A Generation of Coldness: Pre-war German Values

Heinrich Himmler, a character in Susan Griffin’s aforementioned story, was a result of pre-war German child-rearing. He became a callous and cruel individual during the latter part of his life, eventually ordering the deaths of millions of innocent men, women, and children. As an adult, Himmler showed no sympathy for any situation and felt no remorse for his merciless behavior. These characteristics stem back to how Himmler was raised. As a young boy, Himmler was forced by his father to record events in his journal, and he was also forced to leave his reactions to these events out of the record. This is because his father, as well as the rest of the German society, felt that all “feminine” characteristics of a boy should be destroyed. At the time, men were not

because of its close connection with feminism. A hint of man’s empathy was quickly covered up in strict fear of being considered homosexual, one of the greatest sins at the time.

To commit another of these horrible sins was to vary in any other way from the accepted model of a German citizen. At the time, the Germans were trying to create the master race, one of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants with blonde hair and blue eyes; a perfect human being who showed no compassion towards others’ pain. By trying to breed this perfect society, the Germans repressed their younger generation. When this younger generation grew up, they became a legion of cold-hearted men who were responsible for the gassing of millions of people. The reason they were able to make such severe decisions like that was because of the fact that they were raised thinking that those things were acceptable, if the end result helped to create the perfect race.

It becomes ironic when the children of Dr. Schreber are hospitalized or commit suicide (352). It seems to prove how distorted and traumatic his ideas and practices were towards childrearing. If his encouraged ideas were in any way good for a child, I highly doubt one of his children would have been hospitalized for schizophrenia and the other would have committed suicide. Something was obviously wrong with his beliefs. Suppressing a young boy’s feelings and emotions is unhealthy, and also goes against human nature.

books on the connections between the suppressive practices and beliefs during pre-war Germany and

Some topics in this essay:
Susan Griffin’s, Dr Schreber, Anglo-Saxon Protestants, Alice Miller, Moritz Schreber, Alice Miller’s, II Holocaust, Griffin’s Secret, Secret Griffin, Heinrich Himmler, susan griffin’s, german society, pre-war german, alice miller’s, create master, germany towards, child prevent, generation generation, towards childrearing, master race,