Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Harper Perennial (1998), Edition: Reprint, 271 pages
Description
In the early hours of July 13, 1942, the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, a unit of the German Order Police, entered the Polish Village of Jozefow. They had arrived in Poland less than three weeks before, most of them recently drafted family men too old for combat service--workers, artisans, salesmen, and clerks. By nightfall, they had rounded up Jozefow's 1,800 Jews, selected several hundred men as "work Jews," and shot the rest--that is, some 1,500 women, children, and old people. Most of these overage, rear-echelon reserve policemen had grown to maturity in the port city of Hamburg in pre-Hitler Germany and were neither committed Nazis nor racial fanatics. Nevertheless, in the sixteen months from the Jozefow massacre to the brutal Erntefest ("harvest festival") slaughter of November 1943, these average men participated in the direct shooting deaths of at least 38,000 Jews and the deportation to Treblinka's gas chambers of 45,000 more--a total body count of 83,000 for a unit of less than 500 men. Drawing on postwar interrogations of 210 former members of the battalion, Christopher Browning lets them speak for themselves about their contribution to the Final Solution--what they did, what they thought, how they rationalized their behavior (one man would shoot only infants and children, to "release" them from their misery). In a sobering conclusion, Browning suggests that these good Germans were acting less out of deference to authority or fear of punishment than from motives as insidious as they are common: careerism and peer pressure. With its unflinching reconstruction of the battalion's murderous record and its painstaking attention to the social background and actions of individual men, this unique account offers some of the most powerful and disturbing evidence to date of the ordinary human capacity for extraordinary inhumanity.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member sgerbic
Reviewed May 2006
Wow - very intense book, I only read maybe 6 pages before crying then having nightmares. This book along with “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” is the focus of a paper as well as a quiz for class (I got 100%). the two authors battle back and forth in their respective
7-2006
Wow - very intense book, I only read maybe 6 pages before crying then having nightmares. This book along with “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” is the focus of a paper as well as a quiz for class (I got 100%). the two authors battle back and forth in their respective
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afterwards. In a nutshell Browning feels that Germans killed because of peer pressure and felf pretty bad about it later. Goldburg feels that Germans killed because they wanted to, were given permission and didn’t feel bad about it later. Both authors agreed that antisemitism played a part. Goldburg feels that it played a much bigger role than Browning does. both men also agreed that ordinary men and women did kill with little encouragement. The debate is healthy, an still waging in the Holocaust field of study and amongst Germans. A good argument can be made for each book. 7-2006
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LibraryThing member deusvitae
Hoo boy. Trigger warning: all the violence and Holocaust triggers.
An exploration of the exploits of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in Poland as it relates to "Jewish actions" with a view toward the psychology of the policemen and their participation in such an evil regime.
The majority of the book
I understand why the author felt compelled to lay out the whole story of RPB 101 in such detail, but it makes for very difficult reading. To endure, one must become numb to the numbers to some degree, and I am not sure if that is healthy.
But the purpose of the work is very important. It is easy to demonize all Germans of the era as fully on board with National Socialism and its desire to purge Europe of Jewish people. It proves far more difficult to read primary source documentation from Germans and to see that the situation proved far more complex: in all likelihood it was a small (but loud, active, and prevalent) minority fully on board with National Socialism; another significant percentage that might have appreciated what was done for Germany but not a fan of how Hitler was doing things; and another significant percentage very much opposed to National Socialism. RPB 101 came from an area, Hamburg, which featured very little support for National Socialism; its men tended to be a little older and remembered previous regimes. The story puts to lie the idea that all had to do what they were told or face death themselves; from the beginning of the "Jewish actions" it was possible to avoid participating in shootings, and one officer was able to almost always avoid any "Jewish action." One would get branded as "weak," but no other action was necessarily taken. We learn how much alcohol was consumed so that the men could carry out their orders; it is clear that the shooting was not easy for a good number of them. Yet, indeed, more than not went along with it and participated in it for a kaleidoscope of reasons, but many centering on living according to the social expectations of the moment. When those social expectations changed radically over the next thirty years, many of the men were able to conform to the new standards and found ways to rationalize what they had done.
