Volstumskampf: Rationalism And Criticism

for any legal constraints. The methods will be incompatible with our principles… Prevent Polish intelligentsia from becoming a leadership group… the old and the new territory should be cleansed of Jews, Polacks, and rubble.” . Friedlander goes on to note that this statement shows that Hitler’s idea of Volstumskampf did not call for the political domination of these group such as the Jews, but rather their elimination. intentionalism: Criticism
There are a couple main critiques commonly made of the the intentionalism school of thought. The biggest of which, being that intentionalists put too large an emphasis on Hitler’s role in the final solution. Tim Mason makes this claim writing that intentionalist’s such as Karl Dietrich Bracher and

In an 1986 article entitled “Nazi Ghettoization Policy in Poland: 1939-41”, Christopher Browning notes that some functionalists view steps such as the ghettoization of jews were just parts of the unplanned process, instead of an immediate sign of Germany’s intentions in exterminating the Jewish race. Browning writes that “ In contrast “functionalists” have argued that ghettoization played a vital role, of an unplanned “cumulative radicalization” that led to the final

Hilberg argues that the plan for what to do with the Jewish people, starting with the exportation of Jews , which was followed by putting jews in concentration camps, and finally the systematic slaughtering of Jews What made Hilberg’s work especially interesting, and controversial is the fact that he focused mostly on using German reports and testimonies as evidence, instead of using evidence from the survivors of the