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Okay lads. A bunch of you have been tweeting at me asking for me to do a video response to a Carl Benjamin video alleging Germanys descent into Nazism to be a result of uniquely German cultural traits. Here is why that would be a massive waste of time:
While I appreciate Carl Benjamins ability to sit through a whole video of mine, his thesis is outdated and insanely boring. The idea that Nazism and the Holocaust by extension came out of innate traits limited to the German people goes back as far as WW2 itself and reached its
peak in popularity in 1996 when Daniel Goldhagen published a book titled "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" claiming an "eliminationist antisemitism" was a corner stone of German political culture. Goldhagens thesis is far more
sofisticated than Carls but the core claims remain the same: German culture was evil and produced evil people. It also challenged the thus far accepted dictum of "No Hitler, No Holocaust".
While the book was a bestseller in mutiple countries, it was widely panned by historians for its "neglect of decades of research in favour of his own preconceptions" brought forth in an "intemperate, emotional, and accusatory tone". Historian Raul Hillberg who is often quoted
in my research material for the last video said Goldhagen was "totally wrong about everything." and called his theory "worthless" with other historians insinuating Goldhagens work was influenced by his Germanophobia.
Since then, the takeover Nazism being the result of German culture rather than socio-economic factors has been widely disregarded and is rarely part of the discussion. Partially also because Nazism was only one of a number of violent and ruthless dictatorships
established in Europe's first half of the 20th century and was in fact so widespread that historian Mark Mazower referred to the Europe of this era as a "Dark Continent". If Carl would've taken the time to actually read through the academic work on which the video is based on
he might have been persuaded to not upload a video portraying such an antiquated idea pushed to the side by experts on the subject. The truth is that as Richard Evans says: Culture and politics do not impinge on each other in so simple and direct a manner.
To portray Germany succumbing to Nazism in this way makes it harder to explain why the Nazis came to power because it doesn't even incorporate the widespread opposition to Nazism in Germany which still existed in 1933 and robs us of the opportunity to ask why that oppositon was
overcome. It also fails to consider why there was no Nazi-style dictatorship long before 1933 and totally ignores the strong liberal and democratic traditions in German history (see 1848 revolution during which authoritarian regimes were overthrown all over Germany).
Anyway. Point being, Carls case is already debunked in the source material in my video description and uploading a video of me reading that for three hours straight is wasted effort on someone who is never gonna break out of the Trump fever anyway.
I said what I wanted to say in my video and as far as I'm concerned, Carl Benjamin is best left to his own devices, entertaining ideas other people far more knowledgeable have disregarded decades ago, forever convinced of his innate British individualistic superiority
over my innate German collectivist barbarism. If I ever want to know what 8 people in a German bar have said to him over the opinion of people who have dedicated their life to unraveling the biggest question of the 20th century, I'll make sure to hit him up. ENDE
