Ordinary Men Christopher R. Browning Is a Essay

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Ordinary Men

Christopher R. Browning is a history professor at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. His work on holocaust historiography has allowed Browning to contribute to the world's most important compendium of holocaust history at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The sources used to write Ordinary Men were primary sources only: documentary evidence mainly emerging in the legal trials that ensued. Therefore, the author is well qualified to address the matter of the Reserve Police Battalion 101. Browning's experience and background would not have made Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland easy to write, though. The material is summarily grim, troubling, and difficult to digest. However, the holocaust is a significant part of modern history that must be continually remembered in order to never forget.

Ordinary Men is about a group of working class middle-aged German men from Hamburg who are selected to participate in the Nazi Final Solution in Poland. Their initial appointment was rather vague, allowing the men to gradually adjust to the impact of their orders and become desensitized to the fact that they would become mass murderers. Browning traces the evolution of the men's consciences as they went from ordinary men with ordinary lives as truck drivers, teachers, and businessmen to brutal baby killers. The most disturbing feature of Ordinary Men is the fact that the transformation from family man to killer seemed relatively easy for many in the battalion.

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For the ones for whom killing did not come as easy, it was nevertheless simple to justify participation in the regime by hiding behind the facade of a desk or managerial position. This is especially true of one of the men Browning features the most in Ordinary Men: Major Wilhelm Trapp.

Browning's thesis is multifold. For one, the author wants to show how easy it is for ordinary individuals to become murderous monsters. A sociological and psychological dynamic takes place, related to cultural norms and values including conformity and obedience. Secondly, the author wants to fill the gap in Holocaust research by revealing the mindsets of the men who participate in genocide. The suggestion is that genocide is preventable when people and institutions refuse to participate in any action resulting in the harm of other human beings, no matter who is giving the orders. Finally, the author shows that the Nazi Final Solution was a product of organizational culture, leadership, and management. Individual members of the battalion and other pawns like them deserve full responsibility for their atrocities, but their atrocities must also be understood as being part of a systemic problem stemming from the fact that anti-Semitism was normative in Europe. Killing was considered only mildly distasteful to ordinary men like those in the battalion. Furthermore, there were many others who did not participate as directly as they did: the civilians who watched while….....

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