The "Goldhagen Effect": History, Memory, Nazism--Facing the German Past

by Geoff Eley (Editor)

Stepping back from the immediate controversy surrounding the merits and shortcomings of Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners, this edited volume intervenes in the continuing discussion by exploring aspects of the public's reception to Goldhagen's book--what the authors call the "Goldhagen Effect."
The first essay, by Omer Bartov, examines the extent to which the book's reception in the United States, Germany, France, and Israel reflected differing attitudes toward the Holocaust, thereby highlighting the role that the genocide of Jews has come to play in a variety of national contexts. Atina Grossman then analyzes the "Goldhagen Effect" in Germany, looking at Germans' shifting reactions to the American and German editions of the book and the accompanying publicity tour. Grossman considers these responses in the broader context of Germans' ambivalent relationship to their history.
Next, Pieter Judson turns his attention to the reception to Hitler's Willing Executioners in Austria, exploring why most Austrians--particularly those on the far right--calmly accepted Goldhagen's conclusions. Finally, Jane Caplan describes some of the ways in which Goldhagen's book resonates with contemporary American sensibilities and suggests why the book experienced such popular success in America.
The revised and expanded essays in this volume were originally presented in a symposium organized by Kathleen Canning for the University of Michigan Center for European Studies to discuss the response of academia and the broader intellectual public to Goldhagen's work. The "Goldhagen Effect" will be of interest to historians and others in the humanities and social sciences, as well as to the informed general reader.
Geoff Eley is Professor of History and German Studies, University of Michigan.

Genres: History

184 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2000

About the author

Geoffrey Howard Eley is a British-born historian of Germany. He studied History at the Balliol College of Oxford University and received his D.Phil from the University of Sussex in 1974. He has taught at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the Department of History since 1979 and the Department of German Studies since 1997. He now serves as the Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History at Michigan.

Eley's early work focused on the radical nationalism in Imperial Germany and fascism, but has since grown to include theoretical and methodological reflections on historiography and the history of the political left in Europe.

Reviews

[Jaclyn]

I read this on a whim because a girl on a plane suggested I do so. Turned out to be a great suggestion. Really brought down Goldhagen's aggressive self-importance and highlighted the true importance of his book: bringing the debate to the public in a new way. I especially liked one of the essays that focused on de-emphasizing the Milgram experiments as useful for analyzing obedience to authority arguments. This is a somewhat scholarly read, especially compared to Goldhagen's book itself, but is a terrific and tremendous resource (especially all the information that can be gleaned from the footnotes).