Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 12:29:21 -0500 Reply-To: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Sender: H-NET List on German History From: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers Subject: Re: Victimization Submitted by: Alan Kahan Mr. Ingrao mixes up two very separate issues in his comments on the expulsions of the German populations from various regions. On the one hand, there are ethnic Germans who had had no contact with the German state and could not by any stretch of the imagination be seen as responsible for it. The horrors perpetrated on these people can have no possible justification. On the other hand Prof. Ingrao raises a very different question when he seeks to absolve of guilt Germans who merely served in their country's armed forces. It seems to me that these Germans do have to bear some personal responsibility for being willing to bear arms for the Nazi regime. Granted, they faced heavy consequences if they refused to serve; they nevertheless must accept moral responsibility for their choice. Alan Kahan Kahana@servax.fiu.edu .