The word Tätervolk is used to refer to the collective guilt of a whole population.

It has been used in the context of the German people’s responsibility for the events of the Second World War, ie. that the nation as a whole was guilty of the crimes committed.  This idea was, however, dismissed at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file

Tags: Kollektivschuld, Tätervolk

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Unwort des Jahres. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.