Divergent Historical Interpretations of the Holocaust

520 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The holocaust thematic essay

When approaching the topic of the Holocaust, historians often become concerned with uncovering the motivations of the perpetrators. Two particular historians, Christopher Browning and Daniel Goldhagen, hold views that are fundamentally opposite. Goldhagen directly challenges Browning’s postulation that the murderers of the Jews were not all fanatical and murderous Nazi’s, by arguing that Germany had a very strong cultural history of anti-Semitism that ultimately moved many German people to murder Jews. The two historians appear to disagree in two major significant areas of the historical interpretation of the Holocaust – the first being their assessments of the role of anti-Semitism in German history and the second being their assessments of the motivations of the German men who ultimately carried out the murders during the Holocaust.

Documents used by Browning show that the members of the Police Battalion 101 were men of all ages and from all walks of German life. Many of these men were not raised in the Nazi-era and were initially offered places in …show more content…

Opposing Browning’s view that the Final Solution implementers were ordinary citizens, Goldhagen believes that anti-Semitism had governed the life of German civil society centuries before the Nazi’s had come to power. He argues that the vast majority of ordinary German citizens were willing executioners during the Holocaust, owing to the aggressive degree of anti-Semitism that was rife in German political culture. Anti-Semitism was the cornerstone of the German’s national identity; and it was so prominent that ordinary German men were willing to kill Jews in support of it. Goldhagen does not believe that the German soldiers were coerced or threatened to kill the victims of the Holocaust, but rather he sees them as volunteering for the killing

Show More
Related

  • What Are Browning's Arguments On 'Ordinary Germans' By Robert Browning

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many of the soldiers that comprised Reserve Police Battalion 101 were of random choosing; they were not picked due to their anti-Semitic sentiments nor for their prowess in previous battles. Browning argues that these ordinary men were not forced to become killers rather they had the option to speak out against these horrific actions and accept the consequences of that or to conform to the orders even if it was a violation of their moral standards. Browning argued that any man had the potential to become a killer if their values were at all compromised, if they were susceptible to peer pressure, if they did not want to seem cowardly in front of their comrades, or if they had a dislike towards Poles, Jews or Soviets which may have been instilled by Nazi propaganda or its ideological training. Through Browning’s research he found out that of the approximately 500 German soldiers that composed Reserve Police Battalion 101, only about ten to twenty percent (50 to 100 soldiers) of men totally abstained from killing altogether, which means at

    Read More

  • Summary Of A Moral Reckoning By Daniel Goldhagen

    2636 Words  | 6 Pages

    This essay will review Daniel Goldhagen’s controversial moral inquiry, ‘A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair’, published in 2002. Goldhagen attended Harvard University as a graduate, undergraduate and assistant professor until he was denied tenure in 2003; this possibly indicates his limited status as an academic. Goldhagen notes that he is ‘indebted’ to his father, a Holocaust survivor, for some of his findings on the Holocaust. This personal connection to the Holocaust on the one hand allows Goldhagen to write more passionately. On the other hand, it obscures his ability to view evidence objectively, evident in this book under review. Goldhagen status rose to notoriety due to the controversial nature of his first book, ‘Hitler’s Willing Executioners’ published in 1996. This received much criticism and perhaps more importantly to Goldhagen, plenty of publicity. The contentious assertions of the book, whether academically valid or not, established the relative novice amongst historians. This is evident in the abundance of secondary literature that comments on Goldhagen’s work including that edited by F. Littell and F. Kautz. Goldhagen’s credentials as a controversial author explain the extremist content of his second book, ‘A Moral Reckoning’. Goldhagen’s academic background in political science is evident in the books emphasis on the church as a ‘political institution’ and the pope as a ‘political leader’ (p. 184). . This limits his work as a historian as he fails to fully examine the role of the individual.

    Read More

  • Historical Analysis Of Gerald Fleming's 'Hitler And The Final Solution'

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    before he came to power, he just used World War II as his golden opportunity to turn his dream into a reality. Others, with Andreas Hillgruber, argue Hitler was the only reason genocide even happened. If Hitler had not been in control, the Holocaust would have ceased to exist. His key sources include the Nuremburg Trials, quoting him saying “this struggle will not end with annihilation of Aryan mankind, but with the extermination of the Jewish people of Europe.” By using Hitler’s own words against him, Hillgruber makes it easy to prove Hitler’s malicious intent clearly and depict him as the mastermind behind the mass murder of the Jewish population. Gerald Fleming creates the last sub-argument in his book, “Hitler and the Final Solution,” provides an in-depth historical evaluation of German fascism and the mechanization behind the Nazi Party bureaucracy. His main point of reference is David Irving’s, “Hitler’s War,”

    Read More

  • Jews' Beliefs and the Holocaust

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jews' Beliefs and the Holocaust In the eyes of many Jews, the Shoah was the most evil act taken out on. the Jewish community and the community. Shoah is a Hebrew word meaning "desolation." and has become the preferred term for the Holocaust for Jews. scholars who believe the word 'holocaust' has lost its significance.

