Its so interesting to think of how a few hundred men were responsible for the death of thousands of people and transported thousands to camps to be killed. And that these men, who previously were not killers, turned into killing machines. And in turn, how could only such a small percentage of them step down? It was so simple to turn them into killers. There is such a contradiction in who they were and what they were suppose to do. What makes someone be okay with this? There are a lot of reasons to explore, firstly, this is what is going on in their country at the moment. These are the rules sent to them from their government. They are "just following orders". Also the men are isolated, they don't have contact with the rest of the world. There are no outsiders there to judge them. While some men step down, those men are the minority, and are judged not doing the judging. There is also the ostracism from fellow men when they do not perform this horrific acts.

Also there is something about the visuals given from this book that make it that much more horrifying. Just these mass graves of people. Of people laid out on the ground and the men standing over them shooting them. Of the people killed in the mass graves and some people not being killed in one shot. Just this feeling that death was constantly surrounding everyone and it was unavoidable. When you think of the gas chambers it just seems easier to understand. You are not standing there killing one person and then going back getting someone else and doing it again. With a gas chamber at least there is a separation. I can't imagine living with having done this for the rest of your life, even if you justify it as doing what you were told.