Historians to Discuss Controversial Book On Holocaust

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Four historians of modern Germany will discuss the controversial new book "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" during a roundtable discussion to be held from 4-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Room 330 in the Student Union on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The discussion is free of charge and open to the public.

No recent work in European history has provoked as much controversy, or as much interest among non-specialists, as "Hitler's Willing Executioners" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University and an associate of Harvard's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.

Goldhagen argues that "ordinary Germans," rather than Nazi leaders, must bear primary responsibility for the Holocaust. Most Germans approved of Hitler's plans to remove Jews from German society and a large number -- much larger than is usually imagined -- participated in the removal.

Goldhagen maintains that this active involvement cannot be blamed on Hitler's police state, since Germans showed their dislike of Nazi policies in other areas and often succeeded in achieving changes. There were no such protests about the regime's policies regarding Jews, he says, with ordinary Germans demonstrating their approval of the policies in a myriad of ways.

Specialists in the field have raised a variety of questions about Goldhagen's work, ranging from concerns about source materials to broad criticisms of his treatment of the German character.

The panel of historians who will discuss the book include William Sheridan Allen, UB professor of history; Georg Iggers, SUNY Distinguished Professor of History and a member of the UB Department of History faculty; Patricia Mazon, UB assistant professor of history, and Larry Jones, chair of the Department of History at Canisius College.

The purpose of the event is to encourage dialogue between specialist and non-specialist readers, both inside and outside the university.

For further information, contact the UB Department of History at 645-2181.