    Read More

  • Arguments of Christopher Browning versus Daniel John Goldhagen Regarding The German View of the Holocaust

    2634 Words  | 6 Pages

    Goldhagen's book however, has the merit of opening up a new perspective on ways of viewing the Holocaust, and it is the first to raise crucial questions about the extent to which eliminationist anti-Semitism was present among the German population as a whole. Using extensive testimonies from the perpetrators themselves, it offers a chilling insight into the mental and cognitive structures of hundreds of Germans directly involved in the killing operations. Anti-Semitism plays a primary factor in the argument from Goldhagen, as it is within his belief that anti-Semitism "more or less governed the ideational life of civil society" in pre-Nazi Germany . Goldhagen stated that a

    Read More

  • The Holocaust: The Witch Hunt On The Holocaust

    293 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Holocaust or the Ha-Shoah in Hebrew meaning ‘the day of the Holocaust and heroism’ refers to the period of time from approximately January 30,1933, when Adolf Hitler became the legal official of Germany, to May 8,1945. After the war was over in Europe, the Jews in Europe were being forced to endure the horrifying persecution that ultimately led to the slaughter of over 6 million Jews with about 1.5 million of them being children as well as the demolition of 5,000 Jewish communities.

    Read More

  • Who Was To Blame For The Holocaust Essay

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the blame for the Holocaust is brought to mind, many immediately think of blaming the Nazis, and only the Nazis. This is not the case, however. The Holocaust was a lesson to humanity, of utmost importance. Blaming the Nazis for the atrocities is an exceptionally important part of this lesson, which is unacceptable. In Elie Wiesel's book, Night, it is evident that blame be passed to Yahweh, the Jewish people themselves, and the non-Jewish Europeans.

    Read More

  • Ordinary Men Book Review

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    The major focus of the book focuses on reconstruction of the events this group of men participated in. According to Browning, the men of Police Battalion 101 were just that—ordinary. They were five hundred middle-aged, working-class men of German descent. A majority of these men were neither Nazi party members nor members of the S.S. They were also from Hamburg, which was a town that was one of the least occupied Nazi areas of Germany and, thus, were not as exposed to the Nazi regime. These men were not self-selected to be part of the order police, nor were they specially selected because of violent characteristics. These men were plucked from their normal lives, put into squads, and given the mission to kill Jews because they were the only people available for the task. “Even in the face of death the Jewish mothers did not separate from their children. Thus we tolerated the mothers taking their children to the ma...

    Read More

  • The Holocaust: The Uniqueness Of The Holocaust

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    During World War II there was event that lead to deaths of millions of innocent people. This even is known as the holocaust, millions of innocent people were killed violently, there was mass murders, rapes and horrific tortures. The question I will attempt to answer in the course of this paper is if the holocaust was a unique event in history. In my opinion there were other mass murders that people committed justified by the feeling of being threatened. But I don 't believe that any were as horrific and inhumane as Germany’s genocide of the Jewish people.

    Read More

  • Holocaust Facts: The Holocaust

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    Holocaust Facts The Holocaust has many reasons for it. Some peoples’ questions are never answered about the Holocaust, and some answers are. The Holocaust killed over 6 million Jews (Byers.p.10.) Over 1.5 million children (Byers, p. 10). They were all sent to concentration camps to do hard labor work.

    Read More

  • Different Perspectives of The Jewish Holocaust

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Holocaust tends to be a bitter memory and an unpleasant subject to discuss. Although this event took place many years ago, repercussions are still present in the twenty first century. Especially in Germany, the Holocaust not only influences patriotism, but it also influences education and immigration policies. In contrast to other countries where nationalism is common, Germany has been forced to lessen the sense of nationalism in order to dispose false beliefs some individuals have of German racism. By allowing people from other countries to become German citizens, Germany avoids transmitting the sense of being a better and a cleaner race. A further sector influenced by the Holocaust is the education system. Approaches to teach about this event are difficult since the Holocaust is a sensitive issue and continues having vital importance in numerous families. Although the Holocaust continues conveying negative influences, the Holocaust also led to positive medical and technological improvements. In fact, numerous improvements are unknowingly implemented in societies today. Therefore, the Holocaust is one of the most horrific and influencing events in history whose repercussions are still felt in Germany today. However, in spite of the horrific occurrences, the associated medical findings and technological improvements make it intricate to look at the Holocaust as plainly evil. Thus, societies should view the Holocaust with a broader perspective.

