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"Goldhagen
- His Critics and his Contribution"
Gutman sums
up the contribution made by Goldhagen's book, and posits that the
reactions it aroused among its many readers demonstrate "the
confusion and persistent need to plumb the roots of the phenomenon
that has rocked twentieth-century human consciousness." He
reflects on the controversy aroused by the work, presents in essence
the claims of noted historians such as Raul Hilberg, Eberhard
Jaeckel and Hans Mommsen, and briefly outlines the changes that have
taken place in Holocaust historiography since the end of World War
II. Gutman analyses Goldhagen's principal hypotheses and compares
his book to Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men, which also deals
with Police Battalion 101. With regard to the fundamental question
arising from Goldhagen's work, i.e., the relative importance of
German antisemitism in comparison to other factors, Gutman, who
accepts Goldhagen's viewpoint in principle, states: "the
ideological factor must be treated not as one factor among many, but
as an empowering and decisive fundamental with respect to the Jews
and the 'Final Solution.'" |
