Analyzes the actions of the perpetrators of the Holocaust - i.e. the Germans - by examining them in their institutional and societal contexts and in light of their social psychological and ideational settings. Discusses the development of eliminationist antisemitism in 19th-20th century Germany in order to explain the conditions of cognition and values which made genocidal motivations plausible in the Nazi period. Emphasizes that not only the mass killings (on which most of the historiography focuses) require explanation, but all the related actions of the perpetrators, such as obeying orders, authoritative cruelties, individual killings, torture and other excessive actions. Also, the compliance of Germans with the measures of discrimination and persecution prior to the war years and during the war years requires explanation; this, too, is attributed to the eliminationist antisemitism prevalent in German culture and society. As examples of ordinary Germans involved in the Holocaust, analyzes the functioning of the police battalions, the work camps, and the death marches. Concludes that antisemitism was the crucial motivational element which moved German men and women to devote their bodies, souls, and ingenuity to the perpetration of the Holocaust.

Consists of two essays which refute the arguments used by Goldhagen in "Hitler's Willing Executioners." Finkelstein's "Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's 'Crazy' Thesis: A Critique of 'Hitler's Willing Executioners'" (pp. 1-100) contends that Goldhagen's book is neither novel nor a scholarly work. It is based mainly on misinterpreted secondary sources. Goldhagen exaggerates the significance of German "eliminationist antisemitism, " while he disparages the crucial factor of Nazi totalitarianism, with its propaganda and repressive system. He exaggerates the uniqueness of German antisemitism, racism, and wartime sadism. Goldhagen's book is a continuation of the pro-Zionist historical discourse which considers antisemitism to be eternal and the only cause of the Holocaust. Birn's "Revising the Holocaust" (pp. 101-148) is a slightly revised version of a review published in "The Historical Journal" 40 (1997). (States here that this essay was written in collaboration with Volker Riess.) Criticizes Goldhagen's discursive technique, non-academic style, and biased use of sources. Goldhagen exaggerates the number of Germans involved in the Holocaust, as well as their "ordinariness, " and he ignores the participation of non-Germans in the Holocaust.