In short, one finds out quickly that to demonize all Germans as full Nazis is to miss out on the societal tendencies that led what had been considered one of the foremost and "civilized" nations to participate in such brutality...and that other "civilized" nations are not immune. This seems very apropos in light of what we have experienced over the past decade in America.
An ancillary purpose is to remind Western readers that much of the Final Solution did not take place in any concentration camp but in the kinds of actions done by RPB 101: shooting Jewish people in Polish ghettos. It rounds out the story more fully and explains why so many of the deaths come from the 1942-1944 timeframe.
This edition also includes the author's rebuttal to another scholar's arguments as well as an additional assessment of the evidence twenty-five years after the book's original publication. These are useful resources.
Should you read this? Yes, but it is not a fun time. But if you're committed to "never again," it's good to know what "it" is that you never want to see again, and what to do about "it" when it rises up again.
An exploration of the exploits of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in Poland as it relates to "Jewish actions" with a view toward the psychology of the policemen and their participation in such an evil regime.
The majority of the book
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focuses on what the reserve police battalions were, the organization, origin, and composition of Reserve Police Battalion (RPB) 101, and then the utilization of RPB 101 by Himmler and the SS to help carry out shootings of Jewish people or rounding up Jewish people onto trains to be sent to the concentration camps, primarily in 1942. RPB 101 is chosen because of the rich documentation regarding its participants in later war crimes trials and depositions. The author then attempts to apply recent discoveries in the field of social psychology to explain how it came about that a small percentage remained disturbed at the "Jewish actions" and found ways to not participate; many were disturbed at "shooting actions" but did not think twice about roundup and collection actions which were understood to lead to death; some became more acclimated to the "shooting actions" over time; and a small percentage truly believed and seemingly even took pleasure in the violence they perpetrated. I understand why the author felt compelled to lay out the whole story of RPB 101 in such detail, but it makes for very difficult reading. To endure, one must become numb to the numbers to some degree, and I am not sure if that is healthy.
But the purpose of the work is very important. It is easy to demonize all Germans of the era as fully on board with National Socialism and its desire to purge Europe of Jewish people. It proves far more difficult to read primary source documentation from Germans and to see that the situation proved far more complex: in all likelihood it was a small (but loud, active, and prevalent) minority fully on board with National Socialism; another significant percentage that might have appreciated what was done for Germany but not a fan of how Hitler was doing things; and another significant percentage very much opposed to National Socialism. RPB 101 came from an area, Hamburg, which featured very little support for National Socialism; its men tended to be a little older and remembered previous regimes. The story puts to lie the idea that all had to do what they were told or face death themselves; from the beginning of the "Jewish actions" it was possible to avoid participating in shootings, and one officer was able to almost always avoid any "Jewish action." One would get branded as "weak," but no other action was necessarily taken. We learn how much alcohol was consumed so that the men could carry out their orders; it is clear that the shooting was not easy for a good number of them. Yet, indeed, more than not went along with it and participated in it for a kaleidoscope of reasons, but many centering on living according to the social expectations of the moment. When those social expectations changed radically over the next thirty years, many of the men were able to conform to the new standards and found ways to rationalize what they had done.
In short, one finds out quickly that to demonize all Germans as full Nazis is to miss out on the societal tendencies that led what had been considered one of the foremost and "civilized" nations to participate in such brutality...and that other "civilized" nations are not immune. This seems very apropos in light of what we have experienced over the past decade in America.
An ancillary purpose is to remind Western readers that much of the Final Solution did not take place in any concentration camp but in the kinds of actions done by RPB 101: shooting Jewish people in Polish ghettos. It rounds out the story more fully and explains why so many of the deaths come from the 1942-1944 timeframe.
This edition also includes the author's rebuttal to another scholar's arguments as well as an additional assessment of the evidence twenty-five years after the book's original publication. These are useful resources.
Should you read this? Yes, but it is not a fun time. But if you're committed to "never again," it's good to know what "it" is that you never want to see again, and what to do about "it" when it rises up again.
