Of course there are good Germans. Thousands of them- millions
even. I’m sure there are many Germans amongst the 250 good people I know well. And
there were good Germans, too, between 1938 and 1946.
I’ve just come back from seeing the play Good by C.P. Taylor at the Exchange Theatre.
John Halder is a doctor and he believes in euthanasia for the terminally mentally
ill who have no quality of life. He comes towards a Nazi ideal through the highest
motives. On the other hand, his friend Maurice, a Jew who refuses to save himself,
loves Frankfurt and hates other Jews apart from his wife and children. Both
Halder and Maurice think that Hitler is an aberration that will soon pass. The racism against Jews is just a moment of
madness that will also pass.
And in my story Kathe Edler is defending some of their
German friends. “There are good Germans
too,” she tells Renate. She quotes
Renate’s father, their former servants, and their friends in Stuttgart.
Did I include this scene today because I knew I was going to
see Good? Or do I have a similar
message to Taylor? That the whole situation is complex, that it is not possible
to judge and that it cannot be defined in black and white terms.
The play was brilliant and I can recommend it. It made very
clever use of music.
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