ABSTRACT
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners argues for the existence of eliminationist anti-Semitism in Germany. Unlike Marxist historians, who tended to believe that it was social conditions that shaped people's ideas, Goldhagen stresses that it was ideas that shaped the social environment. He insists it was the mental life of the German nation that was decisive in bringing about the Holocaust: the common fears, hopes, and hatreds that underpinned the German national identity. One of Goldhage's most arresting ideas is his belief in the strangeness of Nazi culture. He insists that German society in the early twentieth century was alien, even exotic. Goldhagen used his own research into the idea of collective psychology to explain the Holocaust. Goldhagen also emphasizes the compliance of the Christian churches in anti-Jewish violence. Goldhagen's critique points out the continuity between religious prejudice against Judaism and later, biological forms of anti-Semitism.
