Abstract
This study explored eight Christian German reflections of die Schuldfrage (“the question of German guilt for the Second World War and the Holocaust) in relation to their life histories. To do so, this study employed German philosopher Karl Jaspers' concept of metaphysische Schuld (“metaphysical guilt”) as a theoretical framework to better understand participants’ reflections of three topics: 1) die Schuldfrage as a concept in relation to key life history events that informed their reflections thereon, 2) the theological dealings required to reconcile die Schuldfrage (however that looks for them), and 3) any observations regarding the potential relationship between die Schuldfrage and Flüchtlingskriese. Participants’ life history interviews were conducted over field research in Berlin, Germany, and analyzed in two stages: I) using Amadeo Giorgi’s empirical phenomenology to bracket participants’ experiences of die Schuldfrage from their reflections of them, and II) applying Jaspers’ concept of metaphysische Schuld (“metaphysical guilt”) to stage I to identify thematic and structural overlap and disagreement.
