The Holocaust Exposed In Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men
In Ordinary Men, the author, Christopher Browning describes the way the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 transformed from normal family-oriented middle class working citizens, to becoming murderers involved in the historic genocide of the Jews during the Holocaust in World War II. The Holocaust was a very brutal and emotional time for everyone, including those who were taking part in the slaughter of the innocent victims. The men who were assigned to the Reserve Police Battalion were from the working class, from Hamburg Germany, and lived ordinary lives prior to joining Battalion 101. Factors that contributed to these men turning into perpetrators and participating in the massacres included their tendency and desire to obey the orders …show more content…
It was a greater challenge for the older men to follow through with the killings than for the younger policemen. They had more life experience and families, which made it extremely difficult for them to execute the women and children. Because of this, Browning mentions that “Kammer relieved not only these two men but a number of other older men as well.” (Browning, p.62). The sympathy of Kammer and Trapp demonstrated some of their humane treatment of their own officers, during the horrific genocide that was ordered. These men were not punished or harmed for their inability to execute the killings. In fact, once they transferred out, they were not burdened with the lifetime guilt of killing thousands of innocent people, as were their younger comrades. In Ordinary Men, Browning provides an excellent analysis of showing how a working man from the middle class, can be transformed into a mass murderer through peer pressure and the desire to follow orders of their superiors. The Holocaust was one of the most devastating and brutal massacres in modern history, executed by people who previously lived normal lives. By dehumanizing the situation, the members of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were able to justify the orders to murder the Jews, and then later suffer the lifetime terrible feelings of guilt for their
Brief Summary Of Ordinary Men By Christopher R. Browning
1635 Words | 7 PagesOrdinary Men Summary When most people think and learn about the holocaust they are only taught from the Jewish peoples point of view. They learn about the mass murder committed by Hitler and the Nazis. A group that is usually overlooked is the German people that were forced to take part of Hitler’s “ethnic cleansing.” The book Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning goes into detail about the men that were forced into killing innocent people and coerced Jewish people into concentration camps. In this insightful book Browning reveals the background, emotions, and thoughts of a group of men called the Reserve Police Battalion 101.
Summary Of Ordinary Men By Christopher R. Browning
1183 Words | 5 PagesNever before had I encountered the issue of choice so dramatically framed by the course of events and so openly discussed by at least some of the perpetrators. Never before had I seen the monstrous deeds of the Holocaust so starkly juxtaposed with the human face of the killers (Browning, XVI) Browning then goes on to present different challenges he faced when doing his research and writing the book. He also presents different historians and their onions, as well as other individuals who helped in doing his research. The first chapter describes Major Wilhelm Trapp, the commander of the RPB-101 briefing his men on the assignment that they have been giving: round up the Jews n the village of Józefów separate the ones who are able and of working age and shoot the rest. After describing the assignment and reassuring all of the men that it was okay to kill these innocent people, Trapp offers the men an out “if any of the older men among them did not feel up to the task that lay before him, he could step out” (Browning, 2).
Master Race Holocaust
1831 Words | 8 PagesIn retaliation to Jews for killing a German policeman in self defense on July 31, 1940 the nazis carried out a public mass execution(“Holocaust”). This day was later named “Bloody Wednesday”. They were tortured by anxiety, were insecure of the present, torn between hope and despair, and felt helpless. There were many people who were persecuted during the Holocaust that weren’t Jewish: spouses of Jews, Roma Gypsies, resisters, priests and pastor, Jehovah Witnesses, political enemies, homosexuals, the disabled, and African-German descent. Spouses of Jews had to choose between getting a divorce or being sent to concentration camps along with their Jewish Spouse.
The Fourth Chapter Of The Book 'Why' By Peter Hayes
1034 Words | 5 PagesExplaining the Holocaust, providing readers with a comprehensive and well-researched understanding of this dark period in history. According to him, "[Hitler] wanted to cancel out the “negative selection” that wartime casualties would mean for the Aryan race by accompanying the inevitable attrition of young, vital, and fit Germans with the compulsory reduction of the number of those who were genetically deficient” (Hayes 116). In order to further bolster his arguments, he offers first-person accounts of people who assisted Jews in hiding from the Nazis during this time: "Exposed in January 1942 and court-martialed, he explained to his wife, ‘you know how it is with me and my soft heart,’ adding that ‘in my room are six men aged 17 to 23 who have the same fate. Condemned for desertion and cowardice in the face of the enemy. Jews too are the enemy—that’s just the way it is.’”
Comparing Night And Prisoner B-3087
679 Words | 3 PagesMany lives were lost during the German’s attempt to wipe out all Jews, and those who lived lost a part of their life during this time. The young boys lost their childhood and ‘innocences’. They witness more death and suffering than anywhere in the country. Today, there is still death and violence against others.
