--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Most German perpetrators were never…" description: "\"“Most German perpetrators were never punished or rewarded for their behavior, but they had learned something about themselves. They know what they did ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/fern-schumer-chapman-64151_extremes_most-german-perpetrators-were-never-puni_1120878.jpg" --- # Most German perpetrators were never punished or rewarded… ![“Most German perpetrators were never punished or rewarded for their behavior, but they had learned something about themselves. They know what they did or didn't do in the most morally fraught moment of their lives. They have seen themselves in extreme circumstances and, in that, they have seen…” quote by Fern Schumer Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/fern-schumer-chapman-64151_extremes_most-german-perpetrators-were-never-puni_1120878.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/fern-schumer-chapman-64151_extremes_most-german-perpetrators-were-never-puni_1120878.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/95d/fern-schumer-chapman-64151_extremes_most-german-perpetrators-were-never-puni_1120878.jpg) > ““Most German perpetrators were never punished or rewarded for their behavior, but they had learned something about themselves. They know what they did or didn't do in the most morally fraught moment of their lives. They have seen themselves in extreme circumstances and, in that, they have seen their own extremes.”” [Fern Schumer Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fern-schumer-chapman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often discover hidden aspects of their character when faced with extreme moral choices, revealing personal extremes. **In simple terms:** Extreme situations reveal personal extremes. Key Takeaway Reflect on your own moral limits. Themes ethics self-awareness extremes Mood reflective serious Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - war crimes trials - personal crises - leadership decisions - ethical dilemmas Key Concepts psychology morality identity Questions to Reflect On - What extremes have you seen in yourself? - How do you confront uncomfortable self‑knowledge? A Different Perspective Self‑knowledge may be uncomfortable and lead to denial. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) [German Perpetrators](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/german-perpetrators-3032643/) [Germans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/germans/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Holocaust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/holocaust/) [Israel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/israel/) [Memoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/memoir/) [Nazis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nazis/) [Perpetrators](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perpetrators/) [Perpetrators Punished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perpetrators-punished-3032644/) [Punished Rewarded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/punished-rewarded-536318/) [Rewarded Behavior](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rewarded-behavior-3032645/) ## Related quotes > [“People are "punished" or "rewarded" not for what they have done but for what they have become, and what we intentionally do is what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-r-loy/people-are-punished-or-rewarded-not-for-what-they-have-done-but-for/) [David R. Loy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-r-loy/) > [Forgiveness is possible even when there is no restitution, no remorse on the part of the perpetrator.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-h-pearce/forgiveness-is-possible-even-when-there-is-no-restitution-no-remorse/) [Virginia H. Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-h-pearce/) > [One reason that I embarked on a study of Nazi doctors was that in this personal journey, I had the feeling increasingly that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-jay-lifton/one-reason-that-i-embarked-on-a-study-of-nazi-doctors-was-that-in/) [Robert Jay Lifton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-jay-lifton/) > [“Both incest and the Holocaust have been subject to furious denial by perpetrators and other individuals and by highly organised groups such as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-walker/both-incest-and-the-holocaust-have-been-subject-to-furious-denial-by/) [Janet Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-walker/) > [Each way to suicide is its own: intensely private, unknowable, and terrible. Suicide will have seemed to its perpetrator the last and best of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/each-way-to-suicide-is-its-own-intensely-private-unknowable-and/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [No other work has more often been blamed for more heinous crimes by the perpetrators of such crimes. The Bible has been named as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nadine-strossen/no-other-work-has-more-often-been-blamed-for-more-heinous-crimes-by/) [Nadine Strossen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nadine-strossen/) > [“To identify the perpetrators, first know the crime.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-princiotta/to-identify-the-perpetrators-first-know-the-crime/) [Josef Princiotta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-princiotta/) > [The Children's Safety Act will help protect children from the perpetrators of these vile crimes by strengthening notification requirements for sex offenders and increasing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-t-walsh/the-children-s-safety-act-will-help-protect-children-from-the/) [James T. Walsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-t-walsh/) > [In the Goldstone Report, Israeli perpetrators of possible crimes against humanity were made subject to prosecution and punishment, although the geopolitical leverage of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-a-falk/in-the-goldstone-report-israeli-perpetrators-of-possible-crimes/) [Richard A. Falk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-a-falk/) > [Food Throwers: Begun usually by estranged couples, once this victual flinging starts, everyone will do it...Should your dinner party have become an out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-p-donleavy-2/food-throwers-begun-usually-by-estranged-couples-once-this-victual/) [J. P. Donleavy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-p-donleavy-2/) > [God's grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver. From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-keller/god-s-grace-and-forgiveness-while-free-to-the-recipient-are-always/) [Timothy Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-keller/) > [There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness. That realization is true forgiveness. With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/there-is-only-one-perpetrator-of-evil-on-the-planet-human/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Simply coming to the perpetrator and delivering the message is Nozick's definition of revenge. And in that sense, Adi is exacting revenge. When people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/errol-morris/simply-coming-to-the-perpetrator-and-delivering-the-message-is-nozick/) [Errol Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/errol-morris/) > [Sexual assault not a women's issue, this is a peace and security issue. And we have to make sure that we go after the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-wallstrom/sexual-assault-not-a-women-s-issue-this-is-a-peace-and-security-issue/) [Margot Wallstrom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-wallstrom/) > [But ice-crunching and loud gum-chewing, together with drumming on tables, and whistling the same tune 70 times in succession, because they indicate an indifference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-benchley/but-ice-crunching-and-loud-gum-chewing-together-with-drumming-on/) [Robert Benchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-benchley/) ## More by Fern Schumer Chapman > [“Memory for most is a kind of afterlife; for my mother, it is another form of life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fern-schumer-chapman/memory-for-most-is-a-kind-of-afterlife-for-my-mother-it-is-another/) [Fern Schumer Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fern-schumer-chapman/) > [“The living take a part of the dead with them, carrying them around in their minds, like a song that lingers after the music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fern-schumer-chapman/the-living-take-a-part-of-the-dead-with-them-carrying-them-around-in/) [Fern Schumer Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fern-schumer-chapman/) > [“The past is a presence between us. In all my mother does and says, the past continually discloses itself in the smallest ways. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fern-schumer-chapman/the-past-is-a-presence-between-us-in-all-my-mother-does-and-says-the/) [Fern Schumer Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fern-schumer-chapman/) > [“Smells, I think, may be the last thing on earth to die.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fern-schumer-chapman/smells-i-think-may-be-the-last-thing-on-earth-to-die/) [Fern Schumer Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fern-schumer-chapman/) [Explore all 5 Fern Schumer Chapman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fern-schumer-chapman/) ## More Extremes quotes > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/while-the-people-retain-their-virtue-and-vigilance-no-administration/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion, and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-schmitt/the-concept-of-humanity-is-an-especially-useful-ideological/) [Carl Schmitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-schmitt/) > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [It's fine to talk about politics with people you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you disagree with.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-lessig/it-s-fine-to-talk-about-politics-with-people-you-agree-with-but-it-is/) [Lawrence Lessig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-lessig/) > [Either dragons should exist completely or fail to exist at all, he felt. A dragon only half-existing was worse than the extremes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/either-dragons-should-exist-completely-or-fail-to-exist-at-all-he/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-alekhine/playing-for-complications-is-an-extreme-measure-that-a-player-should/) [Alexander Alekhine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-alekhine/) > [I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-strongly-reject-any-conceptual-scheme-that-places-our-options-on-a/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [My childhood was extreme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tori-amos/my-childhood-was-extreme/) [Tori Amos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tori-amos/) > [I like to push characters to extremes so they have to make really tough decisions and there is no life more extreme than that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-cleave/i-like-to-push-characters-to-extremes-so-they-have-to-make-really/) [Chris Cleave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-cleave/) > [An excessive preponderance of an idealistic mood is harmful to society: it creates daydreaming, political Don Quixotism, hope for heavenly intervention. This is an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henryk-sienkiewicz/an-excessive-preponderance-of-an-idealistic-mood-is-harmful-to/) [Henryk Sienkiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henryk-sienkiewicz/) > [I think that for thousands of years people have made the observation that there are certain kinds of extreme depressive states that seem to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/i-think-that-for-thousands-of-years-people-have-made-the-observation/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [I find that Americans are all in the middle somewhere, except for the extreme nuts, and extreme nuts on both sides are the loudest.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-titus/i-find-that-americans-are-all-in-the-middle-somewhere-except-for-the/) [Christopher Titus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-titus/) > [I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-munger/i-have-what-i-call-an-iron-prescription-that-helps-me-keep-sane-when/) [Charlie Munger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-munger/) > [I think the only real referent for anybody writing drama is probably Hamlet. You have the most extreme tragic drama, this sort of blood-boltered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-monahan/i-think-the-only-real-referent-for-anybody-writing-drama-is-probably/) [William Monahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-monahan/) [Browse all 1,963 Extremes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Most German perpetrators were never punished or rewarded for their behavior, but they had learned something about themselves. They know what they did or didn't do in the most morally fraught moment of their lives. 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