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Hitler's Helpers

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May 27, 2009
Der Spiegel magazine, Germany's chief weekly, published an article exploring "Hitler's European Helpers." Challenging conventional understanding, the article quotes German Historian Götz Aly who asks "was the so-called Final Solution in fact a ‘European project"? The article explores the stories of thousands of non-Germans many scholars believe assisted the Nazi's as willing accomplices to mass murder. While the article does not attempt to provide a simple answer to that question, it does explore the role of antisemitism across Europe.  In one chilling detail, Dutch journalist Ad van Liempt explains, that under Nazi occupation, the Dutch government offered 7.50 gilders (about $40) for every Jew that citizens turned in. Van Liempt believes that over 6,800 Jews were turned in this way between March and June of 1943.


Discussion Questions: 
  • What insights into the history of the Holocaust might we learn from studying the history non-German collaborators?
  • How might the stories of non-German participants help us to better understand the motivations of the perpetrators of the Holocaust?
  • In the past many people have held Germany and German people in particular, accountable for the crimes of the Holocaust. How do stories like this complicate questions of judgment and responsibility?
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Should the Hunt for Nazis Continue?