The Holocaust's Criminals

Paper Summary:

This paper considers the question of how so many otherwise ordinary, moral German citizens could; first, so broadly adopt the practice of violence; and second, could relish so fully in its practice. The paper notes that this question is one of the primary questions historians and humans in general have been forced to grapple with in light of one of the most horrific chapters in world history--the Jewish Holocaust. The paper further relates that it remains undeniable that something or someone drove these individuals to inflict pain and death of such massive proportions. The paper then goes on to discuss some of the explanations that are given in attempts to identify more general patterns, and more conclusive answers to the social and psychological phenomena responsible for human acts of malice.

From the Paper:

"Another explanation that relies upon the notion of mandatory conformity is connected strongly with the mob mentality and the following of orders. Writers like Christopher R. Browning point to instances in which groups of Nazi officers initially felt ill-suited to the acts of violence they were ordered to commit, but eventually became quite accustomed to them. "Once entangled, people encounter a series of 'blinding factors' or 'cementing mechanisms' that make disobedience or refusal even more difficult." This approach takes into account the joy expressed by many Nazi executioners by attributing it to peer pressures, pressures from above, and routine exposure to bloodshed. Still, it seems difficult to argue that the majority of the Nazi's who perpetrated the Holocaust were simply "going with the flow," and had no ideological or moral association with the actions they took. This would be to deny that the forces that brought the Nazi's to power had any association with romantic visions of Germany's future--that deeply rooted emotional ties supported the Nazi's racial cause and dream."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bell, Athena. The Lies the Germans Tell Themselves. Commentary Journal. v. 117 no. 1 (Jan): 43-46, 2004.
• Freeman, Charles. The Rise of the Nazis. Austin: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1998.
• Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
• Jahoda, Gustav. "Ordinary Germans" before Hitler: a Critique of Goldhagen Thesis. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. v. 29 (summer): 69-88, 1998.
• Koonz, Claudia. The Nazi Conscience. Cambridge: Harvard University, 2003.

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