Federal Republic of Germany and the Economic Miracle

Coming to Terms with the Past

Their most recent history led the Germans back to the "past" which would not fade away: the intervening time too short, the abyss too steep, too numerous the victims, perpetrators and fellow travellers. Like a foundling, twelve years of National Socialism lay behind on a path of trials and tribulations, having departed from a Christian western culture of shared values: seemingly by chance, monstrous and impossible to eliminate. Surveys gave an idea of how deeply people were marked by that time.

Germans "coming to terms with the past" reflected by opinion polls of the Institute of Demoskopie in Allensbach from the years 1951 till 1961:

In your opinion, how should the men of 20 July [1944] be judged?
(Survey of June 1951)

	Total	Men	Women
In favour of the men of 20th July	40 %	43 %	38 %
Varying judgement	3 %	3 %	2 %
Against them	30 %	38 %	24 %
No judgement, don't know	16 %	21 %	21 %
No memory of 20th July	11 %	5 %	15 %

Are you for or against naming a school after a resistance fighter?
(Survey of April 1956)

	Total	Men	Women
In favour	49 %	54 %	44 %
Against	18 %	22 %	17 %
Undecided	33 %	24 %	39 %

Do you believe that Germany would have won the last war if there had been no resistance movement against Hitler?
(Survey of November 1952)

	Total	Men	Women
Yes, would've won	21 %	21 %	21 %
Might have won	15 %	15 %	15 %
No, wouldn't have won	45 %	55 %	35 %
Don't know	19 %	9 %	29 %

Would you say that it's better for Germany to have no Jews in the country?
(Survey of the years 1952 till 1963)

	12 / 1952	4 / 1956	5 / 1958	5 / 1963
Yes, it's better	37 %	29 %	22 %	18 %
No, it isn't better	20 %	35 %	38 %	40 %
Undecided, can't judge	43 %	36 %	40 %	42 %

Should persons who engage in anti-semitic activities in Germany today be punished in a court of law, or not?
(Surveys of May 1958 and January 1960)

	5 / 1958	1 / 1960
Yes	46 %	78 %
It depends	4 %	5 %
No	20 %	7 %
Undecided, can't judge	22 %	10 %

Would you say that, but for the war, Hitler would have been one of the greatest statesmen of our time?
(Survey of the years 1959 till 1961)

	5 / 1959	7 / 1960	6 / 1961
Would not have been	42 %	43 %	43 %
Would have been	41 %	34 %	30 %
Other answers	0 %	1 %	1 %
Don't know	17 %	22 %	26 %