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LibraryThing member wildbill
This review is not for the faint of heart. The topic of the book is a group of 500 men who participated in the holocaust and their actions are depicted up close and personal.
The book is based upon judicial interviews of 125 men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 from Hamburg, Germany. In 1942 and '43
The book is full of very disturbing images of groups of armed men going through a village and selecting and killing all of the Jews in the village. They also put thousands of Jews into train cars nailed them shut and then shot anyone who tried to escape.
As the title says these were ordinary men. They were simply manpower selected from the city of Hamburg and given the task of making a small portion of Poland judenfrei. Their selection for this task was based primarily on their unfitness for combat. Their unit was called a reserve police battalion but they were not policemen.
I am leaving out the gruesome details but there are many very detailed descriptions of the killings and the deportation process. It is enough to say that the unit participated in the killing of 38,000 people and the deportation of 45,200. After the war four of the unit were put on trial in Poland and two of those were executed. Fourteen men of the unit were indicted in Germany a few of whom received very light prison sentences.
After this book was written Daniel Jonah Goldhagen wrote Hitler's Willing Executioners. Part of his book was based upon the same interviews as the author of this book. The author has added an afterword of thirty pages where he discusses Goldhagen's book. Goldhagen's premise was that these men wanted to be willing executioners because of the virulent anti-semitism present in German culture. Browning agrees on some points but sharply disagrees with Goldhagen's premise. It appears that Goldhagen started with his premise and then built the evidence around his theory. I have avoided reading Goldhagen's book because that was also my perception. Goldhagen has been sharply criticized by others as an extremist and a poor historian. On the other end of the spectrum is David Irving, an historian who denies that the holocaust took place. I think the comment in the book which accurately describes the situation was from the psychologist Stanley Milgram. He did a number of studies to assess obedience to authority and concluded " Men are led to kill with little difficulty".
I think the book is an important study and analysis of how the holocaust happened. Unless you want to be informed on that topic I would advise you to avoid it. The images that remain in my mind and the truth about what ordinary people with just a little push will do make the horror stories of H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King seem like child's play.
The book is based upon judicial interviews of 125 men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 from Hamburg, Germany. In 1942 and '43
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they were stationed in Poland and participated in the killings and deportation of Jews and some Poles. These men were the foot soldiers of the Final Solution. They did the actual killings and loaded and guarded trains carrying Jews to the camps. This is the holocaust up close and personal.The book is full of very disturbing images of groups of armed men going through a village and selecting and killing all of the Jews in the village. They also put thousands of Jews into train cars nailed them shut and then shot anyone who tried to escape.
As the title says these were ordinary men. They were simply manpower selected from the city of Hamburg and given the task of making a small portion of Poland judenfrei. Their selection for this task was based primarily on their unfitness for combat. Their unit was called a reserve police battalion but they were not policemen.
I am leaving out the gruesome details but there are many very detailed descriptions of the killings and the deportation process. It is enough to say that the unit participated in the killing of 38,000 people and the deportation of 45,200. After the war four of the unit were put on trial in Poland and two of those were executed. Fourteen men of the unit were indicted in Germany a few of whom received very light prison sentences.
After this book was written Daniel Jonah Goldhagen wrote Hitler's Willing Executioners. Part of his book was based upon the same interviews as the author of this book. The author has added an afterword of thirty pages where he discusses Goldhagen's book. Goldhagen's premise was that these men wanted to be willing executioners because of the virulent anti-semitism present in German culture. Browning agrees on some points but sharply disagrees with Goldhagen's premise. It appears that Goldhagen started with his premise and then built the evidence around his theory. I have avoided reading Goldhagen's book because that was also my perception. Goldhagen has been sharply criticized by others as an extremist and a poor historian. On the other end of the spectrum is David Irving, an historian who denies that the holocaust took place. I think the comment in the book which accurately describes the situation was from the psychologist Stanley Milgram. He did a number of studies to assess obedience to authority and concluded " Men are led to kill with little difficulty".
