Nazi Germany: the myth of the innocent bystander

Mary Fulbrook explores the role of ordinary Germans in the rise of Nazism, the Second World War and the Holocaust

Published: December 19, 2023 at 9:11 AM

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In 1945, after defeat in the Second World War, many Germans claimed to have known nothing about what had happened to their fellow Jewish citizens – and with that, the idea of the ‘innocent bystander’ was born. But just how true was this claim? Delving into a rich archive of personal accounts of life in the Nazi era, Mary Fulbrook has unearthed a far more complex story, as she tells Rebecca Franks.

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Mary Fulbrook is the author of Bystander Society: Conformity and Complicity in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust (Oxford University Press, 2023)

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