Although there is speculation that the Germans involved in World War II, willing participated in the mass murder of innocent victims, the reality is quite different. People are generally good and telling someone to kill another does not automatically make them want to do it. “Ordinary men” killed innocent people during the Jewish genocide because the Nazi’s forced them or because they avoided it all together. In Christopher R. Brownings historic publication, he explained the mindset of the individuals who participated in the Final Solution. There were two specific reactions that the men could have had when they were forced to kill. First, Browning explains that the men only killed for fear of what would happen if they did not. Imagine
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The men were obeying orders from someone who was taking responsibility for what they were doing. A lot of the time, the men could rationalize their actions by stating “even if I don’t do it, others will have to.” The men were not about to force their brethren to take on the same horrendous task just because they didn’t want to do it. Most of the time this particular Battalion 101 did not have to face the extreme nature of the overall tasks. A lot of the time this group was involved in gathering the Jews or accompanying them through transfers. Most of the men probably didn’t realize the magnitude of what they were doing. They only ever saw small amounts of bodies compared to the ending total of deaths and a lot of the times didn’t have to be near the shooting. This fact could have allowed many of the men to rationalize their actions and be unaware of the impact of the genocide as a whole. Overall, the “ordinary men” involved in the Final Solution, did not willingly take innocent lives. In fact, most of the men either felt a fear of the consequence if they didn’t or felt an obligation to obey their superiors (because it was ingrained into them throughout childhood or because they wanted a job after the war). During the war, the Nazi’s used fear and superiority to force people to do what they wanted and the Battalion 101 was no exception to
The men were obeying orders from someone who was taking responsibility for what they were doing. A lot of the time, the men could rationalize their actions by stating “even if I don’t do it, others will have to.” The men were not about to force their brethren to take on the same horrendous task just because they didn’t want to do it. Most of the time this particular Battalion 101 did not have to face the extreme nature of the overall tasks. A lot of the time this group was involved in gathering the Jews or accompanying them through transfers. Most of the men probably didn’t realize the magnitude of what they were doing. They only ever saw small amounts of bodies compared to the ending total of deaths and a lot of the times didn’t have to be near the shooting. This fact could have allowed many of the men to rationalize their actions and be unaware of the impact of the genocide as a whole. Overall, the “ordinary men” involved in the Final Solution, did not willingly take innocent lives. In fact, most of the men either felt a fear of the consequence if they didn’t or felt an obligation to obey their superiors (because it was ingrained into them throughout childhood or because they wanted a job after the war). During the war, the Nazi’s used fear and superiority to force people to do what they wanted and the Battalion 101 was no exception to