The tradition of collective guilt

Open Access

Abstract

Collective guilt, i.e. ascertaining 'guilt' to large social groups, whether they may belong to religious, ethnic, class, or simply 'dangerously different' collectives, has been present in all environments, but, some nation states have developed it as a tradition. The first phases of this phenomenon existed since pre-Christian times on the basis of religious schisms. This may be considered from the aspect of the development of the civilization as a specific way of building ethnic and especially religious identities based upon a drastic form of distinction as well. Since those earlier days the natural basis of thinking and determination of guilt was the guilt of resistance and of being different, even present today. Added to this structure of collective guilt is the domination of the winner over the defeated, common for all environments and all outcomes of war. The general domination of Christianity in Europe and frequency of religious schisms intensified the aspect of sin and need for atonement, thence the Jews became the first collective sinners in Europe. In time, the accent of collective guilt became more secular and of this world. Punishment for religious differences more and more grew into punishment for exclusivity and of not fitting within the concepts of the social establishment - especially for resisting those dominating the society. Ideology ever more substituted religion for political interests as a reason for ascertaining collective guilt. This was especially affected by the state of absolute political domination of one political power. Therefore the next great guilt was the guilt of class. Following the October Revolution all those who somehow belonged to the bourgeoisie, even children, were considered guilty. The collective guilt of the Germans was a mixture of the guilt of the defeated and the guilt formed by the dominant ideological circles of liberalism and socialism over fascism. Their guilt was then expressed as the guilt of 'threatening harmony' which was mapped out by both winning sides. Collective punishments ranging from excommunication and eviction to extermination. Proofs of guilt and innocence are unnecessary. The strong trust themselves and judge. Modern America (USA) like Europe suffers from an exaggerated aestheticism of politics. It is in that context that the tradition of collective guilt is developing a new dimension. The position of total superiority is possible even without totalitarism. In order to be bad, it is enough to be a collector of unfavorable qualities. The Serbs are such an example. First of all, they negatively provoked by their behavior the modern conception of European harmony imposed by the dominating powers and thereby directly threatened these interests. The religious difference of the Serbs was not in itself sufficient, so they were forced to accept the status of losers in a war which in fact they militarily survived if not won. As in the ancient inquisition, or not so long ago in the days of fascist and Stalinist totalitarianism, they were openly satanized as a collective. The practice of isolation by the powerful was once again repeated. The guilty are also required to degrade themselves obediently thereby acknowledging and giving legitimacy to the violence committed upon them. Transfer of guilt is also present. Old sinners are always active in pursuit of new ones, as they believe that it washes away their guilt and leads towards distribution onto other subjects. Today as before, no distinctions are made in collect guilt thereby compromising and destroying the innocent as well which is evidence that this ritual still survives in Europe.