If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were neither brainwashed nor were they killed for choosing not to shoot Jews, then the question arises: why did they do it? Rather than giving one simple answer, Browning proposes several theories as to why these normal men became killers. All of the people do not fall into the same category for “why they did what they did,” but, rather, a combination of many of the reasons best explains these men’s motives.
One of the most compelling of Browning’s arguments is that it took a group to make everything happen in the Holocaust. Some people were simply “desk killers,” people who played a seemingly small and uninvolved part in the mass murders but who, nonetheless, were an integral part to the whole thing. …show more content…
Browning looks to an experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo to support his claim. In this experiment, Zimbardo gathered a group of people who all fit into the category of “normal” after a series of psychological tests. He then split this group into guards and prisoners. Over the course of six days, Zimbardo watched as the structure of prison life took over the attitudes of the people. The majority of those assigned as “guards” became harsh and cruel towards the prisoners, and the rest of them ranged from being somewhat cruel to being especially kind towards the prisoners (168). It is shocking to see how a group of normal people could become so terrible when given the power. In this way, the Stanford Prison Experiment relates to the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101. Just like the people in the experiment, these men became the worst version of themselves when given the opportunity and the power. Browning points out that this could either be something that is within some but only manifests itself in the right circumstances, or it is evidence of human nature in …show more content…
He says, “If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men could not?” (189). This piercing question turns all of Browning’s arguments around at the reader, making him think about what he would have done in the situations that those men were put in. All of Browning’s reasoning eventually boils down to the presence or absence of moral courage. Moral courage is built up over time in the little things by one standing up for what is morally right. For Christians, it is important to base morality on the Bible, but the absence of moral courage is also something that is built over time. If one practices evil in the little things, when the bigger, more important tests come along they are not going to have to moral courage to do what is right. This is what Browning is saying in the last sentence: if one is in the habit of not practicing moral courage, then if the circumstances arise, they will be just like the men in Reserve Police Battalion
One of the most compelling of Browning’s arguments is that it took a group to make everything happen in the Holocaust. Some people were simply “desk killers,” people who played a seemingly small and uninvolved part in the mass murders but who, nonetheless, were an integral part to the whole thing. …show more content…
Browning looks to an experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo to support his claim. In this experiment, Zimbardo gathered a group of people who all fit into the category of “normal” after a series of psychological tests. He then split this group into guards and prisoners. Over the course of six days, Zimbardo watched as the structure of prison life took over the attitudes of the people. The majority of those assigned as “guards” became harsh and cruel towards the prisoners, and the rest of them ranged from being somewhat cruel to being especially kind towards the prisoners (168). It is shocking to see how a group of normal people could become so terrible when given the power. In this way, the Stanford Prison Experiment relates to the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101. Just like the people in the experiment, these men became the worst version of themselves when given the opportunity and the power. Browning points out that this could either be something that is within some but only manifests itself in the right circumstances, or it is evidence of human nature in …show more content…
He says, “If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men could not?” (189). This piercing question turns all of Browning’s arguments around at the reader, making him think about what he would have done in the situations that those men were put in. All of Browning’s reasoning eventually boils down to the presence or absence of moral courage. Moral courage is built up over time in the little things by one standing up for what is morally right. For Christians, it is important to base morality on the Bible, but the absence of moral courage is also something that is built over time. If one practices evil in the little things, when the bigger, more important tests come along they are not going to have to moral courage to do what is right. This is what Browning is saying in the last sentence: if one is in the habit of not practicing moral courage, then if the circumstances arise, they will be just like the men in Reserve Police Battalion