I think the book is an important study and analysis of how the holocaust happened. Unless you want to be informed on that topic I would advise you to avoid it. The images that remain in my mind and the truth about what ordinary people with just a little push will do make the horror stories of H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King seem like child's play.
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LibraryThing member schatzi
I'd bought this book years ago after it was recommended by a professor in college, but it took me a while to sit down and actually read it. The author attempts to explain how a group of five hundred "ordinary men" from Germany could become cold killers of Jews in Poland. The transformation is
The book starts out with the unit's leader, Major Trapp, tearfully informing his soldiers that they were to undertake a "frightfully unpleasant task," which turns out to be the murder of Jews. And not just any Jews, mind you; the Jews that were mowed down by Police Battalion 101 were often women, children, babies, and the elderly. And then Major Trapp gave them an extraordinary choice: anyone who felt that he was incapable of performing this task should step forward and he would not be required to kill. Only a few took this offer. And though most of the men had a "distaste" for killing, eventually most of them grew immune to it - and some grew to enjoy it a great deal.
I think the picture on the cover says it all. The photograph features member of the battalion in Lukow in 1942, as they were liquidating the ghetto there. The entire photo is included in the book; you can see the Jews with their hands up, and yet these policemen are smiling. Wow.
In the end, Dr. Browning tries to draw some conclusions from the material presented in the book. It's difficult to explain how such a group of "ordinary men" became killers. He explores different theories; Milgram, Zimbardo, and Steiner are all mentioned. But in the end, there is no real answer, and the book itself ends with a question: "If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?" Indeed.
This book isn't for the faint of heart, but it does a good job of drawing on primary and secondary source material to paint a sickening picture of what happened in Poland during the Holocaust. It is difficult subject matter, as it should be. And it will likely leave you with unsettling questions about just how far you would, or could, go in a similar situation. This is an excellent work in the field of Holocaust studies.
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chilling. The book starts out with the unit's leader, Major Trapp, tearfully informing his soldiers that they were to undertake a "frightfully unpleasant task," which turns out to be the murder of Jews. And not just any Jews, mind you; the Jews that were mowed down by Police Battalion 101 were often women, children, babies, and the elderly. And then Major Trapp gave them an extraordinary choice: anyone who felt that he was incapable of performing this task should step forward and he would not be required to kill. Only a few took this offer. And though most of the men had a "distaste" for killing, eventually most of them grew immune to it - and some grew to enjoy it a great deal.
I think the picture on the cover says it all. The photograph features member of the battalion in Lukow in 1942, as they were liquidating the ghetto there. The entire photo is included in the book; you can see the Jews with their hands up, and yet these policemen are smiling. Wow.
In the end, Dr. Browning tries to draw some conclusions from the material presented in the book. It's difficult to explain how such a group of "ordinary men" became killers. He explores different theories; Milgram, Zimbardo, and Steiner are all mentioned. But in the end, there is no real answer, and the book itself ends with a question: "If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?" Indeed.
This book isn't for the faint of heart, but it does a good job of drawing on primary and secondary source material to paint a sickening picture of what happened in Poland during the Holocaust. It is difficult subject matter, as it should be. And it will likely leave you with unsettling questions about just how far you would, or could, go in a similar situation. This is an excellent work in the field of Holocaust studies.
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LibraryThing member itspeter
The ongoing debate that the source material used by Browning is still with us. The issue of how the "ordinary" german, rather than the "Nazi" could transform themselves into mass killers, with out being members of the Nazi party, and therefore already motivated to kill "jews". The fact that
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ordinary men could and did, lies at the heart of the ongoing debate. Just how German are the killers, just how ordinary. The debate is continued in "The Orgins of the Final Solution". Show Less
LibraryThing member John
This is an excellent and detailed consideration of how ordinary, law-abiding men, including family men, despite initial misgivings, could become calloused killers of men, women and children.
