Language:
English
Year of publication:
2009
Titel der Quelle:
Central European History
Angaben zur Quelle:
42,2 (2009) 279-300
Keywords:
Arendt, Hannah,
;
Zimmerer, Jürgen
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
National socialism
;
Genocide History 20th century
Abstract:
Discusses the "new" school of genocide studies that challenges the idea of the uniqueness of the Holocaust. Disputes the theory, particularly championed by Jürgen Zimmerer, of the Holocaust's non-European roots, specifically of its continuity with German mass murders of the Herero and Nama people in 1904-07 in Southwest Africa, where Windhoek was located. Refers to parallel elements in European imperialism and Nazism that are discussed in Hanna Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism", but notes that Arendt did not posit a causal relationship between the phenomena. Points out shortcomings of Zimmerer's continuity theory, noting that Germany's colonial violence was preceeded by that of the U.S. in the Philippines, Spain in Cuba, and France in Algeria, all in the 19th century. Not only authoritarian regimes, but also democratic ones, have engaged in and justified mass violence. Nazism and the Holocaust represent not a continuation, but a break with European colonial tradition. Argues that Germany's experience during and after World War I was more influential than the pre-World War I period in affecting Nazi genocidal policy.
DOI:
10.1017/S0008938909000314
URL:
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