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From: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers <drogers@jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
List Editor: H-GERMAN EDITOR Dan Rogers <drogers@jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
Editor's Subject: FAZ Article on Birn & Goldhagen
Author's Subject: FAZ Article on Birn & Goldhagen
Date Written: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 17:39:22 -0600
Date Posted: Thu, 12 Nov 1997 18:39:22 -0500

H-German subscribers may wish to be aware of an article appearing in the
4 November 1997 _Feuilleton_ section of the _Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung_.  Entitled "Der Schutz des allmaechtigen Autors -- Rechtsanwaelte
lesen lassen: Wie Daniel Jonah Goldhagen mit seinen Kritikern verfaehrt,"
the article concerns a review of Goldhagen's _Hitler's Willing
Executioners_ by Ruth Bettina Birn, in collaboration with Volker Riess.
The review appeared in the _Historical Journal_ 40, 1 (1997):195-215,
published by Cambridge University Press.  Goldhagen recently responded in
the latest issue of _German Politics and Society_.

According to the FAZ article, the following supposedly occurred:

        + a London attorney wrote Birn after publication of her review,
          accused Birn of defaming the character of Goldhagen, and
          included a listing of supposed misrepresentations of Goldhagen's
          work in her review.

        + the letter from the attorney supposedly also demanded a public
          apology and retraction.

        + Concerning the legal process begun by the attorney's letter and
          its implications, the FAZ article states: "Sieben Tage Frist
          wurden zur Antwort gewaehrt.  Sechs lange Jahre hat dagegen Daniel
          Goldhagen nun Zeit zu ueberlegen, ob er den naechsten Schritt
          tun will. Ruth Bettina Birn publiziert somit auf Bewaehrung."

The article makes this general statement about the significance of the
event: "Das Neuartige und Ungewoehnliche dieses Vorgangs liegt darin, dass
hier ein Autor versucht, wissenschaftliche Kritik nicht durch Argumente zu
widerlegen, sondern mit dem Hinweis auf ein eventuell einzuleitendes
Gerichtsverfahren zu unterbinden.  Dergleichen ist in der 'scientific
community' unueblich."

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