Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Comments on Birn

Abstract

To continue refuting Ruth Bettina Birn’s specific falsehoods point bypoint is to feed the charade that she is engaged in a scholarly discussion.Thirty examples (many containing multiple instances) of herfabrications, which I have documented in “The Fictions of Ruth BettinaBirn” should be sufficient to establish this. Nevertheless, just soothers cannot say that I have not responded to them, an addendumto this article taking up her individual misrepresentations, as well asmy original reply, can be found on the Internet at goldhagen.com.Here I will briefly put Birn’s commentary in its appropriate generalperspective, so that people may know what she is up to: attackingmy book and my character by ascribing to me views and ideas thatare the opposite of my own.

Perpetration: from demons and desperados to processes of perpetration

“…In complete contrast, a few years later Daniel Goldhagen published Hitler's willing executioners. 62 Goldhagen's thesis was that the origins of the Holocaust lay in a certain kind of eliminationist anti-Semitism that had become widespread in Germany. The perpetrators were mostly Germans and particularly anti-Semitic.…”

Mind the Gap: Embodied Cognition, Curiosity, and Recent Designs for Academic Libraries

“…That's why cushioned chairs … elicit feelings of relaxation and warmth even if students never sit in them. 28 She argues that textures such as rough masonry may transmit negative associations for some people "because they nonconsciously imagine that brushing up against it might hurt." 29 The granite on the exterior of Charles Library is contrasted to western red cedar cladding underneath the huge sheltering canopies.…”

Historic Preservation and its Cultured Despisers: Reflections on the Contemporary Role of Preservation Law in Urban Development

“…149 Moreover, she urges that "city planning offices must be returned to their former, powerful role in urban policy." 150 History warns that such power could shift decision making to fora where the concerns and voices of community members may have less sway. 151 In an important sense, preservation law was erected as a shield against planners.…”

“…Sarah Williams Goldhagen, writing in reaction to Cronocaos, also recognizes the broad reach preservation law in modern development process, becoming "de facto, one of the city governments' most powerful instruments for influencing private development." 138 Her concern is that preservation law functions broadly as design review, that is, a broad inquiry into the aesthetic merits of new architecture, but that volunteer preservation boards have neither the expertise nor the legal standards to integrate new design with broader planning goals. According to Goldhagen, "[d]esign review boards, staffed by professionals trained in aesthetics and urban issues and able to influence planning and preservation decisions, should become an integral part of the urban development process."…”