Word: eliminationist
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Dates: during 1996-1996
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...pretty sweeping indictment, one that Goldhagen supports by noting that from medieval until modern times, German culture was suffused with what he calls an "eliminationist anti-Semitism" that demonized Jews as the source of all social ills. For instance, the church-inspired vision of Jews as "Christ killers" fueled countless pogroms over the centuries. Thus, in Goldhagen's view, the Final Solution represented the logical fulfillment of ordinary Germans' own long-standing dreams. He quotes one 19th century anti-Semite as predicting that "the German Volk needs only to topple the Jews" in order to become "united and free...
...severely criticized--at least in Germany--since it confronts the postwar alibi that average citizens of the Third Reich either did not know about the Holocaust or disapproved of it. Some historians may also question whether anti-Semitism, while prevalent in pre-Hitler Germany, was as viciously eliminationist as the author argues...
...least in Germany -- since it confronts the postwar alibi that average citizens of the Third Reich either did not know about the Holocaust or disapproved of it," says TIME's John Elson. "Some historians may also question whether anti-Semitism, while prevalent in pre-Hitler Germany, was as viciously eliminationist as the author argues." Elson notes that the 19th century English writer Lord Acton believed that historians should be hanging judges, exercising their right to condemn the sins of the past. "By this stern standard, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen has done his job with a pen in one hand, a noose...
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