Adolf Hitler's Ordinary Men
It is very simple to consider the Holocaust as a deviation from human history. Amidst the setting of the global struggle that evolved into World War II, Germany’s cumbersome dictator Adolph Hitler had already begun to initiate his persecution of various groups whom he had classified as not members of the pure Aryan nation he had envisioned. What at first was a broad-based social, legal and economic persecution of groups such as the gypsies, blacks, homosexual, Jews, and the handicapped, would soon took precedence in Hitler’s pursuit of world domination as the Final Solution. Most central to the plot of this heinous pretense was the efforts at the thorough and worldwide extermination of the Jews. Historians tends with some difficulty
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And in fact, many historians have been fairly comfortable to do so. But Christopher Browning’s account of the factors that encouraged regular Germans to take part in Hitler’s hideous plan reveals something of great importance where an event like the Holocaust is concerned. His Ordinary Men seeks to shift perspective away from the notion that those predisposed toward the behavior that perpetrated this greatest of human tragedies were inhuman and accustomed to operating in fashions more sociopathic than militarily appropriate. In doing so, he sets a sizable challenge for himself. Truly, there is no way to address why the German people participated in without elaborating upon some of the most unspeakable acts committed in modern history. To that end, Ordinary Men takes its readers through some difficult narratives that reveal brutal, amoral behaviors that would imply a society impoverished of intellectual, ethical or academic development to that point. Moreover, the base and vile nature of the war crimes committed against a people unprepared to defend themselves and presenting no legitimate antagonism to its aggressor, suggests that the German people themselves were inherently bad people, inclined toward acts of evil and
And in fact, many historians have been fairly comfortable to do so. But Christopher Browning’s account of the factors that encouraged regular Germans to take part in Hitler’s hideous plan reveals something of great importance where an event like the Holocaust is concerned. His Ordinary Men seeks to shift perspective away from the notion that those predisposed toward the behavior that perpetrated this greatest of human tragedies were inhuman and accustomed to operating in fashions more sociopathic than militarily appropriate. In doing so, he sets a sizable challenge for himself. Truly, there is no way to address why the German people participated in without elaborating upon some of the most unspeakable acts committed in modern history. To that end, Ordinary Men takes its readers through some difficult narratives that reveal brutal, amoral behaviors that would imply a society impoverished of intellectual, ethical or academic development to that point. Moreover, the base and vile nature of the war crimes committed against a people unprepared to defend themselves and presenting no legitimate antagonism to its aggressor, suggests that the German people themselves were inherently bad people, inclined toward acts of evil and