BORN GUILTY

Born Guilty - Children of Nazi Families by Peter Sichrovsky - In the 1980s Peter Sichrovsky interviewed children of Nazis, who were born at the end of or after World War II. These interviews take the form of first person accounts answering questions about how the child felt when learning that their parent was a Nazi or SS officer. These young adults carried much guilt for the roles their parents played in the war. In most cases they had no idea what their parents had done, since in almost every case, the parent claimed a minor role as part of the SS machine, and denied their role in the Holocaust. So many of the children asked themselves why they were born, considering their parents' cruelty, facism, racism and denial. At the end of the book, Sichrovsky gives a possible explanation for the parents' views.