HIST 2306 E Book Abstract: ORDINARY MEN by Christopher Browning
             Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning accounts for the actions of the German Order Police ( more specifically the actions of Reserve Police Battalion 101in Poland) and the role they played in the Second World War during the Jewish Holocaust. Police Battalion 101 was composed of veterans from World War One and men too old to be drafted into the regular forces: army, navy, air force. Browning himself is uncertain of the accuracy of information that he provides because he based his study on personal testimony recorded in postwar legal investigations. This also offers a biographical profile of a German unit that consisted of approximately 500 men who in the sixteen months starting in July of 1942 participated in the slaughter of more than 80,000 jews. Between August of 1942 and May of 1943 the accounts of the number of jews deported from their homes was estimated at a minimum of 45,200 men women and children as well as an estimated minimum of 38,000 jews shot and killed betwee!
             Browning's book is very well written and researched to an exhaustive point. His intent seems to be a focus on the activities of German Police Battalion 101, however this is not the case. Early into the book he seems to go too much into detail about the activities of other police units and it isn't clear if they are attached to Battalion 101 or if they are simply separate police units used as examples to describe the actions that Battalion 101 would be engaging in that they failed to mention during the war crime inquiries . This leads the reader to get lost in the whole of events taking place. On the other hand, the book is well written and very detailed and researched. The reading flows well and Browning keeps his readers interested. The book has an almost novel like feel to it.
             According to Dennis Noble's review of Browning's book in the Library Jo
             ...