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Holocaust History

Lesson 2: Legalizing Hate

Intentionalist vs. Structuralist Debate

Assignment: Read Chapter 4, "The Nazis' Games," in Holocaust Chronicle

The objective of this section is to have a clear overview of the main actions taken by the Nazis, and recognize that Nazi policy was not uniform, but that changes developed over time.

Review the timelines that we have had carefully. Note the different phases of Nazi policy and key turning points.

There are differing interpretations of history. These can be equally valid--that it is possible to draw different interpretations of history from the same body of facts. The two primary interpretations are referred to as Intentionalist and Structuralist.

The first argument is that Hitler intended to murder the Jews from the early stage and took advantage of every opportunity to advance his goal. This is the more straightforward of the two interpretations.

The second is the Structuralist argument that Hitler had no clear idea of what to do with the Jews beyond a fanatical desire to be rid of them. This view holds that policy was largely improvised and was chiefly responding to events and circumstances, that Anti-Semitic measures became increasingly radical and culminated in the essentially unplanned murder of the Jews as other "solutions" proved unsuccessful. This is a more sophisticated and more difficult argument.

Be prepared to discuss these two interpretations. We will discuss whether the historical facts agree or disagree with these interpretations. We will use the same timelines for the discussion so that there is no disagreement about the set body of established facts. There is no argument that the events as described in the timeline actually happened at those times and in that way, there is debate only on precisely why they happened.

What do the Intentionalist and Structuralist interpretations mean for our view of the role of the individual in controlling and dictating events, and for our understanding not only of history, but or our world today?