Should ppl feel guilty if family was nazis/slave owners, etc.?

Question

I'm German and a little Syrian. Found out there was Nazi/hitler's army boys in my family when in Germany. Now I feel very un-proud of my heritage, and guilty,guilty, guilty.

Answer 1

No, honey! You have nothing to do with what your family did. The decisions members of your family made were decisions THEY should not be proud of. However, there is much in both German and Syrian heritage to be proud of. Focus on that stuff---and leave the past in the past.

Answer 2

No, you are not guilty of who your ancestors were. How should I feel then? I'm German too and one of my grandfathers was a member of the NSDAP, and he was in Norway and Czechia during the war as a member of a police bataillon, taking part in occupation, oppression and persecution. I don't know what he did exactly and I don't know him personally, but as a member of a German police bataillon under the command of Himmler in World War II he was certainly not innocent, although he wasn't in the Soviet Union or Poland where the police bataillons committed their worst crimes.
My other grandfather was in the air defence of Cologne where he didn't have much chance to become guilty, but I know that he was also a nationalist and antisemite.
From what I know about my grandmothers they were also not opposed to the Nazi regime in any way. I know from a letter that my grandmother felt honored when the Nazis wanted to take one of my uncles into a special Nazi ideology training school (Napola).
I don't know anyone of my grandparents personally and my parents were children during the war and they learned better after the war so I was never raised with anything Nazi but quite the opposite and was always warned of what an evil it is.
I feel more than "un-proud" of my heritage but I don't believe that it makes me guilty, although I must say that I have really struggled with all this. But I am a new person and I can do better than my grandparents did.

Answer 3

You should feel proud of your heritage. When your family were Nazi's and owned slaves, the mentality at the time was the same for not being Nazi's and not owning slaves. They thought they were doing the right thing. Everyone does things that they think are right, with people doing the opposite things to each other sometimes. They both feel they are in the right.
Never let the media propaganda make you feel un-proud of your family heritage.
The fact that they fought in the army should be looked upon in the same manner as the armies in Iraq fighting that war.

Answer 4

You can stop it right now. The sins of the fathers are not the responsibility of their children. It is no disgrace to have unsavory ancestors in your lineage. Despite the Nazis, Germany has a history to be proud of. So does Syria. You need not hide your ancestry, and if anyone asks -which they probably won't - just say you don't agree with the tenets of the Nazi party and never would.
I do know how you feel; my great-great grandfather was a slave owner in America a hundred fifty years ago. How could that be my fault when I didn't turn up until four generations later? Matter of fact, others in my ancestry fought and died during the American Civil War, along with three hundred thousand others in order to save the Union and free the slaves. If you were to look closely, I'd not be surprised to learn you've discovered others in your ancestral line who resisted the Nazi philosophy. At any rate - you are not to blame for their sins and errors! You have no need to hang your head. I have visited Germany - beautiful country, wonderful people. Stand tall and be proud! You have every right to do so!

Answer 5

Guilty? Yes. But we are guilty not only if such things are in our own heritage. We are guilty if we allow these things in our societies today.
We are all guilty, when we don't stand up for justice, fairness, equality under the law...
We are all guilty of violence today, in exploiting 3rd world labour for cheap imported goods, in ransacking the planet's resources to the detriment of future generations, of supporting or not fighting mechanisms in society that increase class and social division, social marginalisation, of not protesting against false information in the news, against wars of aggression abroad... or violence can be be simple acts, like staring fearfully when a black man walks up the street at night towards us, or slightly someone serving us as 'beneath' us...
There are degrees of blame and culpability for all these things, and limits on what we can feasibly do about them personally, on a daily basis. You are not culpable for the evils of people who lived 50 years ago. But as an inheritor of that legacy, you are perhaps more culpable than others as you have been made more aware personally of those evils. You are culpable if you haven't learned from your ancestors errors and tried to make your own heritage, your children's heritage, a prouder one.
The German Nazi's were trying to make a better society, a better world. How they were doing it was wrong. If you can see that, and act differently to build a better society, a better world, then you will be continuing your family's proud tradition, as well as righting the mistakes made before.

Answer 6

you shouldn't feel that way... dear we can't always have a wonderful past but we can do something for our future so what happened in the past stays there. I'm half Jewish and i don't go around hating German people for what happened long time ago we don't own the past...so there's little we can do to change it. so don't feel bad and try to do the best for your future and if get a chance to talk about the Holocaust and what happened there do it so people can see that is in our hands not to repeat what is in the past.

Answer 7

Don't become overwhelmed with guilt, but it wouldn't hurt to tip the family's karma scales back in the right direction. Do something positive for a group that may have been wronged in the past. You can still call it "paying it forward".

Answer 8

No, every culture has a shady history towards treating eachother badly, dear. Look towards bettering the world and don't dwell on something you cannot change and had no hand in anyway. Be grateful you are enlightened compared to your ancestors. That's an achievement!

Answer 9

We can't help who we are related to. Don't sweat it. As long as you don't perpetuate that same behavior you're fine. You have to understand that that was a different place and time. Circumstances led people to do a lot of different things. Even though I would never be a slave I am not ashamed of my slave lineage.

Answer 10

Look deeper, I was a bit ashamed that my ancestor came to this country as an indentured servant only to run out on his obligation, I later learned that many famous Americans had also run out on their contracts of indentured servitude. I also learned about other ancestors of mine who lead good and honest lives, many serving in the U.S. military, something I am very proud of. Look to your ancestors who did it right and try to live like them, look to your ancestors who did it wrong and try to learn from their mistakes.