Christopher R. Browning
Paperback | Pages: 271 pages Rating: 4.09 | 10599 Users | 668 Reviews
Point Books Supposing Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
| Original Title: | Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland |
| ISBN: | 0060995068 (ISBN13: 9780060995065) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | National Jewish Book Award for Holocaust (1994) |
Rendition In Pursuance Of Books Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Christopher R. Browning’s shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews—now with a new afterword and additional photographs. Ordinary Men is the true story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that most of the men of RPB 101 were not fanatical Nazis but, rather, ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities out of a mixture of motives, including the group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms to justify their actions. Very quickly three groups emerged within the battalion: a core of eager killers, a plurality who carried out their duties reliably but without initiative, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts of killing without diminishing the murderous efficiency of the battalion whatsoever. While this book discusses a specific Reserve Unit during WWII, the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition. Ordinary Men is a powerful, chilling, and important work, with themes and arguments that continue to resonate today.Mention Based On Books Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
| Title | : | Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland |
| Author | : | Christopher R. Browning |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 271 pages |
| Published | : | April 6th 1993 by Harper Perennial (first published 1992) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. World War II. Holocaust. War. Psychology |
Rating Based On Books Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Ratings: 4.09 From 10599 Users | 668 ReviewsColumn Based On Books Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
This was a very difficult book to read and is not for the faint of heart. It focuses on the really ordinary men who made up this unit and partook in the killing of thousands of Jewish women, children and the old and sickly by firing squad. It is very graphic in the description of the executions in it's brutality and one cannot fathom how the majority of these men carried out such heinous crimes. Writing this review brings a lot of emotions out of me as a father of a child and to think that these
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 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
A fascinating book on the role of ordinary policemen in the holocaust. Based on testimony given in the 1960s the author draws out the way in which these men approached and dealt with the systematic murder of Jews in Poland.The police unit was formed from men unsuitable for the regular army, taken from one German city - Hamburg- and represented a cross section of society.It shows how the men were affected differently by this heinous crime - some became efficient and enthusiastic killers, some
How did the Holocaust happen? Not the antisemitic ravings of Hitler, or the careerist banality of Eichmann, but the physical labor of liquidating the Jews of Poland. Someone had to round up the Jews in ghettos, herd them onto trains to the death camps, shoot the ones who couldn't walk or evaded. Ordinary Men asks what happens to the people who perpetuate a genocide.The 'someone' in Ordinary Men were the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, about 500 middle-aged, working-class men from Hamburg.
Normally the type of history Id be very interested in reading about. When I read the title and the summary, I was very excited to start the book. It was well-researched. The opinions were well thought out. Historically, it was sound, in my very amateur opinion. However, the writing left much to be desired. Its one thing to write a book thats completely factual and write it in a way that keeps the audience interested. Its another thing to write so poorly that members of the audience who are
This is one of the essential books of Holocaust literature. When I read it, some years ago now, it changed me. It's about a Reserve Police Battalion in Poland. This was a bunch of middle-aged guys who were unfit for military service, so they were given an easier job, which was to shoot Jewish people and bury them in woods (okay, the last bit could be hard, but generally you could get the Jewish people to do all the digging before you shot them).This was the pre-industrial phase of the Holocaust,
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