The Holocaust and Goldhagen's Theory

The Holocaust

• The Holocaust is the main example of genocide in this course.
• The Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933.
• Emigration was the original solution to the "Jewish problem", however, the Nazis enacted Kristallnacht as a way to force Jews out of Germany, along with confiscating their assets.
• The Nazis' 'Final Solution' to the "Jewish problem" was to exterminate all Jews.
• By early 1945, about 6 million Jews had been murdered.

Goldhagen's Theory

• Daniel Goldhagen argues in "Hitler's Willing Executioners" (1996) that German antisemitic beliefs caused the Holocaust.
• According to Goldhagen, this antisemitic hatred was so pervasive that it would have motivated millions of Germans to participate in the Holocaust if they had had the opportunity.

Goldhagen's Evidence:

• Goldhagen claims that Germany had a specific brand of "exterminationist antisemitism" that existed from the 19th century and persisted into the 20th century
• Goldhagen cites examples of German police officers who took pleasure in killing Jews, claiming that this hatred was an independent, sufficient cause of the Holocaust.

Conventional Explanations Debunked:

• Goldhagen rejects other explanations of the Holocaust, such as:
  • Coercion
  • Obedience to Authority (OTA)
  • Conformity/peer pressure
  • Greed/self-interest
  • Ambition
  • Division of labor/fragmentation of the destruction process

Hilberg's View

• Raul Hilberg's "The Destruction of the European Jews" details his theory of the Holocaust as an "administrative process"
• Hilberg believes that the Holocaust was executed via a bureaucratic machine and that many Germans were involved in the process because of compartmentalized thought.

Arendt's View

• Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" argues that the Holocaust was committed through the "banality of evil", and many perpetrators were "desk murderers"

Milgram's View

• Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment proving that ordinary people will follow orders, suggesting that the perpetrators were simply following orders.

Browning's View

• Christopher Browning researched a group of 'ordinary' shooters in the Holocaust and believes that peer pressure (from the top-down and bottom-up) was a key instigator of the Holocaust.

Goldhagen's Dismissal of Convention:

• Goldhagen dismisses all conventional explanations for the Holocaust, stating that they assume Germans were opposed to the killing of Jews.
• He believes that the Germans were not simply indifferent to the slaughter but were actively motivated by their antisemitism to participate.

Goldhagen's Argument for Unbureaucratic Killing:

• Goldhagen argues that many perpetrators in "unsophisticated" killing institutions (those without formal bureaucratic systems) were not indifferent to their victims and often volunteered to kill.

Goldhagen's Conclusion:

• Goldhagen concludes that a combination of German antisemitism and the Nazi regime's commitment to extermination was the sole, efficient cause of the Holocaust.

Critiques of Goldhagen's Argument

• There are criticisms of Goldhagen's first argument:
  • If German antisemitism was so pervasive, why were Jews emancipated in 19th-century Germany?
  • Why did Germans experience more violence against Jews than Russians before the war?
  • Why did this intense hatred of Jews seemingly disappear after WWII?

Bauer's Critique of Goldhagen:

• Yehuda Bauer argues that many Nazi Party members were not extreme antisemites, but rather shared a "moderate" antisemitism that could be considered pervasive but not necessarily murderous.
• Bauer suggests that this moderate antisemitism was prevalent amongst the German population.

Browning's Critique of Goldhagen:

• Christopher Browning agrees that "cruelty" played a role in the Holocaust but still favors Hilberg's bureaucratic process theory.

Hilberg's Conclusion:

• Despite Goldhagen's critiques, Hilberg believes that the majority of academics have dismissed his theory because it was based on shaky foundations, particularly his first argument.
• Hilberg believes that "normal" and "ordinary" desk murderers could have engaged in the same behavior as those in the "unsophisticated" institutions if the bureaucratic process had not existed.

Goldhagen's Lasting Impact:

• Despite his theory being scrutinized by academics, Goldhagen's point that "ordinary people" can be capable of horrific acts will continue to be debated.
• Goldhagen's perspective raises the question: What drove ordinary people to participate in the Holocaust?

Explore the chilling events of the Holocaust, where approximately 6 million Jews were exterminated under the Nazi regime. This quiz delves into Daniel Goldhagen's argument in 'Hitler's Willing Executioners' regarding the role of German antisemitism in perpetrating these atrocities. Test your understanding of the historical context and implications of Goldhagen's theory.