After World War II, Germany became a completely different nation from what it had been used to be. It shifted from the authoritarian, war criminal nation that was controlled by the Nazi, to the nation that protects basic human rights and freedom. This was due to their changed viewpoint on freedom from causing harm to others to respecting humanity, which enabled healthier neural health for their citizens, giving them a happier and healthier society.
The freedom that the Nazis praised was very destructive and harmful, in neurochemical ways. Nazi also used the word “Freiheit”, which meant Freedom in German (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). However, the “Freiheit” that they wanted was the freedom to suppress people who were weaker than them (O’Mathúna, 2-3). They justified this evil freedom in the terms of Social Darwinism and the “survival of the fittests”, which claimed that the dominant German race had a right to rule other races that were inferior (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
However, this cruel ideology actually fascinated a lot of Germans at that time, as it made their dopamine behave in immoral ways. Dopamine, the neurochemical that’s associated with rewards, can also be triggered when people see other people who they think are unfair being punished (Singer et al. 1). To this end, Germans were fascinated by Hitler’s hate toward life and ended up becoming a war criminal nation.
When World War 2 ended, Germany became a right opposite state from what it used to be, when they changed their point of view on freedom based on the idea that “human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority”(Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection). They abandoned the freedom to harm others and brought the freedom to protect human rights. Their freedom is now focused on the preservation of human dignity and the equality of that dignity of every human being. This made Germany become the 7th happiest nation in the world (Hobbes).
How could this have been possible? When people are being respected, serotonin and oxytocin are released and create social comfort (Arshad et al. 3). Through this, Germans could shift their perception of freedom and develop respect for each other instead of hatred, ultimately leading Germany to become a happier nation.
By. Hangyul Park
Works Cited
Arshad, Faheem, et al. “Impact of respect, equity, and leadership in brain health.” Frontiers in Neurology, 2023, pp. 1 – 4, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10442505/pdf/fneur-14-1198882.pdf.
Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection. Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html.
Hobbes, Michael. “Happiness.” Goethe Institut, 2021, https://www.goethe.de/prj/tbp/en/eps/hap.html.
O’Mathúna, Dónal P. “Human dignity in the Nazi era: implications for contemporary bioethics.” BMC Medical Ethics, 2006, pp. 1 – 12. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16536874/.
Singer, Tania, et al. “Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others.” Nature, 2006, pp. 1-11. Nature, https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04271.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Nazi Party Freiheit und Brot [Freedom and bread] campaign pin.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2005, https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn517407.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology | Holocaust Encyclopedia.” Holocaust Encyclopedia, 20 September 2024, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/victims-of-the-nazi-era-nazi-racial-ideology. Accessed 29 October 2025.