Responsibility for the Holocaust: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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[[File:Bones of anti-Nazi German women still are in the crematoriums in the German concentration camp at Weimar, Germany.jpg|thumb|left|Bones of murdered prisoners in the crematoria in the German concentration camp at [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Weimar]], Germany in a photo taken by the 3rd U.S. Army on 14 April 1945]]

Some authors, such as the liberal philosopher [[Hannah Arendt]] in ''[[The Origins of Totalitarianism]]'' (1951),{{sfn|Arendt|1973|pp=124–134, 177–187}} Swedish writer [[Sven Lindqvist]], historian [[Hajo Holborn]], and Ugandan academic [[Mahmood Mandani]], have also linked the Holocaust to [[colonialism]], but moreover, they place the tragedy in the context of the [[Antisemitism in Europe|European tradition of antisemitism]] and the [[Genocide of indigenous peoples|genocide of colonized peoples]].{{sfn|Langbehn|Salama|2011|pp=xii–xvi}} For instance, Arendt claimed that [[nationalism]] and [[imperialism]] were literally bridged together by [[racism]].{{sfn|Arendt|1973|p=153}} [[scientific racism|Pseudo-scientific theories]] which were elaborated upon during the 19th century (e.g. in [[Arthur de Gobineau]]'s 1853 ''[[An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races|Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races]]'') were fundamental in preparing the conditions for the Holocaust according to some scholars.{{sfn|Burleigh|Wippermann|1991|pp=27–28, 38}} Other historical episodes of wholesale slaughter occurred before the Holocaust, however, some scholars still adamantly believe that unlike other [[genocides in history|genocides]], the "[[Holocaust uniqueness debate| Holocaust was a unique event]]".{{sfn|Bauer|2002|pp=14, 20, 71–76}} PhilosopherThe philosopher [[Michel Foucault]] also traced the origins of the Holocaust to "[[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|racial policies]]" and "[[state racism]]", which are subsumed within the framework of "[[biopolitics]]".{{sfn|McWhorter|2017|pp=282–293}}

The Nazis considered it their duty to overcome natural compassion and execute orders for what they believed were higher ideals; in particular, members of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], in particular, perceived that they had a state-legitimized mandate and an obligation to eliminate those who they perceived toas bebeing their racial enemies (see [[Ideology of the SS]]).{{sfn|Bialas|2013|pp=358–359}} Some of the heinous acts committed by the Nazis have been attributed to [[crowd psychology]], and [[Gustave Le Bon]]'s ''The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind'' (1895) provided influence to Hitler's infamous tome, ''Mein Kampf''.{{sfn|Waite|1993|p=122}} Le Bon claimed that Hitler and the Nazis used propaganda to deliberately shape group-think and related behaviors, especially in cases where people committed otherwise aberrant violent acts due to the anonymity resultant from being a member of the collective.{{sfn|Dutton|2007|pp=23–24}} Sadistic acts of this sort were notable in the case of the [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|genocide]] which was committed by members of the Croatian [[Ustaše|Ustashe]], whose enthusiasm and sadism in their killings of Serbs appalled the Italians and the Germans to the point that the German Army field police "moved in and disarmed them" at one point.{{sfn|Rees|2017|p=291}} One might describe the behavior of the Croatians as a sort of quasi-religious eliminationist opportunism, but this same thing might be said of the Germans, whose antisemitism was likewise religious and racialist in nomenclature.{{sfn|Bergen|1996|pp=9, 22–38}}

A controversy erupted in 1997 when historian [[Daniel Goldhagen]] argued in ''[[Hitler's Willing Executioners]]'' that ordinary Germans were knowing and willing participants in the Holocaust, which he writes, had its roots in a deep racially motivated eliminationist [[antisemitism]] that was uniquely manifested in German society.{{sfn|Hayes|2017|pp=137–139}} Historians who disagree with Goldhagen's thesis argue that, while antisemitism undeniably existed in Germany, Goldhagen's idea of a uniquely German "eliminationist" version is untenable.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=316–322}} In complete contrast to Goldhagen's position, historian Johann Chapoutot observes,