Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust [Paperback]

Victoria J. Barnett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0275970450 | ISBN-13: 978-0275970451

The Holocaust did not introduce the phenomenon of the bystander, but it did illustrate the terrible consequences of indifference and passivity towards the persecution of others. Although the term was initially applied only to the "good Germans"--the apathetic citizens who made genocide possible through unquestioning obedience to evil leaders--recent Holocaust scholarship has shown that it applies to most of the world, including parts of the population in Nazi-occupied countries, some sectors within the international Christian and Jewish communities, and the Allied governments themselves. This work analyzes why this happened, drawing on the insights of historians, Holocaust survivors, and Christian and Jewish ethicists. The author argues that bystander behavior cannot be attributed to a single cause, such as anti-Semitism, but can only be understood within a complex framework of factors that shape human behavior individually, socially, and politically.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...an excellent model of a psychohistorical study that has been informed by the conclusions derived from experimental psychology. Her study of the psychosocial dynamics behind moral decision making can also help historians look for the patterns of primary data that can prove fruitful in understanding the behaviors of bystanders as they confront such assaults on humanity as those set in motion by the Nazis. She helps historians to answer the questions of why and how normal people watch political murder from the sidelines."”–American Historical Review

“Bystanders is a powerful argument...The theoretical conclusions of Barnett's final pages are so pertinent, so powerful, that I would gladly have seen them all printed in italics. Indeed, were I now teaching an introductory course on Christian ethics in either a church or a seminary I would include this book as mandatory reading.”–Christian Century

“Without flinching, and with sharp distaste for any apologetics, Barnett scrutinizes the behavior of the "bystanders," those who saw and did nothing and then claimed they bore no responsibility. This book is a great achievement and will disturb the complacency of all those who thought they already knew the history of the Holocaust.”–Susannah Heschel author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus

“The ethical questions [Barnett] raises are as relevant and searing for the bystanders of today as they are for those of the past. Extremely well written, interesting and clear, the book should appeal to students in college-level Holocaust studies courses as well as the general public. It provides a great deal of information about Holocaust history while simultaneously provoking the reader toward moral self-scrutiny.”–Pearl Oliner Professor of Education Research Director Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute

“Victoria Barnett's book charts new ground in considering the bystander phenomenon during the Holocaust. Drawing from a wide variety of sources Barnett examines the historical and ethical implications of bystander behavior on three levels: the individual, institutional and international. Scholars and educators will benefit from Barnett's innovative and provocative study.”–Mary Johnson National Senior Program Associate Facing History and Ourselves

“Victoria Barnett's new book is a welcome and necessary addition to the scholarship on the holocaust, in particular on its implications for Christians and Christianity....Barnett's lucidly written, accessible book will find a receptive audience in undergraduate and graduate classes as well as among the broader interested public.”–Doris L. Bergen Professor University of Notre Dame

Book Description

The first systematic study of bystanders during the Holocaust analyzing why individuals, institutions, and the international community remained passive while millions died.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Paperback (June 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275970450
• ISBN-13: 978-0275970451
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #853,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Penetrating Examination of Human Behavior and the Holocaust, March 20, 2001

By 

T. Shuler (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust (Paperback)

In recent years, a number of books have probed the question, "How could the Holocaust happen in a highly-civilized country of 'ordinary,' law-abiding people?" Victoria Barnett's penetrating and provocative book goes a long way in answering the question. Barnett is a first-rate scholar and a skillful writer. She has studied in Germany and is an expert on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Although she relies on a vast amount of research, the material is presented simply and directly. Rather than trying to inflame or lay blame on one person or institution or people, Barnett examines the historical and psychological elements of both individual and institutional behaviors and attitudes in Germany and Europe. Her approach is detailed, fair, and reasoned. In an honest and rational manner she presents all the factors that converged in Germany, beginning in the years immediately after World War I, to create Nazism and ultimately the "final solution." This is a disturbing book. Almost from the first page you will find yourself looking into a mirror asking: "Would I have been a bystander?" "Am I a bystander?" Barnett's writing style is simple, direct, clear, and engrossing. However, don't be surprised if you fing it difficult to read more than a few pages at a time. Bystanders should be required reading in every Holocaust-studies, ethics, history and psychology class in every country in the world. If we can answer the questions "how" and "why" perhaps we save the world from another Hitler or another Holocaust. This book changed my life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book as far as it goes, June 30, 2009

By 

S. Moore (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust (Paperback)

The author of this book is focused particularly on the phenomenon of the "bystander", not the perpetrators or the victims of the Holocaust. As such, it is an excellent study of the subject. I am reading it a second time, and this time around I am more aware that one area is dark: the complicity of corporations in the Holocaust. She does, however, discuss the failure of churches and NGOs to aid the Jews in their time of need, which amounts to a gross complicity. Corporations in the US and elsewhere were making Holorinth machine cards,selling the Germans autos, trucks, etc. But given the area of focus the author sets out in the beginning, it is an excellent study of its kind.