MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 04315cam a2200445 i 4500
001 2013012867
003 DLC
005 20151028080441.0
008 130521t20132013enk 000 0 eng
010 $a 2013012867
020 $a9780199937455 (hardback)
020 $a0199937451 (hardback)
020 $z9780199937462 (electronic bk.)
020 $z019993746X (electronic bk.)
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$erda$dDLC
042 $apcc
043 $ae-gw---
050 00 $aD804.7.M67$bK45 2013
082 00 $a940.53/180922$223
084 $aHIS014000$aREL000000$2bisacsh
100 1 $aKellenbach, Katharina von,$d1960-
245 14 $aThe mark of Cain :$bguilt and denial in the post-war lives of Nazi perpetrators /$cKatharina von Kellenbach.
264 1 $aOxford ;$aNew York :$bOxford University Press, USA,$c[2013]
264 4 $c©2013
300 $axi, 287 pages ;$c25 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 265-280) and index.
520 $a"The Mark of Cain fleshes out a history of conversations that contributed to Germany's coming to terms with a guilty past. Katharina von Kellenbach draws on letters exchanged between clergy and Nazi perpetrators, written notes of prison chaplains, memoirs, sermons, and prison publications to illuminate the moral and spiritual struggles of perpetrators after the war. These documents provide intimate insights into the self-reflection and self-perception of perpetrators. As Germany looks back on more than sixty years of passionate debate about political, personal and legal guilt, its ongoing engagement with the legacy of perpetration has transformed its culture and politics. In many post-genocidal societies, it falls to clergy and religious officials (in addition to the courts) to negotiate and create a path for individuals beyond the atrocities of the past. German clergy brought the Christian message of guilt and forgiveness into the internment camps where Nazi functionaries awaited prosecution at the hands of Allied military tribunals and various national criminal courts, or served out their sentences. The loving willingness to forgive and forget displayed towards his errant child by the father in the parable of the Prodigal Son became the paradigm central to Germany's rehabilitation and reintegration of Nazi perpetrators. The problem with Luke's parable in this context, however, is that perpetrators did not ask for forgiveness. Most agents of state crimes felt innocent. Von Kellenbach proposes the story of the mark of Cain as a counter narrative. In contrast to the Prodigal Son, who is quickly forgiven and welcomed back into the house of the father, the fratricide Cain is charged to rebuild his life on the basis of open communication about the past. The story of the Prodigal Son equates forgiveness with forgetting; Cain's story links redemption with remembrance and suggests a strategy of critical engagement with perpetrators"--$cProvided by publisher.
520 $a"In The Mark of Cain, Katharina von Kellenbach draws on letters exchanged between clergy and Nazi perpetrators, written notes of prison chaplains, memoirs, sermons, and prison publications to illuminate the moral and spiritual struggles of perpetrators after the war"--$cProvided by publisher.
505 8 $aThe mark of Cain -- Guilt confessions and amnesty campaigns -- Faith under the gallows: spectacles of innocence in WCP Landsberg -- Cleansed by suffering? the SS general and the human beast -- From honorable sacrifices to lonely scapegoats -- ''Understand my boy this truth about the mistake'': inheriting guilt -- ''Naturally I will stand by my husband'': marital love and loyalty -- ''Absolved from the guilt of the past'': memory as burden and as grace.
650 0 $aHolocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)$xMoral and ethical aspects.
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$xAtrocities$xMoral and ethical aspects.
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$xReligious aspects$xCatholic Church.
650 0 $aGenocide$xMoral and ethical aspects$zGermany.
650 0 $aHolocaust (Christian theology)
610 20 $aCatholic Church$zGermany$xClergy.
650 7 $aHISTORY / Europe / Germany.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aRELIGION / General.$2bisacsh