A work of the utmost importance--as authoritative as it is explosive--Hitler's Willing Executioners will fundamentally change our perception of the Holocaust and of Germany in the Nazi period. Goldhagen reaches conclusions that are both uncompromising and savage, rejecting as inadequate the conventional historical explanations for how an entire country could allow the Holocaust to happen, and gives the first detailed, broad-ranging account of the actual killers of the Jews. 31 photos.
In a work that is as authoritative as it is explosive, Goldhagen forces us to revisit and reconsider our understanding of the Holocaust and its perpetrators, demanding a fundamental revision in our thinking of the years between 1933-1945. Drawing principally on materials either unexplored or neglected by previous scholars, Goldhagen marshals new, disquieting primary evidence that explains why, when Hitler conceived of the "final solution" he was able to enlist vast numbers of willing Germans to carry it out. A book sure to provoke new discussion and intense debate.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0
A Study That Can't Be Ignored -- but the Kindle Version Needs Work:
"Hitler's Willing Executioners" is without doubt a highly important work that no one wishing to understand 20th-century history can afford to ignore. In this review, however, I will focus on the Kindle version. The Kindle version has significant problems. First, the footnotes are not linked (i.e., you can't click on a footnote number and be taken to it from the main text). Every serious non-fiction book really should have linked footnotes. Second, the conversion to ebook form is one of the worst I've... more info
Nice Try Daniel:
I rarely trash a book on here but this one is just plain wrong. Goldhagen essentially argues that the German people were culturally hard-wired to kill Jews, thus the Holocaust was simply an inevitable result of this "eliminationist anti-Semitism." Not only was this virulent anti-Semitic attitude a uniquely German phenomenon, Goldhagen would have us believe, but apparently the Holocaust was a fulfillment of every German's deep-seated desire. Even though only a small percentage of Germans were actually... more info
very doubtful claim.:
I hardly have any experience that a book has so full of redundancies , repetitions and self-contradictions. Why three vices ,any writer or scholar should absolutely avoid in order to unfold logical and lucid argument,are conspicous every page of this book? Because Goldhagen's so-called thesis has an immanent problem;It is too simplistic. His main thesis is centered on the very ontological problem of German anti-semitism. According to him, Nazism, modernity, brutalization of population and a decade long... more info
Extraordinary! A novel approach to the Holocaust brings to the forum a whole new set of interpretations of this fateful event.:
This book explains how most adult Germans of the Nazi era (1930's and 1940's)were capable of embarking themselves into the genocidal project that with time became known as the Holocaust. Antisemitism was the precursor of genocide. The author mentions how Christianity, sometimes, have been associated with hate against the Jews (portraying them as the killers of Christ and resenting the Jews' "rejection" of Christianity as the True Faith). Later on in History (mainly during the 19th century),... more info
