Bishop Bell and the Trial of German War Criminals: a Moral History
This article present a consciously 'moral' and 'historical' discussion of Bishop Bell's opposition to a number of war crimes trials in the wake of the defeat of Germany in 1945. It argues that however consistently Bell had worked on behalf of the victims of the National Soci...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2008
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| In: |
Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
Year: 2008, Volume: 21, Issue: 2, Pages: 324-348 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article present a consciously 'moral' and 'historical' discussion of Bishop Bell's opposition to a number of war crimes trials in the wake of the defeat of Germany in 1945. It argues that however consistently Bell had worked on behalf of the victims of the National Socialist persecution of the Jews, he was now guilty of acting not in the interests of those victims but on behalf of the dubious claims of a number of those directly implicated in mass-murder. This represented a major error of judgement. But it was no accident. Bell adhered to a view that distinguished too naively between the Nazis and those who represented another, Christian Germany. It was the legitimisation of this 'other' Germany, not least in face of the danger of Soviet communism, which now mattered most to him. The danger of this argument was that it led the bishop into questionable arguments and controversial company, and that it did nothing to encourage a proper public acknowledgement of the fate of the Jews of occupied Europe. |
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| ISSN: | 2196-808X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.13109/kize.2008.21.2.324 |