German inward romanticism poetized ethics by proclaiming the right of individuality and of spontaneous passion. It cannot be denied that even in its loveliest, most ethereal aspectss, it bears in its heart the germ of morbidity as the rose bears the wall. Its innermost character is seduction, seduction to death. And reduced to a miserable, mad level, the level of a hitlo german romanticism broke out into hysterical barbarism,. A crime which now finds its horrible in e national catastrophe, ppytical and psychic collapse, without.
As the Nazi nightmare came to an end Thomas Mann thought long and hard about collective guilt. Can Mann’s idea help America in 2021, or do we need a new theory of collective shame.