Reserve Police Battalion 101 Essay - 1089 Words

Motivations of the Mass Murders Throughout Hitler’s reign over Germany there was an agenda that existed which led to murders of a great number of innocent people. The agenda was the extermination of Jews from Germany so that Germany could become a pure country in terms of ethnicity. It was Hitler’s idea but he only gave the orders while the SS and the Order Police carried out the orders. One group of people that helped carry out this idea of judenfrei or Jew free Germany was the Reserve Police Battalion 101. The men who made up this group were regular men that had come from a variety of careers. Most the men volunteered because the immunity that they would receive from â€Å"conscription into the army† once the volunteers had become part of†¦show more content†¦Browning, in his book Ordinary men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland, most of the interviewees seem to have a mindset that the killings were wrong but they needed to follow orders. Their attitude wa s that it was necessary to carry out the orders even though the orders may not have seemed morally or ethically right. The reason the battalion obeyed the orders is because it came from the authorities who had instilled the fear of repercussions in the Reserves and took advantage of the men’s obedience to authority. A quote from Trapp sums up the mindset perfectly when he said, â€Å"man†¦ such jobs don’t suit me but orders are orders.† If not out of obedience then what else motivated the men to carry out the orders which led to them becoming mass murderers? Conformity was another motivation for the men of Battalion 101 to commit the mass murders. Before the first mission General Trapp gave the men the option to step forward if they didn’t want to partake in the killings. However, at first only one man stepped forward and then â€Å"some ten or twelve men† quickly followed him. When given the option why did so few men step forward and refuse t o kill unarmed people? The reason is that the men had â€Å"the strong urge not to separate themselves from the group† because they were scared of how their comrades would have viewed them had they stepped forward. Stepping forward was seen as â€Å"leaving one’s comrades and admitting that one wasShow MoreRelatedOrdinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland866 Words   |  3 Pages Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland tells the story of Battalion 101, a group of 500 policemen in their 30’s and 40’s who were sent into Poland to participate in a ‘special action’ without being told exactly what they are doing. Overtime they realized their mission is to Kill Jews and racially purify Europe. Most of the killing during this period of mass murder took place in Poland. Battalion 101 together with other Order Police battalions contributed toRead MoreChoices: Christopher Brownings Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland1135 Words   |  5 Pagesthe consequences, even if that person does not know what the consequences are. In Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning the men of the battalion are faced with many options during their time in the battalion. Choices that include killing Jews in a firing squad to transporting Jews to Concentration Camps. Most of the men in the battalion were hesitant at first but soon gave in to the tasks they were given. Many of them were ordinaryRead MoreOrdinary Men Essay935 Words   |  4 PagesChristopher R. Browning’s â€Å"Ordinary Men† chronicles the rise and fall of the Reserve Police Battalion 101. The battalion was one of several units that took part in the Final Solution to the Jewish Question while in Poland. The men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, and other units were comprised of ordinary men, from ordi nary backgrounds living under the Third Reich. Browning’s premise for the book is very unique, instead of focusing on number of victims, it examines the mindset of how ordinary menRead MoreOrdinary Men Book Review Essay976 Words   |  4 PagesOrdinary Men Christopher Browning describes how the Reserve Police Battalion 101, like the rest of German society, was immersed in a flood of racist and anti-Semitic propaganda. Browning describes how the Order Police provided indoctrination both in basic training and as an ongoing practice within each unit. Many of the members were not prepared for the killing of Jews. The author examines the reasons some of the police members did not shoot. The physiological effect of isolation, rejection, andRead MoreThe Ordinary Men of the Holocaust1075 Words   |  5 Pagesmurder of Jews by the Nazi’s, most are unaware that the people behind the atrocities of the Holocaust came from all over Europe and a wide variety of backgrounds. Art Spiegelman’s Maus: a Survivor’s Tale, Christopher Browning’s Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution, and Jan Gross’s Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedbwabne, Poland, all provides a different persp ective on how ordinary people felt about their experiences in the Holocaust both perpetrators andRead MoreEssay Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning1256 Words   |  6 Pagesunit of middle-aged reserve policemen became active participants in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Polish Jews. Reserve Police Battalion 101 was made up of approximately 500 men most from working and lower-middle-class neighborhoods in Hamburg Germany. They were police reservists, not trained in combat, some of whom worked with and had been friendly with Jews before the war. Major Wilhelm Trapp, a WWI veteran and career police officer headed the battalion. On July 13, 1942Read MoreChristopher Browning s Ordinary Men1241 Words   |  5 PagesMen: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. Ordinary Men admired all around the world by many individuals and gives a detailed story about the reserve police battalion during the 1940s. In Christopher Browning’s book, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, he explains to us all about his study of German Order Police Reserve Unit 101 and their experiences during the Holocaust. During the time of the Holocaust, Reserve Unit 101 committedRead More Ordinary Men by Browning Essay1630 Words   |  7 PagesBrowning The men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 were just ordinary men, from a variety of backgrounds, education, and age. It would appear that they were not selected by any force other than random chance. Their backgrounds and upbringing, however, did little to prepare these men for the horrors they were to witness and participate in. The group was made up of both citizens and career policemen. Major Wilhelm Trapp, a career policeman and World War I veteran headed the battalion. Trapp joined theRead MoreAuthor Christopher Browning867 Words   |  3 Pagespolish village of Jozefow. The book tells us the story of normal working family men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 who were commission into carrying out horrific crimes and mass killings on Polish Jews. The main characters in the book are, Captain Wolfgan Haoffmann and Julius Wohlauf, Lieutennat Hartwig Gnade and Major Wilheln Trapp who was known by his men as â€Å"Papa Trapp† he is the commander of the Reserve 101 and was a protector for his men. The members were from a variety of ages and differentRead MoreAnalysis Of Christopher R. Brownings Ordinary Men1315 Words   |  6 PagesChristopher R. Browning’s book, Ordinary Men, is a microhistory of the Holocaust that focuses in on the Reserve Police Battalion 101. The books main purpose is to persuade the reader how ordinary middle-aged men could become the professional killers leading to horrible massacres. In the preface to his book, Browning makes the following comment about the men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101, â€Å"Never before had I encountered the issue of choice so dramatically framed by the course of events† (Browning