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1386 Words | 6 PagesHow does this relate to the Holocaust where almost 8 million Jewish people died? In this essay, you will be informed about the main leader of the Nazis, why saying that Hitler only captured Jews is historically inaccurate, concentration camp treatment, and five atrocious experiments done by the Nazi soldiers to innocent prisoners. Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was born in Austria on April 20, 1889. He’d always been a churlish student who was always the leader of
Holocaust Bystanders Essay
1272 Words | 6 PagesIntroduction: During the Holocaust, many people suffered from the despicable actions of others. These actions were influenced by hatred, intolerance, and anti-semitic views of people. The result of such actions were the deaths of millions during the Holocaust, a devastating genocide aimed to eliminate Jews. In this tragic event, people, both initiators and bystanders, played major roles that allowed the Holocaust to continue. Bystanders during this dreadful disaster did not stand up against the Nazis and their collaborators.
Dehumanization Quotes In Night
714 Words | 3 PagesIn Night one of the ways that the Jews were dehumanized was by abuse. There were beatings, “I never felt anything except the lashes of the whip... Only the first really hurt.” (Wiesel, 57) “They were forced to dig huge trenches. When they had finished their work, the men from the Gestapo began theirs.
Brutality In Elie Wiesel's Night
645 Words | 3 PagesIt’s difficult to imagine the way humans brutally humiliate other humans based on their faith, looks, or mentality but somehow it happens. On the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he gives the reader a tour of World War Two through his own eyes , from the start of the ghettos all the way through the liberation of the prisoners of the concentration camps. This book has several themes that develop throughout its pages. There are three themes that outstand from all the rest, these themes are brutality, humiliation, and faith. They’re the three that give sense to the reading.
Inhumanity In Night By Elie Wiesel
936 Words | 4 PagesElie Wiesel’s true story Night, is an intriguing story about the Holocaust. The guards and even veteran prisoners are cruel to others. The punishments, even for tiny faults, are unthinkably horrid. Man does not care how old or weak someone is; this makes the children and teens change and act inhumane towards other prisoners, even towards their own family. It clearly, and painfully, explains man’s inhumanity to man.
Night By Elie Wiesel Identity Analysis
1527 Words | 7 PagesTheir fingers on the triggers, they did not deprive themselves of the pleasure. If one of us stopped for a second, a quick shot eliminated the filthy dog.” (Wiesel 85). This quote justifies the heartless actions of the SS men. While testing the emaciated prisoner’s endurance, without hesitation, the SS men proceeded to executing any Jewish hostage who dares to refuse
Night Dehumanization Essay
380 Words | 2 PagesWhen Madame exclaims that there’s a fire, Madame is not validated or heard. Rather, Madame is told to "shut up" and then forcibly beaten into silence. Once again, dehumanization is evident in how victims of evil treat one another. Throughout the camps, examples of children abandoning parents, people betraying one another, and internal aloneness dominating human actions until survival is all that remains are examples of dehumanization. These examples show that the Holocaust happened because individuals dehumanized one another.
Life During The Holocaust Essay
684 Words | 3 PagesExpository Report “We must do something, we can’t let them kill us like that, like cattle in the slaughterhouse, we must revolt”. These are the words from many men surrounding Elie Wiesel as he entered Auschwitz, calling out for rebellious toward the Germans harsh conditions. Of course they had no idea what they were getting themselves into, many thought that there was nothing wrong until boarding the cattle train that would send them off to their final resting place. Life during the holocaust was torturous to say the least, so much so that some 6,000,000 lives were taken during this time in Jewish descent alone. People of the Jewish descent did not have it easy; they either were forced out of their homes into concentration camps, or they would hide out only to be found and killed of they remained in their settlements.
Elie Wiesel's Actions In Night
1915 Words | 8 PagesIn the world today, there are good kind hearted people, and there are also individuals who have immoral ulterior motives. But, to truly gain an insightful view of the person is to regard their actions under extreme conditions and pressure. While Elie Wiesel suffers during the Holocaust in his memoir Night, he witnesses the actions—whether good or bad, of the people he meets, and their motives that were never forgotten, as displayed in the novel. Since the Holocaust was an extreme event that caused pressure to make the right decisions, and suffer by the hands of the Nazis, or to act with neglect to the victims and be ridden with guilt, it can be said many Holocaust victims suffered, and some of the bystanders noticed and took action. One such
Analysis Of Night By Elie Wiesel
1357 Words | 6 PagesOver 70 years ago, one of the most appalling occurrences in history arose, the holocaust. The holocaust was the mass murdering of many Jews, gypsies, Slavs, and dissenters during World War II. In elaboration, the genocide was implemented by former German dictator Adolf Hitler, who devised a plan in order to create a superior race and boost nationalism in his country. While his intentions seemed to have been a potential solution to revitalize the German nation, they emerged an infamy instead, resulting in the deaths of approximately six million Jews. Through his memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel depicts the horrors of the holocaust.
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