Ordinary Men
Book Review - Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning In Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning attempts to answer two questions about the Holocaust in Poland; how the Nazis organized and carried out the destruction of Poland's Jewish population, and where they found the manpower necessary to carry out their evil. Browning bases his book on the testimonies of the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, which was a unit of the German Order Police. These testimonies come from the German government's investigation of Nazi war crimes, and were given in the 1960's. Ordinary Men provides a graphic portrayal of Police Battalion 101's involvement in the Holocaust. The major focus of the book is upon reconstruction of the events this group of men participated in. Browning utilizes first-hand testimonies to paint a pic
It is a microscopic look into a horrifying whole, and as such is a good historical source for those interested in how the Nazi's accomplished their goal of a "Judenfrei" Poland. Its usefulness as a Sociological work is limited, however. Browning attempts to figure out how a group of "Ordinary Men" could become mass murderers. Were they specially selected or trained? Were they of superior intellect? What Browning discovers is that these men were in fact ordinary. Almost none of these men received any type of special training. Most were old enough to have grown up before the rise of Fascism, and knew perfectly well the moral norms of German society before the Nazis. He reconstructs and summarizes their activities in Poland during the war, from shooting innocent men, women, and children to clearing out the ghettos of all Jews and ensuring they board trains to concentration camps. Most of these "Ordinary Men" therefore chose to kill innocent people. ture of the brutality these men inflicted upon the Polish Jews. While Browning does spend time exploring the possible societal causes of "Ordinary Men" becoming cold-blooded killers, the book is mainly a narrative of the events which actually occurred in Poland during 1942 and 43. To gain insight into this question, Browning investigated the background of these men. Browning ultimately concludes that if a member of this group refused to kill he was refusing his share of an unpleasant collective obligation. The Battalion was stationed abroad among a hostile population. While acknowledging that those who did kill cannot be absolved by the notion that everyone in the same situation would have done as they did (some of the men did refuse to kill), Browning warns that "If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?" Ordinary Men provides the reader with a rather in-depth narrative of actual events during the Holocaust. This was a highly unfavorable prospect for these men given their situation, Browning argues.
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