Browning, Christopher R. “Perpetrator Testimony” in Collected Memories

Unlike other historians, who tend to dismiss perpetrator testimony as unreliable, Browning delineates how perpetrator testimony may be useful in Holocaust history writing. He argues for a critical approach that nonetheless considers the possibility that the perpetrator’s testimony, in this case Adolf Eichmann’s, may contain kernels of truth, despite obvious attempts at self-representation, self-justification, and legal defense – as Eichmann wrote most of his testimony while awaiting trial for crimes against humanity. Browning uses four questions to determine whether a statement might be true: 1) The self-interest test: is it in the speaker’s interest (not) to tell the truth? 2) The vividness test: does the testimony pay “unusual attention to details of visual memory” (11)? 3) The possibility test: is the content of the testimony plausible, or are there sources that contradict the details? 4) The probability test: is it probable, and are there other sources which support it? He agrees with Christian Gerlach that perpetrator testimony alone does not suffice – it may serve as supportive evidence at best, yet evidence nonetheless. Browning’s main focus lies with Adolf Eichmann’s testimony, both before and after his capture and trial, arguing that while his testimony has been dismissed, not all of it has not been disproven, and that it is not only possible, but probable that he told the truth concerning the timeline of when he first learned of Hitler’s order for the physical extermination of the Jews, which “helps to illuminate not only the timing of the decisions for the Final Solution but also the intent and vision of the Nazi leadership in the fall of 1941” (36). Browning provides a useful methodology for approaching perpetrator testimony, but pays little attention to the ethical implications of accrediting perpetrators (unlike e.g. Sibylle Schmidt, “Perpetrator’s Knowledge”).

Author of this entry: Eline Reinhoud

Browning, Christopher R. “Perpetrator Testimony: Another Look at Adolf Eichmann” in Collected Memories: Holocaust History and Postwar Testimony (Madison, WI: UP, 2003): 3-36.