Language:
English
Year of publication:
2000
Titel der Quelle:
Cultural Critique
Angaben zur Quelle:
46 (2000) 124-152
Keywords:
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
;
Antisemitism History 1933-1945
Abstract:
Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners" provoked a defensive and apologetic academic reaction in Germany and worldwide. It was not only the contents of the book but also Goldhagen's resentful tone which caused such a reaction. Defends the moral propriety of Goldhagen's indignation, contending that his tone is a proper one for the topic of the brutal genocide of the Jews. Using LaCapra's psychoanalytic approach, argues that national, religious, and ideological backgrounds of historians become an issue when they are writing a traumatic history. Goldhagen, a Holocaust survivor's son, cannot write on the Holocaust with the same detached tone as a German historian. Reflects on the role of the imaginary in regulating scholarly interpretations, and exposes its power in the "disciplining" of traumatic history. Calls for "discipline" and "civility" in historiography.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink