Holocaust Book Flawed, Author Tells Germans

HAMBURG, Germany -- An outspoken American scholar on the Holocaust, whose book "Hitler's Willing Executioners" has upset many Germans, launched a speaking tour in this country by unexpectedly agreeing his hard-hitting work had flaws.


Harvard University sociologist Daniel Goldhagen, at his first public appearance in Germany since his book appeared, insisted Wednesday evening his angry work was still the best attempt yet to explain how a civilized nation like Germany could have slaughtered 6 million Jews during World War II.


But he surprised the audience in a packed Hamburg theater for his debate with five German historians and journalists by conceding he had underestimated how other factors mixed with a virulent anti-Semitism to lead to the Third Reich's crimes.


The best-selling book, which passionately argues almost all pre-war Germans were obsessed by a burning desire to kill Jews, has sparked a heated debate here that shows how the Holocaust still haunts Germany half a century later.


The fact this sweeping indictment of the Germans comes from an American Jew who is the son of a Romanian Holocaust survivor has added further tension to the testy discussion here.


"I skirted over some of this history a little too quickly," Goldhagen told Reuters Television on Thursday while discussing critics' charges his stark portrayal of German anti-Semitism before Hitler came to power in 1933 was too simply drawn.


"Now that I've had some time to reflect upon the book, I think one thing I would devote more attention to and integrate into the analysis is the effect of the First World War in radicalizing German society."


Mainstream German historians say a tragic mix of factors including the trauma of losing World War I, the economic depression and fear of a communist revolution joined with anti-Semitism to lead Germans and Jews to disaster. Analyses based mostly on a single explanation miss the point, they say.


Several of the 400 Germans in the audience said they were disappointed that Goldhagen, who has vehemently defended his book and blasted his German critics in print, simply agreed with some key objections when discussing them in person.


The panelists, who sat at black-draped tables in a stage setting as somber as a wake, agreed Goldhagen was right to say historians should shift their focus from the Nazis themselves to what went on in the minds of the rank-and-file killers.


While praising other parts of his book, they avoided debating his core theory about the uniqueness of German anti-Semitism so politely that the moderator had to urge them to get around to the real flash point of the debate.