According to a study by the Cologne Rheingold Institute commissioned by the Arolsen Archives in Hesse, young people are again more interested in the National Socialist era. Three quarters of the 19 to 25 year olds surveyed expressed interest. In the parents’ generation it is only 66 percent.
National Socialism was almost eight decades ago. Most young people no longer have any personal contact at this time, only very few still have contact with eyewitnesses. This also eliminates discussions in the family. But all this does not seem to lead to a dwindling interest in the atrocities of the Nazi era among Generation Z, today’s 19 to 25 year olds. On the contrary.
“Especially in the corona pandemic, there are many comparisons with the Nazi era,” says Marita Risse, “so it’s important to be able to classify that.” During a project week at her school in Bad Arolsen in northern Hesse, the 18-year-old recently dealt with National Socialism. She finds it extremely important to keep busy with it, even after such a long time.
A whole generation feels like cracks. That’s the result of a new study. “This result is only surprising at first glance,” says psychologist Stephan Grünewald, head of the Rheingold Institute, which created this study. Precisely because family entanglements and thus the question of personal guilt are no longer in the foreground, this opens up a greater degree of openness to the topic for young people, according to the makers of the study.
