Analysis Of Hitler's Willing Executioners By Daniel Goldhagen

The American writer, Daniel Goldhagen and his book, Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust supports the view that the German people also had a part in being responsible for the Holocaust along with Hitler himself. He argues that the vast majority of ordinary Germans were “willing executioners” in the Holocaust due to a “eliminationist anti-Semitism” in the German political culture which had developed in past centuries. In Hitler’s Willing Executioners Goldhagen argued that Germans possessed a unique form of anti-Semitism which he called “eliminationist anti-Semitism” a virulent ideology which can be traced back through centuries of German history. Under its influence the majority of Germans wanted to eliminate Jews from society, and the perpetrators of the Holocaust did what they did because they thought it was “right and necessary”. For Goldhagen the Holocaust in which so many Germans participated must be explained as a result of the specifically German brand of …show more content…
For example, Christopher Browning also shares the view with Goldhagen that police officers played a part in the killing of innocent civilians. The view that Hitler had initiated the Holocaust and can be solely responsible is supported by Dawidowicz. This view can be seen to be true by the way he portrayed his views early on in his book Mein Kampf. However, it’s difficult to pass the blame to one person as not one person can be fully responsible for the Holocaust. Goldhagen shows many ordinary men and women played a part in the Holocaust, whether it was participating in the Jewish business boycott or if it was actively killing the Jews. With this evidence it it difficult to blame Hitler alone for being responsible. Even though it can be argued that it was his initial plans that caused the hatred of Jewish to appear, this racism towards Jews has always been an issue even before Hitler’s