Bystanders Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust

Subjects:

• Religious Studies » Religious Studies (General)
• History » Holocaust Studies
• Psychology » Social Psychology
• History » European History -- Modern/20th Century

Reviews:

• ...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 January 2002
• 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
• This is an important book on the dynamics of indifference and on the ethical implications of the Holocaust on the eve of a new millenium. Highly recommended for all libraries and Judaica collections.
  —Jewish Book World
• A good, broad-based introduction to an important but often-overlooked aspect of the Holocaust, this book should find a place on the shelves of undergraduates and social scientists, humanists, and humanitarians of every stripe.
  —Religious Studies Review

• Endorsement From Susannah Heschel
  author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus: 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.
• Endorsement From Pearl Oliner
  Professor of Education
  Research Director
  Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute: 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.
• Endorsement From Mary Johnson
  National Senior Program Associate
  Facing History and Ourselves: 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.
• Endorsement From Doris L. Bergen
  Professor
  University of Notre Dame: 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.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Who Is a Bystander?
• Individual Behavior
• Collective Behavior
• Interpreting the Holocaust
• The Role of Totalitarianism
• Attitudes Toward "The Other": Prejudice and Indifference
• The Dynamics of Indifference
• A Broken World: Religious Interpretations of the Holocaust
• Acts of Disruptive Empathy: One Village
• The Individual as Ethical Being
• Bibliography
• Index