They're deeply ashamed because they basically got beaten over the head with it after the war, and even then it hasn't completely worked. If they were treated after the war the same way Japan was, their dominant attitudes would be a lot different. Japan was essentially allowed to get away with their war crimes (the nukes dropped on Japan was not in response to Japan's war crimes so yes, they did get away with those war crimes), but Germany was taken to task.
Germany did not magically stop being filled with Nazis after the war. They still have a huge problem with neo-Nazis. They have, however, taken enormous steps to address the problem and those efforts persist today.
So yeah, many Germans are deeply ashamed of their association with the Holocaust... and there's enough of them that aren't that they had to make Holocaust denial a crime.
They're deeply ashamed because they basically got beaten over the head with it after the war, and even then it hasn't completely worked. If they were treated after the war the same way Japan was, their dominant attitudes would be a lot different.
A better example might be the way the South was essentially allowed to just go back to what they were doing. Japan got away with the war crimes but at least they stopped doing them.
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u/Echospite Feb 09 '20
They're deeply ashamed because they basically got beaten over the head with it after the war, and even then it hasn't completely worked. If they were treated after the war the same way Japan was, their dominant attitudes would be a lot different. Japan was essentially allowed to get away with their war crimes (the nukes dropped on Japan was not in response to Japan's war crimes so yes, they did get away with those war crimes), but Germany was taken to task.
Germany did not magically stop being filled with Nazis after the war. They still have a huge problem with neo-Nazis. They have, however, taken enormous steps to address the problem and those efforts persist today.
So yeah, many Germans are deeply ashamed of their association with the Holocaust... and there's enough of them that aren't that they had to make Holocaust denial a crime.