„Verbrecher und andere Deutsche“. Willy Brandts Narrativ nach dem Ende des Nazi-Regimes
„Verbrecher und andere Deutsche“. Willy Brandt's narrative after the end of Nazi regime

Summary/Abstract: The study is the first fundamental examination of the narrative that Willy Brandt developed about the Nazi era in his book “Criminals and other Germans” published in Norway in 1946. Contrar yto the widespread opinion in research and public, the authors come to the conclusion in a historically embedded text analysis that Brandt paints a dichotomous picture of Germany. He contrasts the Nazis with “the Germans” as “other Germans” and distinguishes between “guilt” and “responsibility”. By arguing that responsibility does not equal guilt, he tries to exonerate the majority of society from its complicity in the regime’s policies in order to restore the nation’s reputation and reconcile Germans with their history. The study places Brandt’s interpretation in the post-war guilt discourse and identifies the book as a basic narrative from which his later politics of the past become understandable.

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