Postwar German public discussion revealed majority anti-democratic and anti-Semitic sentiment.

Evidence

The attitudes of those taking part in the discussions (or, more exactly, of those who spoke in them) were largely negative, not only towards the Soviet Union but also towards the Western powers. Approximately two-thirds of the speakers expressed ambivalent attitudes towards democracy. There were twice as many explicit opponents of democracy as there were those who had no reservations about it. At the same time, half of the speakers rejected any shared guilt for the atrocities of the Third Reich. Two statistical groups stood out in particular for their negative qualities: farmers and academics. The farmers all without exception denied any share in national guilt; the academics denied it virtually without exception. Of the farmers who expressed views about the Jews, more than three-quarters proved to be radically or considerably anti-Semitic. The academics, who participated in the discussions to a far greater extent than average on every other topic, were noticeably withdrawn on the topic of the Jews. Of those who did express an opinion, over 90 per cent were radically or considerably anti-Semitic. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1887

Categorization

• QUESTION: What was the source and methodology of this poll or discussion analysis? The quantitative precision suggests a specific survey or study worth identifying.
• XREF: connects to: Most postwar Germans rejected shared guilt; academics and farmers were most anti-Semitic — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1887; Postwar shared suffering made German strangers unusually open in conversation — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1868; West German political attitudes measured 16 percent positive and 44 percent negative — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1888 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Postwar West Germans showed mostly negative or ambivalent attitudes toward democratic values #corroborates (0.95) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1888
• Early 1950s German public ranked Jewish claims to aid last among suffering groups #exemplifies (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1905