One of the most controversial and thought-provoking books of recent years.  Goldhagen challenges the accepted view that the Nazis were an aberration & were solely responsible for the Holocaust.  Instead he argues that the virulent eliminationist anti-semitism that fueled the Holocaust was a unique and intrinsic part of German Culture and that the entire society voluntarily participated in its enactment.

Goldhagen's demonstration of the guilt of "ordinary" Germans seems pretty incontrovertible.  One section of the book focuses on a single police unit to show that the perpetrators of the Holocaust were average Germans & not fanatic Nazis.  He shows that they could refuse orders they disagreed with & not suffer dire consequences, but they did not choose to challenge the orders to round up and slaughter Jews.  Indeed, they willingly share the news of what they are doing with their families & have candid photos taken when they are performing their duties.  They hardly seem like unwilling parties.

On the other hand, Goldhagen's single-minded focus on Germany and the eliminationist anti-semitism of the Germans seems too limited.  After all, even setting aside the Eastern Europeans, the French certainly seem to have been eager participants.  Wasn't this a function of French anti-semitism?  If so, how can we say that German eliminationist anti-semitism was unique?  Goldhagen has done a great service by refusing to absolve the "ordinary" German from guilt in the Holocaust, why absolve the rest of Europe?

Moreover, there's a certain blithe assumption that modern Germany is fundamentally different from Nazi Germany & such a thing could never happen again.  One need only look at the current ethnic tensions in Germany & France to see that this assumption may be to hasty.  Is it really that difficult to
imagine France & Germany slaughtering their immigrant Arab populations?  I think not.

These caveats aside, this is a terrific book, fundamental to understanding the Holocaust.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (A) Orrin C. Judd

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