LibraryThing member davidpwhelan
"Ordinary Men" came on my radar after reading the Wikipedia.org entry on the Belzec concentration camp, a place I'd never heard of, which in turn was surfaced after learning about Jane Yolen's "The Devil's Arithmetic". This book looks at a 400-500 man paramilitary (not active or regular military)
Browning does a tremendous job of walking through the history of this unit, based on German government documents and other sources. It's a horrific business as he approaches each massacre or other action in a scholarly, almost antiseptic way. In this way the text is a bit mechanical, but heavily documented and supported with citations. The author walks you through the descent of this group into its significant participation in Hitler's Final Solution.
If the idea of reading the historic accounting of these murderers is too much, skip to Chapter 18. Browning looks at the possible reasons that ordinary, non-descript, not terribly partisan individuals could make these choices. He calls on pyschology research done by Milgram and others, looks at Nazi indoctrination, and other variables that might cause people to choose murder. Browning doesn't see any of these variables as exculpatory, but it's interesting to see him draw the threads together and gain the vantage of what being a member of this police unit might have entailed.
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unit that assisted in the deaths of thousands. The early-middle and middle-aged Hamburgers are startled by their first murders but then we follow the group as some continue and grow proficient while others try to avoid further killing.Browning does a tremendous job of walking through the history of this unit, based on German government documents and other sources. It's a horrific business as he approaches each massacre or other action in a scholarly, almost antiseptic way. In this way the text is a bit mechanical, but heavily documented and supported with citations. The author walks you through the descent of this group into its significant participation in Hitler's Final Solution.
If the idea of reading the historic accounting of these murderers is too much, skip to Chapter 18. Browning looks at the possible reasons that ordinary, non-descript, not terribly partisan individuals could make these choices. He calls on pyschology research done by Milgram and others, looks at Nazi indoctrination, and other variables that might cause people to choose murder. Browning doesn't see any of these variables as exculpatory, but it's interesting to see him draw the threads together and gain the vantage of what being a member of this police unit might have entailed.
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LibraryThing member lriley
Book details atrocities of German police operations in occupied Poland during World War II. Examines the psychology of ordinary middle-aged conscripts thrown into extraordinary situation. The police unit in question at first is appalled by the murders they are being asked to commit of mostly
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peaceful jewish civilians. With a few notable exceptions all the members of the unit are drawn into these atrocities--some becoming more willing in time and others doing what they can to avoid. Browning sorts through the court records and interviews and tries to explain the varieties of psychologies at work of those who survived the war. One of the main ideas he posits is that people are capable of much more than they may think--and under pressure from cultural and authoriatarian forces are much more easily manipulated. It's an interesting read and Browning keeps it moving along. Show Less
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
In the public discussion, Browning's earlier book was unfortunately overshadowed by Daniel Goldhagen's polemic. This is the vastly superior book (and Browning's reply to Goldhagen, which is added to this edition of the book, is devastating). The easy solution to the world that evil speaks with a
Browning shows how this reserve police battalion murdered or deported a shockingly huge number of Jews in a restricted time frame, in the wide plains of Eastern Europe. Only a few refused to participate, some sulked and evaded to kill. Most just followed orders. The shocking revelation is that they were not forced to do so. Those who objected or those who abstained from further killing were left to alone. It was not force that turned them into killers but a combination of an elaborate division of labor, peer pressure (of not letting your fellows down on the "job") and obedience to authority (the Milgram effect). Browning's findings apply equally to My Lai and Abu Ghraib.
One of the most disturbing aspect of the book is that those men resumed their police duties after the war and only a few were punished for their deeds. All too often war criminals escape just punishment.
An important book, both regarding why men kill and how the holocaust happened.
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German accent is just not true. This makes it all the more important to study the subject why and how men, ordinary or not, go and kill (and torture) their fellow men.Browning shows how this reserve police battalion murdered or deported a shockingly huge number of Jews in a restricted time frame, in the wide plains of Eastern Europe. Only a few refused to participate, some sulked and evaded to kill. Most just followed orders. The shocking revelation is that they were not forced to do so. Those who objected or those who abstained from further killing were left to alone. It was not force that turned them into killers but a combination of an elaborate division of labor, peer pressure (of not letting your fellows down on the "job") and obedience to authority (the Milgram effect). Browning's findings apply equally to My Lai and Abu Ghraib.
