“In the name of the Germans”: Norbert Frei examined how the Federal Presidents reacted to National Socialism. A conversation about guilt, shame and opportunism.
The historian Norbert Frei has been commissioned by the Presidential Office to research the history of the Federal Presidents of the old Federal Republic – especially with the question: How did they deal with National Socialism, socially and personally? Frei presented the result, the study “In the Name of the Germans. The Federal Presidents and the Nazi Past”, to the current incumbent, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, this Wednesday at Bellevue Palace. “The past is never over,” said the Federal President when introducing the investigation. This extends from the first President Theodor Heuss to Richard von Weizsäcker – the last of the heads of state who experienced the end of the Second World War as adults.