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When the Nazis were 'elected to power' (sic!) (p. 419), the teleology of German
history fulfilled itself. Needless to say, in order to support this view, Goldhagen
substantially manipulates the secondary sources he uses.
Goldhagen eliminates the political context of the Nazi movement and ignores the fact
that the Nazi regime was a repressive system from the start. There is no reference
made to the fact that the Nazis were a right-wing party, promoting conservative and
right-wing political views (some of which turn up in the creed of right-wing
movements to this day). Indeed, by playing down all political factors, Goldhagen is
able to make statements like '... the Nazi German revolution was, on the whole,
consensual'...'a peaceful revolution'...'the repression of the political left in the first
years notwithstanding' (p. 456). This beautifies the realities of the Nazi regime to an
uncomfortable extent.
The questions of how widespread and deeply-rooted anti-Semitism was, to what
extent the German population supported the Nazis' anti-Semitic measures and how
exactly the persecution of the Jews had an impact on Hitler's and the Nazis' popularity
are important ones indeed. They are certainly not resolved. Goldhagen does not
contribute to the debate.
IX
Goldhagen's book is not driven by sources, be they primary or secondary ones. He
does not allow the witness statements he uses to speak for themselves. He uses
material as an underpinning for his pre-conceived theory. The book is driven by the
author's choice of language, and it can only be understood by analysing these choices
and his generally argumentative style. Verbosity and repetitiveness are the most
striking features of the book.
[210] Discursive techniques
Goldhagen uses several techniques to transform his assumptions into what he
describes as the 'unassailable truth'. In particular, the introductory and concluding
chapters are full of examples, of which a few must be demonstrated in detail. One is
to use a single fact to support an overall generalization. For instance, a protest letter
by Pastor Hochstaedter is described as being 'all but singular' (p. 433), a 'tiny, brief
flame of reason and humanity ... flickering invisibly ... in the vast anti-Semitic
darkness that had descended upon Germany' (p. 434). It is used as a foil to 'cast into
sharp relief' (p. 431) (a favourite expression of the author) the attitude of the Christian
churches in general who did not object to the 'Nazi's ferocious anti-Semitism' (p. 435).
They were eliminationist anti-Semitic themselves. Based on another single document
69
taken entirely out of context, 35 he arrives at a sweeping conclusion that the churches
gave 'an ecclesiastical imprimatur of genocide' (p. 433).
A second technique is the application of a form of reasoning, which is boldly
presented as common sense, and therefore as being the only logically possible
explanation. Goldhagen maintains that the 'indifference' of the 'German people' (p.
439) towards the fate of the Jews is a 'psychologically implausible attitude' (p. 440)
since 'people generally flee scenes and events that they consider to be horrific,
criminal or dangerous' (p. 440). Thus, since part of the German population watched
the burning of synagogues in the November pogrom 'with curiosity' a modifier
added by the author (p. 440) they were not indifferent but rather pitiless (p. 440).
A third technique is a twisted manipulation of the interpretations of other scholars in
order to provide foils for his own line of argument. This has already been
demonstrated in a number of earlier examples. A particularly striking one, is
Goldhagen's discussion, and rejection, of what he calls 'conventional explanations'.
One of these, according to the author, is the assumption that 'the Germans were in
principle opposed ... to a genocidal program' (p. 385). Raul Hilberg is depicted as 'an
exemplar of this sort of thinking' (p. 385) because he contemplates the question of
how the German bureaucracy overcame its moral scruples (p. 385). After accusing
Hilberg of heresy for assuming that 'the German bureaucracy naturally had moral
scruples' (p. 383), Goldhagen rejects Hilberg's analysis on the basis that 'explanations
proceeding in this manner cannot account for Germans ... volunteering for killing
duty' (p. 385) which, of course, misses Hilberg's point entirely.
Another frequent tactic is the omission of a sufficient context or other possible
evidence that might be contradictory. Goldhagen mentions celebrations at either the
conclusion of large killing actions, as in Chelmno or in Stanislawo, or at a particular
stage in the extermination programme, as in Lublin after the 50,000th victim had been
killed (at which the 'Germans' ' take joy, make merry and celebrate their genocide of
the Jews' (p. 453). He omits to mention that the same parties took place in 'Euthanasia'
institutions, as in Hadamar, to celebrate the 100,000th corpse 36 or, for that matter, in
Grafeneck also. 37 The victims of the 'Euthanasia' programme were mostly Germans.
While this suggests that a possible explanation for this behaviour is the progressive
brutalization of members in mass-killing institutions, the available evidence [211]
does not support Goldhagen's notion of 'the transvaluated world of Germany during
the Nazi period [where] ordinary Germans deemed the killing of Jews to be a
beneficent act for humanity' (pp. 452-3). Goldhagen's crowning misrepresentation is
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