Christopher R. Browning
Paperback | Pages: 271 pages Rating: 4.09 | 10599 Users | 668 Reviews
Mention Books During 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) |
Explanation Toward 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.
Describe Appertaining To 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 | : | Anniversary 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 Appertaining To Books Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Ratings: 4.09 From 10599 Users | 668 ReviewsEvaluation Appertaining To Books Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
'I reasoned with myself that after all without its mother the child could not live any longer. It was supposed to be, so to speak, soothing to my conscience to release children unable to live.'They went through their formative period in a pre-Nazi era, came from Hamburg one of the least Nazified cities in Germany, they belonged to social class that had been anti-Nazi, just how could these non-conforming end up killing innocent women, childern and men with little compulasion? The answer lies withThis is very good, significantly better than "Hitler's Willing Executioners." The argument makes more sense, and the evidence is presented in a much more coherent manner. But I can't really recommend that anyone read this unless you are devoted to studying the Holocaust. It is so awful and grim. It makes one weep for humanity. Really, it is tough to read about war crimes all day. I started to have nightmares about halfway through the book. The sad thing is, it is probably important for humanity
How do normal, law abiding people get into performing abnormal acts of extreme violence? This book takes on that question as regards the members of a German Reserve Police Battalion who participated, often directly, in the murder of over 85,000 Jews, Soviets, Poles and other 'undesirables', many of them women and children, during WWII. Unusually well documented, the activities of these several hundred men are traced from month to month both from the written record and from their own testimonies.
Jessica Mitford claimed in her book A Fine Old Conflict that the racism in her new home Oakland, California was from people who moved there from the Southern states (I guess we kept moving there for those acts of racially led police brutality over the years). No one else would be capable of that. Bitch, please! (Of course, I don't have a photo selection of myself with black people I got on well with as she does. So I MUST be a racist, coming from the American South as I do.) I can't help but
What makes seemingly normal people commit unforgiveable acts of evil? The men of RPB 101 were just middle-aged German men who participated in mass shootings as well as rounding up Jews for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Even more horrifying is that they were not fanatical Nazis - so how did they come to gaze so deeply into the abyss? Christopher R. Browning presents us with an explanation that is informed, original and disturbing.
Of all the books on the reading list for my Ideologies of the Holocaust class, this one is undoubtedly my favorite. It's a must read for anyone intrigued by the Holocaust, especially, in the "ordinary men" who carried out Hitler's orders and committed the infamously heinous crimes.
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
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