Selbstverständlich gibt es keine Kollektivschuld, trotzdem möchte ich mich als Staatsoberhaupt der Republik Österreich für jene Verbrechen entschuldigen, die von Österreichern im Zeichen des Nationalsozialismus begangen wurden.
Rede des Bundespräsidenten Dr. Kurt Waldheim am Vorabend des 50. Jahrestages des „Anschlusses“ Österreichs an Hitlerdeutschland im Österreichischen Fernsehen http://www.uibk.ac.at/zeitgeschichte/zis/library/gehler.html#dok3
Often quoted as simply "There is no such thing as collective guilt".
“Pernkopf was only one of many Austrians who were "rehabilitated" in the postwar period. Their rehabilitation underscores the tendency of Austria to forget, suppress, and deny the events of the Nazi period. …Anton Pelinka …has called this phenomenon the "great Austrian taboo." It is precisely this moral vacuum that induced Simon Wiesenthal to establish his documentation center for Nazi war crimes in Austria, not Germany.”
In Search of Memory (2006)
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Eric R. Kandel 81
American neuropsychiatrist 1929Related quotes
from documentary Traceroute
Letter to R. Fitzpatrick (10 September 1800), quoted in L. G. Mitchell, Charles James Fox (London: Penguin, 1997), p. 168.
1800s
Interview with a French writer Peiper spoke with in 1967, quoted in The Devil's Adjutant by Michael Reynolds, page 260.
"The Banality of Heroism" in The Greater Good (Fall/Winter 2006/2007) http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_banality_of_heroism/, co-written with Zeno Franco
Context: Whether we consider Nazi Germany or Abu Ghraib prison, there were many people who observed what was happening and said nothing. At Abu Ghraib, one photo shows two soldiers smiling before a pyramid of naked prisoners while a dozen other soldiers stand around watching passively. If you observe such abuses and don’t say, “This is wrong! Stop it!” you give tacit approval to continue. You are part of the silent majority that makes evil deeds more acceptable.
Massad, in "Palestinians and Jewish History: Recognition or Submission?", Journal of Palestine Studies, 2000
On the Mufti of Jerusalem
Election programme contained in a foreword to an official list of Coalition candidates, quoted in The Times (11 December 1918), p. 8
Prime Minister