    Read More

  • Essay On Christopher Browning

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Christopher Browning is a well- known historian and also a writer. His best known books are books regarding the Holocaust during World War II. During the Holocaust the men in charge of the killings were by the Nazi regime, whose leader was Adolf Hitler. Studies show roughly about six million Jews were murdered around this time. These murders were painful and unmoral. In the beginning of the book Browning starts by quoting facts about the holocaust. He quotes, “In mid- March 1942 some 75 to 80 percent of all victims of the Holocaust were still alive, while 20 to 25 percent had perished. The following year the numbers were completely reversed. The majority of the murders of Jews were taken place in Poland. Christopher Browning questions how had the Germans organized and carried out the mass murder of Jews. He also questions how Germany found the resources allowing the Nazi regime to mobilize, considering that Germany in the Treaty of Versailles had to decrease their military. For him to answer this question it led him to investigate, and while investigating he came across a group of m...

    Read More

  • Conformity In Christopher R. Browning's Ordinary Men

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    All of the gathering and killings were done in close contact right away, and continued on for several more cities. However, at the larger mass shootings the policemen did not kill anyone. There were “specialists” who carried out the task of murdering the Jews (162-163). Since segmentation and routinization of tasks were not offered for the entirety of the killings some men became numb to killing, others chose to drink excessive amounts of alcohol, and some simply chose not to kill (188). This information leads me to believe the men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 were in fact ordinary men. Some of the men lost it psychologically and perhaps found excitement in killing like First Lieutenant Gnade (108). I believe Lt. Gnade is a special case; I do not think he was ordinary to begin with. Or maybe he was, just with more hate towards the Jewish people to begin the genocide. Introducing the segmentation and routinization of tasks eased the men’s minds a little; which helped some of them from

    Read More

  • The Holocaust Exposed In Robert Browning's Ordinary Men

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    The fact that the group consisted of so much men meant that there was always a surplus of men willing to participate. Thus, even if a few men did not want to continue it was not the end of the world. Although many men did not decline their orders to kill, many "accidently" shot in the wrong direction, let certain Jews go, or turned a blind eye and spared lives when authority figures were not present. The play between their willingness to conform and follow the orders of authority figures seemed to always be clashing with their moral values. Browning brings up an area called the "grey zone". He wrote that "in spite of our natural desire for clear-cut distinctions, the history of the camps 'could not be reduced to the two blocs of victims and persecutors'" (186). As someone who always looks for the good in people, I cannot bring myself to believe that all the men in the Reserve Police Battalion 101 were cold-headed killers. Many had families, children back home, and common jobs before the atrocious events in the early 1940's began. The topic of whether or not the actions of the men should be justified is a very difficult one since the actions they committed reflected the greatest evil another human can do. However, I do believe after reading Browning's book, that many factors played a role in their willingness to continue. The human dilemma between doing what is ordered and

    Read More

  • Robert Browning Essay Writing

    1658 Words  | 4 Pages

    Robert Browning was born on May 7th, 1812 in Camberwell, London, England. He is the son of Robert and Sara Anna Wiedmen Browning. Despite growing up in a middle class family he is considered to be one of the major two poets of the Victorian era. He attended boarding school from the age of eight until he was sixteen. He then enrolled at the University of London in 1828. However he withdrew from the university after a few months because he believed he did not belong there. As a result most of his education came from tutors and the many books found in his father’s library. During this time he read many famous works such as Alexander Pope’s Iliad of Homer as well as many romantic poems. His favorite poet was Percy Bysste Shelley. The first poem Browning wrote is Pauline which was published in 1833. In 1846 he met his soon to be wife Elizabeth Barrett and they quickly fell in love. They went to Italy where they would later get eloped, had a son and lived there till the death of his wife in 1861. After her death, Browning and his son moved back to England and published “The Ring and the Book”. It was a series of dramatic monologues related to seventeenth century murder cases. It was the book that eventually established his reputation. He continued on to publish Dramatic Idyls in 1879 through 1880 and received world-wide fame. Browning is most widely known for creating the dramatic monologue. In 1881 the Browning Society was built.

    Read More

More about Divergent Historical Interpretations of the Holocaust

Open Document