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Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland| Media: | Paperback | | Author: | Christopher R. Browning | | Publisher: | Harper Perennial | | Release date: | 17 March, 1993 | | List price: | $14.00 |
| Our price: | $11.20 that is 20% off! |
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| Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland |
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Illuminating dark events |
| The power of "Ordinary Men" is its ability to convey the magnitude of the Holocaust by recounting the activities of a single battalion of German policemen stationed in eastern Poland in 1942-43. Browning keeps his focus on the atrocities committed by this 500-man battalion, without straying to discuss related parties or neighboring geographies. Far from creating a myopic study, this focus serves to underscore the breadth of the Nazis' extermination program during the Second World War. The key strengths of the book are Browning's careful research of German judicial archives from the 1960s, as well as his balanced interpretation of the battalion's crimes and of humanity's capacity for committing organized mass murder. The main shortcoming is that the author's analysis is saved almost entirely for the last chapter, rather than accompanying the relevant passages. This creates a dichotomy which is only a minor drawback to an otherwise extraordinary historical work. |
| Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland - Christopher R. Browning |
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Interesting thesis regarding character of the Final Solution |
Browning asserts an interesting thesis regarding the Einsatzgruppen; these were the death squads who adminstered conquered lands and carried out the final solution in places where they could or did not ship the jews to camps. He establishes the backround of a particular Police Battalion.
These individuals were not hardened Nazi's nor fanatical SS; nor were they even that keen on gunning down Jews. The argument that Browning makes is that anti-semitism was created in these individuals by killing jews. In order to cope with murdering, they became anti-semetic. When their commander announced their first action, he was in tears and offered an exception to whomever did not want to do this. Soldiers cried, looked the other way when some jews tried to escape, establishing a character that challenges our assumptions.
As time went on, the soldiers became used to this, and would have to joke around with each other while shooting jews. There were some instances of drunken debauchery that will break your heart as well: instances of cruelty that boggles the mind. |
| Christopher R. Browning - Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland |
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Very interesting |
| I picked thi up for a dollar at my local bookswap and found this to be a very interesting read. |
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