Language:
French
Year of publication:
1997
Titel der Quelle:
Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine
Angaben zur Quelle:
44,3 (1997) 514-529
Keywords:
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah.
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
Abstract:
A critique of Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners" (published in French in 1997). Ridicules Goldhagen's presentation of his book as a "radical revision" of everything written up to now on the causes of the Holocaust. Regarding the "eliminationist antisemitism" of the Germans from the 19th century on, disagrees that antisemitism was so widespread amongst the German population. Argues that Goldhagen attributes to the majority of Germans something that was characteristic of the minority. In Goldhagen's view, antisemitism was the most important factor in the implementation of the Final Solution, which is a huge simplification. States that 19th-century Germany had much more than one political culture. Criticizes Goldhagen, also, for his not always scientific language, in which moral indignation is present. A positive aspect of the book is the description of the behavior of ordinary people, but lack of description of the elites' behavior is another example of simplification of the Holocaust's complexity.
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