The Role of German Perpetrator Sites in Teaching and Confronting the Nazi Past

Abstract

Recounting his experiences as the stenographer of Amon Göth, the notorious concentration camp commandant at Plaszów in Poland, the former prisoner Mietek Pemper recalled how Göth would go out onto his balcony and shoot randomly at prisoners before returning to his office to dictate a letter.¹ It is difficult to find a rational explanation for the actions of Nazi perpetrators such as Göth. Consideration of these actions additionally poses uncomfortable questions about the nature of humanity and individual responsibility, particularly in view of the fact that the majority of perpetrators were not ‘born killers’ but conformed to a standard psychological profile.²