Jaspers' work "The Question of Guilt," conceived in 1945, was published in 1946, when the crimes of Nazi Germany were revealed to the entire nation for the first time. It sought to provoke reflection—unyielding and without self-righteousness—at a time when horror and shame turned into confusion, silence, and hidden anger. This positioning by Karl Jaspers was an initial response to the thesis of the victorious powers regarding German collective guilt.