Goldhagen Lauds Danish Efforts

Daniel J. Goldhagen, an associate professor of government and social studies, shared his views on the Holocaust Wednesday at an opening reception for an exhibit at Hillel.

The collection of photographs by Judy Ellis Glickman, entitled "Resistance and Rescue in Denmark," portrays Danish citizens who helped transport Jewish residents to safe havens in Sweden during the German occupation in World War II.

Goldhagen said the efforts by Danish citizens and government officials, which helped save the lives of 99 percent of Danish Jews, serve as a sharp contrast to the dark picture of German citizens he painted in his controversial 1996 book, Hitler's Willing Executioners.

"The Danes give us insight into the potential for change that could be instituted by average people around Europe in this era, given the proper circumstances," Goldhagen said.

In a lecture entitled, "Resisting Evil: the Rescue of Danish Jewry and Beyond," Goldhagen outlined the conditions of the Danish occupation that allowed the rescue efforts to take place.

He said the Danes seized on Hitler's more lenient attitude toward Nordic peoples--what he termed "the least Draconian occupation in Europe."

Unlike in Germany, Jews constituted a mere 8,000 of Denmark's four million people and, according to Goldhagen, were primarily viewed as Danish citizens rather than as a separate element of the population.

Goldhagen said he sees such an all-inclusive concept of the citizen as a missing link in World War II German culture that allowed ordinary citizens to become "active executioners" in Hitler's regime.

"The idea that the German regime was a totalitarian one, and that the average Germans were victims of the system is just plain wrong," he said.

Goldhagen added that Hitler capitalized on the lack of cohesiveness within German society.

"He led the German people where they were already willing to go," he said.

"If the Germans...had viewed the Jews as brothers and sisters deserving protection, as so many Danish citizens did, it is hard to believe the Holocaust would have happened at all," Goldhagen added.

Goldhagen, who is also a fellow for the Humanity in Action Association, a human rights organization sponsoring the exhibit, said he thinks the altruistic Danish attitude can provide valuable lessons for today's world leaders.

He said Americans, possessing the knowledge of international problems and the resources to fight them, in a unique position to make a difference.

"Just because others don't act normally--don't fight today's evil--doesn't mean our burden is lifted," he said.