The Holocaust: The Complications Of The Holocaust

According to Goldhagen (2009), the perpetrators of the Holocaust were responsible for murdering a variety of victims on average per year. This represents a unique component of the genocide. With that said, the Holocaust does contain several unique elements that are not characteristic of other documented genocides including their choice of victims, the source of the genocide’s ideology, and the desire to exterminate all Jews. Nevertheless, using Goldhagen’s new perspective on genocide, the Holocaust is not a unique eliminationist event in its totality. Leaders are responsible for the creation of the genocide. Furthermore, political and social factors contributed to the genocide because they provided the opportunities for which the genocide could occur. Lastly, the implications associated with genocide are common because individuals and their children deal with the same symptoms as other genocidal survivors despite experiencing different genocides. In essence, the Holocaust is a complex event because of its traditional causes and its unique elements that cannot be applied to any documented genocide.

The Holocaust does contain distinctive elements that are not characteristic of other genocidal events. The

Goldhagen (2009) emphasizes that all genocides occur because “one or a few people initiate…mass annihilation” (69). Moreover, it is clear that Hitler’s “eliminationist thinking about Jews” and the anti-Semitism present within Germany will not produce systematic murder “unless political leaders mobilize…those who hate into a program of killing.” (Goldhagen 2009:69) Leaders create a discourse that reinforces the pre-existing beliefs and desires to eliminate a target group within society; thus, creating the will to kill. In essence, leaders are a common element within all genocides because they create policies and propaganda that becomes implemented by the