Language:
English
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
Yad Vashem Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
26 (1998) 295-328
Keywords:
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah.
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
The controversy surrounding Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners" began in Germany even before the German translation of the book was released in September 1996. The book provoked a negative reaction from veteran German historians, both conservative and leftist. The historians of the younger generation accepted the book with less resentment and more understanding. Objecting to Goldhagen's methodological shortcomings and generalizations, and noting his lack of innovation, they observe that his book was a challenge to German historiography, which neglected popular antisemitism as an important factor of the Holocaust and preferred social and political methods of research rather than anthropological. During his tour in Germany in 1996, Goldhagen was received sympathetically by the non-academic audience. Many writers consider that Goldhagen's book may halt the trend toward relativization of the Holocaust, especially pronounced after the "historians' debate" of 1986-87, and restore the question "Why Germany?" to the agenda.
Note:
See also in Hebrew.
,
On Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, "Hitler's Willing Executioners; Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" (1996).
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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