Daniel Goldhagen, “Police Battalion 101: Assessing the Men’s Motives,” in Hitler’s Willing Executioners. (attached)
1) Historians Browning and Goldhagen analyze the actions of the same police battalion on the eastern front (using the same body of evidence), but reach different conclusions about the men’s actions and motives. Which account do you find the most compelling and why?
2)Critically analyze this historical photograph ( photo link below) .from 1940 featuring two members of Police Battalion 101 and three imprisoned Jewish policemen in the ghetto of Lodz. What can you learn from this primary source about German attitudes towards violence and warfare, and/or the plight of the Nazis’ perceived enemies? Do you consider the image to substantiate either Goldhagen’s or Browning’s argument?
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1134231