Language:
English
Year of publication:
1988
Titel der Quelle:
Patterns of Prejudice
Angaben zur Quelle:
22,1 (1988) 14-20
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
Argues that German historians, such as Ernst Nolte and Joachim Fest, who deal with the Holocaust in the context of the Soviet Gulag ignore the concept of the singularity of historical events. Nazi policy was not merely an imitation of other events, but a deliberate decision. While Soviet atrocities were linked to the class struggle, the Jews were singled out by biological determinism. The Gulag could not have "caused" the Holocaust, just as an anti-German statement by Chaim Weizmann could not have "caused" the internment and annihilation of the Jews as prisoners of war. Nolte has ignored evidence regarding Nazi use of the "science of murder" since it demonstrates the uniqueness of Nazism and the inappropriateness of the analogy between race and class.
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