ABSTRACT
In assessing the roles of high-level civil servants as perpetrators of the Holocaust, this chapter analyzes what perpetration actually means in the context of the bureaucracy and how diverging acts of persecution and rescue challenges civil servants’ singular definitions as perpetrators. In a detailed study of four top-level bureaucrats, it discusses how the definition of perpetration must be allowed to vary by context and cannot be reduced to merely the act of killing. Also, it argues that by moving the focus from the perpetrators to their actions, it becomes possible for individuals to be perpetrators in one situation but not in others.
