Willing Executioners?

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 24/09/2005 jbor wrote:

> And, what of Pynchon's depictions of "ordinary" Germans and human 
> psychology in _GR_ w/r/t Goldhagen's "cognitive model" theory?

Of some relevance to this debate is the attitude which I think Pynchon 
is ascribing to members of the Dutch Resistance and/or Katje in GR:

[...] Wim and the others have invested time and lives -- three Jewish 
families sent east [...] Scrip, Sterling, Reichsmarks continue to move, 
severe as classical ballet, inside their antiseptic marble chambers. 
But out here, down here among the people, the truer currencies come 
into being. So, Jews are negotiable. Every bit as negotiable as 
cigarettes, cunt, or Hershey Bars. Jews also carry an element of guilt, 
of future blackmail, which operates, natch, in favor of the 
professionals. [105]

Though that last sentence, or the last part of it, does sound 
suspiciously like a narrative comment. I wonder who is meant by "the 
professionals".

Re. the "three Jewish families sent east" which the Resistance leader, 
Wim, reflects on, cf. Blicero just earlier thinking to himself: 
"Certainly her [Katje's] record with Mussert's people is faultless, 
she's credited with smelling out at least three crypto-Jewish families 
[...]" (97).

best