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A Macat Analysis: Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust
Daniel Goldhagen's study of the Holocaust offers conclusions that run directly counter to those reached by Christopher Browning, whose book Ordinary Men is also the subject of a Macat analysis. As such, the two analyses make possible some interesting critical thinking exercises focused on evaluation of the evidence used by the two historians. For Goldhagen, a chief reason for German actions was not the mundane good comradeship stressed by Browning, but a longstanding hatred of Jews and Judaism specific to Germany that dated back well into the previous century. Debating which historian is right, which has made better use of the available evidence, which has most successfully written objectively - and which advances the most secure interpretation of contested documents - forces students to think critically about one of the most important and (on the surface at least) incomprehensible events of the past century.
104 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 5, 2017
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 14, 2018
Actually, I thought I am going to read the book itself, and I didn't really get it that I am reading an analysis, and an unnecessary one at this. This is a really repetitive book, and it can be summarized in about three sentences. I can't say much on the original, but based on what I have heard, I am probably not going to read it (at least any time soon).
In large, Goldhagen claimed that the German people willingly cooperated with Hitler, and that there was even joy when doing so. That Germany had a different type of racism, and that the Holocaust could not happen in any place other than Germany.
Overall, there is an agreement that this book has no proof, and that it might actually be racist against Germans, moreover that other people has slaughtered nations before and after, even if not as thoroughly. It is not just Germany, and just Germans, and clearly not all Germans.
The author highlights the book success around the world and controversy. Germany on the 30s and 40s is a place that we can't even imagine today, the Holocaust is the most terrible thing that I can think of, but I didn't get anything new or too interesting from this book. The ideas in "Hitler's Willing Executioners" seem too be too exaggerated at best, and the value of the book mostly in waking discussion.
For this analysis, 2 stars.
In large, Goldhagen claimed that the German people willingly cooperated with Hitler, and that there was even joy when doing so. That Germany had a different type of racism, and that the Holocaust could not happen in any place other than Germany.
Overall, there is an agreement that this book has no proof, and that it might actually be racist against Germans, moreover that other people has slaughtered nations before and after, even if not as thoroughly. It is not just Germany, and just Germans, and clearly not all Germans.
The author highlights the book success around the world and controversy. Germany on the 30s and 40s is a place that we can't even imagine today, the Holocaust is the most terrible thing that I can think of, but I didn't get anything new or too interesting from this book. The ideas in "Hitler's Willing Executioners" seem too be too exaggerated at best, and the value of the book mostly in waking discussion.
For this analysis, 2 stars.
Displaying 1 of 1 review