germany, B = 0.089, SE = 0.017, p < .001. Further, with regards to the evil essence representation, as one may expect and in line with previous research (Rozin et al, ), the more the Polish and Israeli participants attributed the Holocaust to an evil inner essence in the German people, the less positive their attitude towards present‐day Germany was (Israel: B = −0.06, SE = 0.02, p = .012; Poland: B = −0.07, SE = 0.02, p = .007), whereas the reverse was true for the coercion representation. A greater inclination to attribute the Holocaust to the coercive power of a few rotten apples within German society, the more contemporary Germany was regarded positively.…”

“…However, Jews and Poles are expected to differ in the role their attributions to the Holocaust play in their present‐day relations with Germany and Germans. Mainly, the Holocaust is likely to have a greater impact on present‐day intergroup relations among Israeli Jews than among Poles, because intergroup attitudes are likely to be affected by geographical proximity and frequency of intergroup interactions (Rozin et al, ). Because Poland and Germany are neighboring countries, the memory of the Holocaust may have relatively less influence on Polish attitudes towards present‐day Germans.…”

“…A recent opinion poll showed that only 23% of a representative Israeli sample agreed with the statement “it is time to forgive the German people and Germany for crimes committed in the Holocaust” (Center for Academic Studies, ). This unwillingness to forgive, and the tendency to project the sins of previous generations unto subsequent ones, is intimately connected to a view of past actions as being attributable to an unchanging characteristic of the perpetrator group—a form of essentialist attribution (Haslam, Rothschild, & Ernst, ) which has been described in a condensed form as “Germans are all the same, because of some hidden essence that makes them German” (Rozin et al, , p. 414). Victims have a greater need to remember, are more reluctant to forgive, and may thus have more lingering antipathies towards their former nemesis, even generations later (e.g., Olick & Levy, ; Paez & Liu, 2001; Pennebaker, Paez, & Rimé, ).…”