"orders are orders"

In this weeks reading of Ordinary Men, I was most struck by the concept of following orders and the attempted justifications made for the actions of these ‘ordinary men’. These men are described by Browning as a group “from the lower orders of German society” that “came from a social class that has been anti-Nazi in its political culture” (48), men who never “could have had the slightest doubt about what he was involved in, namely a mass murder program to exterminate the Jews” (36). Some justification laid out for their horrid acts included that their acts were a “deterrent for the protection of German troops” (19). One section I found most disturbing was the justification for the execution of Jewish women in the Minsk ghetto by Riebel’s Ninth Company. The author writes that they were executed because most women were not wearing the distinguishing marking of the Jewish star. More disturbing is that only a month later, in a similar action by the company, “the need to explain the shooting of Jewish women was no longer felt” (16). The deterioration of morality and in its place, the swift rising of a violent mentality is painfully evident.

Throughout the reading, it seemed apparent to me that among these men, even among the higher ranking officials who were handing down the orders, there was a strong underlying feeling and awareness of how inhumane and morally repulsive their actions were. In his order to the battalions under his command, Colonel Montua declared that, “the battalion and company commanders are especially to provide for the spiritual care of the men who participate in this action…Furthermore the men are to be instructed continuously about the political necessity of the measures”(14). Here, we see a Colonel acknowledging the fact that their actions are unnatural and as a result deeply unsettling to the men who carry them out. The men knew what they were doing was reprehensible, so army leaders needed to incessantly try and legitimize all of it. Maybe the majority of these men really were convinced that they “could be proud in participating in the defeat of the world enemy, Bolshevism” (13).

Then comes the argument that these men were just following orders. It is evident that Major Wilhelm Trapp of Reserve Police Battalion 101 knew that the unwarranted execution of Jews was wrong and Browning vividly paints a portrait of a man struggling to come to terms with the orders placed in front of him. Trapp explains through tears that “such jobs don’t suit me, but orders are orders” (58) while the men of his battalion proceeded to execute hundreds of Jews in Jozefow. Though these men and their commanding officer morally felt they were unjustified, they committed their heinous acts anyway. Maybe they thought their superiors knew better, maybe they didn’t want to be shunned by their comrades and leave the task at hand unfulfilled. Perhaps, though they thought it was wrong, they truly believed their actions would ultimately benefit for the good and progress of Germany. But as for now, the excuse of “orders are orders” does not fully satisfy or begin to explain the psychology behind these passionately obedient men who participated in the mass murder of millions of people. It only seems to touch upon the surface.