Equating National Borders with Ethnic Identity: How a Contemporary Heuristic Distorts Perceptions of Historical Violence

An experimental study conducted in the United States, Germany, and Poland shows that by presenting WWII violence within different national borders we differently understand the collective identities of the people involved and thereby make different assessments of collective responsibility. Perceptions of Polish, German, and French responsibility were higher when the violence was presented as having taken place in Poland, Germany, or France, respectively. This blurring of national and ethnic identity can turn historical victims into perpetrators and even make historical perpetrators and/or historical victims disappear. The implications of this finding for how we teach and commemorate historical violence are discussed.