One of the most disturbing aspect of the book is that those men resumed their police duties after the war and only a few were punished for their deeds. All too often war criminals escape just punishment.
An important book, both regarding why men kill and how the holocaust happened.
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LibraryThing member FPdC
A modern classic. This book, first published in 1992, is an extremely important study about the Holocaust. Browning describes how a unit of ordinary, middle-aged, conscripted reserve policemen without the special ideological indoctrination of the type received by the members of the SS, became
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active participants in the murder of several thousands of Polish jews. The book starts by an analysis of the first occurences of Final Solution policies in occupied Russia in 1941, and then describes the actions of the Reserve Battalion 101 in Poland in the fall of 1942 and in 1943. The last two chapters contain extremely insightful and penetrating observations about the processes that could have transformed five hundred ordinary men into a group of mass murderers. In the Afterword to this British edition the author examines the critique the original American edition was subjected to by Daniel Goldhagen in his best-selling book Hitler's Willing Executioners. Goldhagen's biased methodology, lack of consistency, his double standards, and his skewed use of, and sometimes disregard for, the sources, is here brilliantly and devastantingly exposed. This book is a remarkable work of serious scholarship that do help us to understand (in)human behaviour not only in Nazi Germany but also in our own time. Indispensable! Show Less
LibraryThing member kimbee
I read it for my Holocaust class. The main thing I'll take away from the class and this book is that everyone had a choice during the war of race and space
LibraryThing member bibliobeck
A very difficuly read, but a very important book. Alex Haslam, one of the psychologists who replicated Zimbardo's Prison Experiment in conjunction with Exeter University and the BBC recommended this when he came to speak to our students. He spoke about how ordinary men can do extraordinarily
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horrific things when in certain situations. Everything about this book is traumatic - from the photo on the cover to the very last page, but the message is clear - we can't hide from what happened and we should never forget. The book is an intensely detailed account of the men who formed Police Battalion 101 and how they went from mundane tasks to murder in Poland. Browning has undertaken the unenviable meticulous research of hundreds of hours of judicial interviews and transcripts which make up this hugely important document of the holocaust. Show Less
LibraryThing member rsplenda477
A haunting book that shows the utter evil that humankind will sink to when treating its own species. Wonderfully researched by Browning, this book will send chills down your spine when reading it. Yet another example of the horrors of the Holocaust.
LibraryThing member bakabaka84
A very interesting read on how ordinary men can become willing killers if the circumstances are right but that eventual everyone had a choice to comply or object. Some objected, most did not or were indifferent. Highly recommended
LibraryThing member sgtbigg
Browning reviewed hundreds of interviews conducted with former members of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the 1960s. He used these to explain how "ordinary men" could commit the crimes of the holocaust and what made those men different from us. The disheartening answer is nothing made them
One interesting thing was Browning's inclusion of an afterward in the paperback edition which responded to the publication of Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Goldhagen. Goldhagen's book drew in large part from the same records Browning used but came to vastly different conclusions. Browning used the afterward to refute Goldhagen's conclusions, as well as to defend accusations made against his research by Goldhagen. Goldhagen concluded that ordinary Germans took part in the holocaust because they had historically hated Jews (obviously an oversimplification of his argument). As an aside, I had a military history professor who said that Goldhagen's book proved that even in academia crap can get published.
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different, they're just like us. About 20% of the members took no or little part in the killing, about 20% were glad to take part, and the remaining 60% just went along. A very interesting and informative book and one that I highly recommend.One interesting thing was Browning's inclusion of an afterward in the paperback edition which responded to the publication of Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Goldhagen. Goldhagen's book drew in large part from the same records Browning used but came to vastly different conclusions. Browning used the afterward to refute Goldhagen's conclusions, as well as to defend accusations made against his research by Goldhagen. Goldhagen concluded that ordinary Germans took part in the holocaust because they had historically hated Jews (obviously an oversimplification of his argument). As an aside, I had a military history professor who said that Goldhagen's book proved that even in academia crap can get published.
