Ordinary Men by Browning Essay

What it Means to Kill a Mocking Bird: an in depth analysis of the morals in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

The book written by Christopher R. Browning titled Ordinary Men is an interesting, engaging, anomaly in the genre of non-fiction books pertaining to the topic of World War Two and the Holocaust. Browning’s analysis of what possessed ordinary German men, who’s ideas where non pertinent in relation to Nazism is one worthy of academic study and discourse. Browning is delving into the intricacies of what specifically pushed “ordinary” men in the Reserve Police Battalions 101 of Nazi Germany to perpetrate the action of moving thousands of Polish Jewry into box cars, and sequentially taking part in perhaps the worst enormity in human history. Browning’s argument is an ever unsettling one, an argument that reveals to the reader what “normal” people

As stated in the beginning, police officers are extremely outnumbered by the prison and street gangs all over the country; but, with the training that some of these police officers have received and keep receiving, they’re ready to take on any task or person despite

Conover’s purpose in writing this book not only to share his experience as a correctional officer but to also help readers get beyond the stereotype of the brutal guard seen on television and rumors but to see correctional officers as individuals, offering us a chance to understand

After Lomazy the 101st mostly participated in deportations to the death camp in Treblinka and had a short reprieve from the massacres at Jozefow and Lomazy, but that all changed in September 1942 at the town of Serokomla. Broken down killing machinery in the camps forced the German command to reinstate mass executions by firing squad. This time however, the 101st would not have the help of the drunken Hiwi’s and had to shoot the Jews themselves, something they had not done since Jozefow (Browning, chapter 11, page 101). Though Browning does not go into specific details about this shooting one can assume that this was the turning point. From here on out killing starts to come easier for the 101st even if that meant drinking copious amounts of alcohol before hand. By showing the men enough horror and forcing them to partake in it they soon became desensitized and efficient killers. This was also extremely evident when the “Jew Hunt” began. The relentless “search and destroy” mechanics of this phase in the

It is now that Browning goes in-depth on the massacre that occurred in Jozefow. Of the perpetrators, Browning mentions that many were middle-aged policemen who were given a choice of whether or not they wanted to take part in killing the Jewish population in this area. The major who offered a reprieve from being involved in the slaughter was Major Trapp, of the 500 men who would be present, only a mere dozen would accept his offer. Afterwards, the slaughter began with one soldier stating “I shot the child that belonged to her, because I reasoned with myself that after all without its mother the child could not live any longer; so to speak, soothing to my conscience to release children unable to live without their mothers. (Browning 73)”

Despite the fact that the German has let the rest of the soldiers escape unharmed, Robert’s innate violence triggers the death of an innocent soldier. Thus, Robert’s actions reveal the inherent savage nature of humankind.

Christopher R. Browning’s “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 ordinary 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 men, became cold-hearted killers under Nazi Germany during World War II. Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men” presents a very strong case that the men who made up the Reserve Police Battalion 101 were indeed ordinary men from ordinary background, and

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, and ostracism is examined in the context of being assigned to a foreign land with a hostile population. The contradictions imposed by the demands of conscience on the one hand and the norms of the battalion on the other are discussed. Ordinary Men

"There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are faced to deal with" (William Halsey). The same can be said about volatile men. This is the quote Christopher R. Browning thought of when he named this book. The men of the 101st battalion were rarely faced with decisions. Even if it had been proposed by Trapp the morning of Jozefow that "any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out" (Browning, chapter 7, pg. 57), he didn't actually allow them any time to truly think about it. He brought it up moments before they were about to go out to the slaughter. They were blind-sided and the men who didn't want to risk the future of their jobs as policemen or the men

The cruel nature and intentions of people can either hurt or harm individuals or it can bring about resilience and determination. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee revealed that humans often have other motives in life; some are born to be evil in nature, some are naturally innocent and then there are some that are born to protect the innocent. Lee utilized a variety of symbols and themes that correlated with each other and thus had the ability to create questions in the minds of the readers. Are humans calculatedly cruel or is there some moral good in each of us? The impiety of a few can create a movement, imprison the innocent or reveal the sincerity of others.

Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning is an insightful book that provides information as to how ordinary people may be susceptible to committing heinous, evil acts. Browning explains this through analyzing judicial interrogations, which occurred in the 1960’s, of about 125 men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 (Browning, pg. xviii). The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a unit of the German Order Police formed in Hamburg, Germany, under the control of the SS which was under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party (Browning, pg. xvi-xvii). They consisted of German police and sheriffs who were middle-aged men of working and lower middle class. The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was formed as the

This extract shows that when someone dies, or gets so injured they cannot keep on fighting, there is not a lot of respect given to them. The word ‘flung’ indicates this, illustrating the fact that they are not provided a lot of care; and that they are just one person in about 20,000,000 who will not survive the war.

The instance of greatest surprise in the text was in the evacuation of the camp Buna. To avoid the liberation, the SS marched the inmates from Buna to Gleiwitz. Only three days after arrival, those who had survived the journey and days in the barracks without food or water were moved again. He described it as “an infinitely long train composed of roofless cattle cars. The SS shoved us inside, a hundred per car we were so skinny! When everybody was on board, the convoy left”(97). This situation is puzzling to me because the goal of the Germans was extermination of the Jews. Simply killing them before their was liberation would achieve the same goal. Instead, these innocent people suffered and suffered. They were given a long painful death, consisting

Peter Browning’s job is to revitalize a mature business in the face of serious competitive threats, but without discouraging the loyalty and morale of a family style culture. Market share of plastic bottles was growing fast and White Cap is losing customers due to that, so a change is necessary. However, few managers or employees at White Cap acknowledged the need for change and were resistant to change. Employees have been accustomed to a culture of little change, and consisted of years of rituals, ceremonies and traditions set by the White family. They are extremely loyal due to their expectation of job security and generous benefits. Browning was asked by Continental to