Hitler's Willing Executioners

participating in the destruction of Polish Jewry. To answer this historical question, Browning uses the judicial testimonies of the men who served. He asserts that these testimonies contain “unusually vivid and detailed testimony [that] stands in stark contrast to the formulaic and transparently dishonest testimony so often encountered” (pg.210). Because of their accuracy, these documents allowed Browning to “probe issues in a way that is not possible from the records of other cases” (pg.210). The methodology that Browning chooses - studying the men by dissecting and examining their psychologies - allows the reader to peak into the minds of the members of Police Battalion 101 and understand how the vast majority of these individuals become willing executioners of the Final Solution to the Jewish…

In 1939 war was beginning for European countries like Germany and Poland. There was a sense of fear that traveled between individuals and families in 1941 when the Holocaust began. As chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler’s goal was to create the Aryan race and rid the world of those he deemed as “undesirable.” As a result of this, Hitler began rounding up inferior individuals such as Jewish people, homosexuals, and the disabled. He forced them into sectioned off towns, known as ghettos, and…

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…

Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners, pg 239-262. The book of Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners published in 1996, reflecting some an issue that concerned many Germans. This about the predators of the Holocaust, including groups and individuals who made the major decisions establishing the policy of extermination the Jewish people under Nazi regime, executed and supported it. The author illustrates to the role of anti-Semitic ideology that led the "ordinary" Germans…

much this trip was about to affect me and my way of thinking. We were just a group of college kids, ready and willing, but little did we know what experience lay ahead. By being willing to do whatever was necessary to make a difference, we were able to affect the lives of many people by sharing the love of Christ in a practical way. We pulled up to the church on a Monday afternoon and quickly piled out of the vans. We were all ready to get settled in, but that was not the plan Carrie, the…

Justification was a moral theology that Germans used to validate their actions, or lack thereof. After Hitler’s appointment to chancellor, an internal purge of political opposition destroyed any possible objection to Nazi policies. The Nazis began implementing the “Fuhrer-myth,” to spark the idolization of Adolf Hitler by citizens. This myth served as a justification for the Germans and their actions against racial minorities any verbal or physical assault was done in the honor of Hitler and…

The Holocaust was a time of historical conflict and darkness. At the hands of Adolf Hitler, he and his Nazi party, the Third Reich, motivated to bring the Jewish religion to an end, as well as homosexuals, gypsies, and others. Anyone who defied the social norm should be exterminated. They were not people; they were merely creatures. What fueled Hitler’s hatred remains a mystery today. Some mention the grandmother he hated, some say he blamed the religion for losing World War 1, but there is no…

with the question of who is responsible for the Holocaust. The 1956 short film Night and Fog presents real images and clips from the Holocaust that make viewers question the motivations and ideology of the Nazis during World War II. In Ordinary Men, Browning explains his theory that any ordinary man could have committed the crimes, and the responsibility of the Holocaust should be placed on the higher authorities instilling beliefs in their followers. Goldhagen counters Browning’s approach by…

Daniel J. Goldhagen, an author and former Harvard professor, is an acclaimed academic who studies prejudice and antisemitism. While historians and professors are familiar with his published works, his response to Christopher Browning’s book, “Ordinary Men” has received the most attention. In his book, Christopher Browning argues that the men who committed the acts of mass murder of innocent people during the Holocaust were merely typical German citizens who killed due to social pressures.…

unable to be set free. Even though Major Trapp know the orders given are inhumane he still feels the need to follow the orders until the bitter end. Thus, the need to follow orders was ingrained enough that individuals felt there was no way out, but follow orders. Historian Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, looked at the same material as Browning, but the conclusion he made are completely different than Browning’s conclusion. Goldhagen argues in his book Hitler's Willing Executioners that the men of…