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LibraryThing member ecw0647
And another in our continuing series of depressing books: Christopher Browning examines the motivation of a 500 man police battalion assigned to the rear lines of Germany's Eastern Front. This small group of men was personally responsible for the massacre of over 38,000 Jews and the deportation of
Not everyone blindly followed orders. The battalion's commander ordered that anyone not wishing to participate in the shootings could be excused and about 12 were. For many of the others rationalization became the order of the day. One later testified he killed only children because his partner was shooting the mothers and he did not think it was right that children should grow up without mothers.
The horrifying aspect of this account is how little it took for these men to become transformed psychologically from "normal" people into willing participants. These were not atrocities one has come to expect from war during the heat of battle (Malmedy, My Lai, etc.), rather an institutionalized, bureaucratic government policy. That bureaucracy may be part of the cause. It distances people from their actions. Bureaucrats never saw the hideous result of their actions, seeing only their small paper-shuffling role.
That still does not explain the actions of the men who were doing the actual killing. Women and children were marched up to graves they had been forced to dig and were shot point-blank in the head. The shooters were even instructed on the best location on the neck to shoot in order to save ammunition. Occasionally the killer would be splattered with brain tissue and skull parts.
There was a deliberate process of dehumanization abetted by Nazi racial policies. In fact, the soldiers found it much more difficult to kill German speaking Jews, especially those who had fled Germany. They saw them not as the barbarians they had been told they were killing. Euphemisms, (protective reaction strikes) were common: killing became "actions" and shipping to concentration camps became "resettlements." Responsibility was diffused by deferring to orders from "above" and dividing the tasks into different parts.
There was a perversion of ethical outlook, too. Those few who were revolted by what they were doing and who refused to participate were called cowards. We need to cultivate a society where those who follow individual conscience are the heroes and those who follow the crowd are the cowards.
As an aside, before my Dad died, I was talking to one of the aides in his nursing home who came from Argentina. We got to talking about my years in Germany and she mentioned her grandfather had emigrated to Argentina from Germany after the war. (Little tiny red flags waving over my head.) I queried if he had been in the German army. Her response was quite unashamedly, yes, he had been in the SS. (Red Banners now waving over my head.) Then she went on to talk about how the victors rewrite history. I decided then I had to visit the men's room.
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some 45,000 more to Treblinka. These were not racial fanatics nor committed Nazis. Their motives were quite ordinary: careerism and peer pressure. Browning's book is based on interviews with the participants collected after the war.Not everyone blindly followed orders. The battalion's commander ordered that anyone not wishing to participate in the shootings could be excused and about 12 were. For many of the others rationalization became the order of the day. One later testified he killed only children because his partner was shooting the mothers and he did not think it was right that children should grow up without mothers.
The horrifying aspect of this account is how little it took for these men to become transformed psychologically from "normal" people into willing participants. These were not atrocities one has come to expect from war during the heat of battle (Malmedy, My Lai, etc.), rather an institutionalized, bureaucratic government policy. That bureaucracy may be part of the cause. It distances people from their actions. Bureaucrats never saw the hideous result of their actions, seeing only their small paper-shuffling role.
That still does not explain the actions of the men who were doing the actual killing. Women and children were marched up to graves they had been forced to dig and were shot point-blank in the head. The shooters were even instructed on the best location on the neck to shoot in order to save ammunition. Occasionally the killer would be splattered with brain tissue and skull parts.
There was a deliberate process of dehumanization abetted by Nazi racial policies. In fact, the soldiers found it much more difficult to kill German speaking Jews, especially those who had fled Germany. They saw them not as the barbarians they had been told they were killing. Euphemisms, (protective reaction strikes) were common: killing became "actions" and shipping to concentration camps became "resettlements." Responsibility was diffused by deferring to orders from "above" and dividing the tasks into different parts.
There was a perversion of ethical outlook, too. Those few who were revolted by what they were doing and who refused to participate were called cowards. We need to cultivate a society where those who follow individual conscience are the heroes and those who follow the crowd are the cowards.
