As a Jew born after the war in the Boomer generation, I struggle with how to perceive Germans. On the one hand, I know there is no logical reason to bear distrust and dislike for anything German or to not support fair treatment of Germans after the war. On the other hand, I likely will take biases to my grave.

In business, I have occasionally been in situations collaborating with German peers. Such interactions always made me terribly uncomfortable. It has always been hard for me to speak to Germans of my generation without the constant thought screaming in my head “who am I talking to?” I could never help wondering “what would they think of me if they knew I am a Jew? What prejudices and hatred may have been passed onto them by there parents? What did they pass onto their children, the peers of my kids?”

When I think of Germans in my parents generation, civilian or military, it is hard for me to be empathetic. The death and misery supported and brought about by a huge segment of the German population in the generation before me infects my perceptions of Germans to this day and makes it hard for me to feel bad about their treatment after the war. Logically, this article makes sense but….