human horror

With this week’s reading, it’s become increasingly difficult to accept that these men were simply ordinary. Along with the discussions we had in class, I found myself unable to rationalize even the minor glimpses of humanity these men showed. As was discussed in recitation, countless times men chose to opt out, backed out, or as Browning notes, they were already known not to want to participate in the shootings, but rarely did they ever say their reason for doing so was because what they were doing was wrong, they merely laid their claim in being sick or unable to do it. Especially abhorrent was the account given by the wife of Lieutenant Brand, in which an ordinary policeman declared to Brand that he had not yet had breakfast, he had yet to kill any Jews (127). Moreover, the willingness of so many of these men to complete the shootings and the massacres unfazed. As is noted, the reason some men could opt out and weren’t necessarily forced to shooting was because there were no many other men so willing and wanting to partake in the killings that generally there was a surplus of volunteers. I equate these “ordinary” men with present day serial killers. Via these accounts, they appear to be so unremorseful and unfeeling, I can’t imagine them having families or being anything but these killing machines and furthermore I can’t see them as having an active role in humanity when they lack it so profoundly.

What I do find incredibly intriguing is how Browning conveys his own view on the men throughout the book, especially in regards to the “Jew hunt” as he says, “It was not a passing phase but an existential condition of constant readiness and intention to kill every last Jew who could be found,” (132). He reaffirms the fact that especially during the Jew hunt, the men had a choice to kill and they chose to. As I read the punishments/sentences that many of the men in the battalions received, I was shocked by how trivial and insignificant they seemed in the scheme of what they had done, but then Browning clarifies the situation and notes how it was a rare feat to even prosecute, “Comparatively speaking, the investigation and trial of Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a rare success for German judicial authorities attempting to deal with the police battalions,” (146). He further implies his own hope in the matter, “…the admirable efforts of the prosecution in preparing this case will serve history better than they have served justice,” (146). And I think that’s a really important aspect of all books analyzing the Third Reich and the Holocaust, by doing so they’re cementing the horrors and all that occurred during that time so even generations from now they can still be remembered and people can still realize the capacity of humans to carry out terrible executions on such a grand scale and hopefully having such accounts will open people’s eyes to similar situations.