As an aside, before my Dad died, I was talking to one of the aides in his nursing home who came from Argentina. We got to talking about my years in Germany and she mentioned her grandfather had emigrated to Argentina from Germany after the war. (Little tiny red flags waving over my head.) I queried if he had been in the German army. Her response was quite unashamedly, yes, he had been in the SS. (Red Banners now waving over my head.) Then she went on to talk about how the victors rewrite history. I decided then I had to visit the men's room.
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LibraryThing member Chris_El
Ordinary people, when faced with enough social pressure, and a limited array of choices, will not shrink from becoming monsters. Essentially, that is the theme of the historical review of a German reserve police battalion from WWII. Much of the records from this group were provided in the years
10 to 20% of the men refused or asked for other jobs when they were ordered to execute Jews. Few relished the role. Most, just did it as their grim and terrible duty as they shot hundreds of people one by one on several occasions.
A quote from the book that I think captures the beginning of this analysis well: "The battalion had orders to kill Jews, but each individual did not. Yet 80 to 90 percent of the men proceeded to kill, though almost all of them-at least initially-were horrified and disgusted by what they were doing. To break ranks and step out, to adopt overtly nonconformist behavior, was simply beyond most men. It was easier for them to shoot.
Why? First of all, by breaking ranks, nonshooters were leaving the "dirty work" to their comrades. Since the battalion had to shoot even if individuals did not, refusing to shoot constituted refusing one's share of an unpleasant collective obligation. It was in effect an asocial act vis-à-vis one's comrades. Those who did not shoot risked isolation, rejection, and ostracism-a very uncomfortable prospect within the framework of a tight-nit unit station abroad among a hostile population, so that the individual had nowhere else to turn for support and social contact."
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after WWII thru interviews from the members themselves though there were also witness statements about the events they participated in. 10 to 20% of the men refused or asked for other jobs when they were ordered to execute Jews. Few relished the role. Most, just did it as their grim and terrible duty as they shot hundreds of people one by one on several occasions.
A quote from the book that I think captures the beginning of this analysis well: "The battalion had orders to kill Jews, but each individual did not. Yet 80 to 90 percent of the men proceeded to kill, though almost all of them-at least initially-were horrified and disgusted by what they were doing. To break ranks and step out, to adopt overtly nonconformist behavior, was simply beyond most men. It was easier for them to shoot.
Why? First of all, by breaking ranks, nonshooters were leaving the "dirty work" to their comrades. Since the battalion had to shoot even if individuals did not, refusing to shoot constituted refusing one's share of an unpleasant collective obligation. It was in effect an asocial act vis-à-vis one's comrades. Those who did not shoot risked isolation, rejection, and ostracism-a very uncomfortable prospect within the framework of a tight-nit unit station abroad among a hostile population, so that the individual had nowhere else to turn for support and social contact."
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Browning’s subjects were extensively interviewed after WWII, creating more extensive records than exist for other German groups. These men were largely not career go-getters, though they varied in their commitment to Nazism, and they were sent to Poland to keep the conquered territory in line and
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to carry out massacres. About 85% of them participated directly in killing Jews (and some non-Jewish Poles), while a limited amount of refusal to participate directly was tolerated (though they ended up standing guard or otherwise just standing there, rather than resisting). Browning argues that anti-Semitism, though clearly relevant, wasn’t something that distinguished most of the killers; they did it because it was their job, and because their comrades were doing it so refusal would just increase the burden on their mates. Many also became jaded over time—some retreated to alcohol and others to more absolute brutality. Show Less
LibraryThing member becks2611
If you are interested in the Holocaust, this account from the perspective of those that carried out Hitler's orders is gruesome yet riveting. The first attempt to read this book usually ends in disgust. If you can get through it the stories are astounding and it gives a more complet picture of
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Hitler's final solution. Show Less
LibraryThing member mkfs
The evil that men do arises from their need to fit in and to shirk accountability.
Subjects
Awards
National Jewish Book Award (Winner — 1994)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1992
Physical description
271 p.; 5.31 inches
ISBN
0060995068 / 9780060995065