--- - |2 Abstract Against the theoretical background that sketches Biblical, legal, historical, psychological and biographical perspectives on guilt, this article examines the mental models that some German youths have in relation to the experiences told by Shoah survivors. Ethnographic descriptions and discourse analytical interpretations of these models are based on six participants’ responses to video‐graphed interviews with Shoah survivors. These responses were video‐recorded during a public presentation that the youths gave in a German small‐town in honour of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Results indicate that attitudes to the crimes of the Shoah consist largely of formulaic recitations of commonly‐adopted discourses that separate guilt from responsibility and silence the crimes in multiple, subtle ways. To balance this, some counter‐examples are provided from other German contexts. The article ends by offering pointers towards appropriate ways of being responsible. - 'Journal of Historical Sociology, EarlyView. '