Edexcel: From kaiser to fuhrer 1900-1945, his03/d exam friday 10th june 2016

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Intentionalists

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For intentionalist historians, Hitler was the key. He set out for Jews since an early stage in his political career. This was followed by a consistent gradualist policy which led logically to Auschwitz. The Holocaust simply happened because Hitler intended for it to happen.

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Himmler stated in 1944 that Hitler had given him a ‘Fuhrer order’ to give priority to the Jewish question.

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However, since Hitler encouraged initiatives below, it cannot be confirmed that Hitler actually ordered this; he may have simply agreed

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The arrangements for the Final Solution’s implementation were very haphazard. Only began to manifest in 1941, and therefore it is difficult at best to prove that Hitler had always intended for the Final Solution to take place. However, this is not to say the Hitler is not guilty; he was in total favour of any policy, and thus he must accept much guilt. However, to say that he was 'intentionalist' and planned such action from the beginning is hard to back up

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Goldhagen

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Goldhagen suggested that the Holocaust was ‘intended’ thanks to the amount of ordinary Germans were prepared to participate

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Within German culture, there had developed a violent variant of anti-Semitism which was set on eliminating Jews

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Genocide would not manifest itself with support from a minority - it required many average Germans to partake in the mass execution

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However, heavily criticized. Many Germans were not motivated by antisemitism but other, much more mundane, factors: fear, peer pressure, etc.

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Goldhagen has also been criticised personally for things such as failing to recognize the role of many non-Germans in the murder of Jews

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Overall, the line of argument that it was the Germans themselves who were responsible is difficult to prove; it is more likely that Germans were eased into such acts by the brutal context of the war

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Structuralist

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Historians of this school reject the idea of long-term plans for extermination.

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There was a lack of clear objective, and it was not the product of grand design

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It was a result of the chaotic nature of government within the regime that caused the ‘final solution’s implementation

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Therefore, the moral responsibility of the Final Solution extends beyond Hitler’s intentions, to the structure of the regime itself.

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Overall, the final solution can be viewed as a pragmatic response to the chaos of war, instead of long-term intent