Cover of Hitler's willing executioners

Hitler's willing executioners

by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen · first published 1996

7mentions
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6HN commenters
2010–2026first – last mentioned

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This groundbreaking international bestseller lays to rest many myths about the Holocaust: that Germans were ignorant of the mass destruction of Jews, that the killers were all SS men, and that those who slaughtered Jews did so reluctantly. Hitler's Willing Executioners provides conclusive evidence that the extermination of European Jewry engaged the energies and enthusiasm of tens of thousands of ordinary Germans. Goldhagen reconstructs the climate of "eliminationist anti-Semitism" that made Hitler's pursuit of his genocidal goals possible and the radical persecution of the Jews during the 193

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What Hacker News says

  • underseacables · Dec 26, 2020 · Recommends

    Assuming for a moment that your comment is not sarcasm, I point you to first the excellent book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” by Daniel Goldhagen which makes a solid case that had it not been for a compliant German citizenry, much of the Holocaust might never have happened. So you tell me: Who operates the Chinese concentration…

    on “Why China Turned Against Jack Ma” ↗
  • greedo · Jun 16, 2020 · Recommends

    If you haven't already, you should read Daniel Goldhagen's book, "Hitler's Willing Executioners."

    on “Weizsäcker's speech on 40th anniversary of WW2's end (1985)” ↗
  • photochemsyn · Apr 10, 2022 · Recommends

    …status. Indeed, Hitler's acolytes - like Mao's - also 'went at it with the delight of dogs chasing squirrels.' A rather popular book was published about this phenomenon that's worth reading, called "Hitler's Willing Executioners." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/784848.Hitler_s_Willing_... In any case, whenever a commentator chooses to exclusively focus on fascist atrocities or communist atrocities when examing '20th century…

    on “Heresy” ↗
  • the_af · Jun 21, 2021 · Mentions

    I'm familiar with Ordinary Men and also with Hitler's Willing Executioners and I think they prove my point. > what does (and doesn't) happen to them if they don't This is key. What happens if they didn't follow orders? It turns out that... pretty much nothing. You could get…

    on “Reading Grossman's “Stalingrad” and ”Life and Fate”” ↗
  • greedo · Oct 24, 2017 · Mentions

    Daniel Goldhagen does a good job of illustrating the involvement of everyday Germans in the Holocaust in his book "Hitler's Willing Executioners."[0] This book has received a lot of criticism from historians but it contains a lot of fascinating information. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27s_Willing_Executioner...

    on “Britain's 'concentration camp' in Russia” ↗
  • nwatson · Feb 2, 2010 · Mentions

    "It's not the people who are evil, but the regime ..." I'm not sure about the North Korean case, but an author argued a few years back in the book "Hitler's Willing Executioners" that most WWII-era Germans were happy and willing to go along with the despot's genocide and total war. "1984" ends with Smith Winston seemingly coerced into the attitude "[I] loved Big Brother". I'm…

    on “Hitchins: North Korea is even weirder and more despicable than you thought” ↗
  • lioeters · Jul 11, 2026 · Mentions

    Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich

    on “Reverse centaurs are the answer to the AI paradox” ↗

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