Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

Written by Christopher R. Browning

Narrated by Kevin Gallagher

“A remarkable—and singularly chilling—glimpse of human behavior. . .This meticulously researched book...represents a major contribution to the literature of the Holocaust.""—Newsweek 

Now available in audio for the first time, Christopher R. Browning’s shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews—now with a new afterword and additional photographs.

Ordinary Men is the true story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that most of the men of  RPB 101 were not fanatical Nazis but, rather, ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities out of a mixture of motives, including the group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms to justify their actions. Very quickly three groups emerged within the battalion: a core of eager killers, a plurality who carried out their duties reliably but without initiative, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts of killing without diminishing the murderous efficiency of the battalion whatsoever.

While this book discusses a specific Reserve Unit during WWII, the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition.  

Ordinary Men is a powerful, chilling, and important work with themes and arguments that continue to resonate today.  

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062981486

Christopher R. Browning

Christopher R. Browning is professor of history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. He is a contributor to Yad Vashem's official twenty-four-volume history of the Holocaust and the author of two earlier books on the subject.

Reviews for Ordinary Men

[Michael Cylkowski · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Too depressing to finish. I understand what happened but I don’t think I could ever understand why and how ordinary men could sink to such a level of depravity.

The current pandemic is a reminder of how power corrupts.

[ecw0647 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

And another in our continuing series of depressing books: Christopher Browning examines the motivation of a 500 man police battalion assigned to the rear lines of Germany's Eastern Front. This small group of men was personally responsible for the massacre of over 38,000 Jews and the deportation of some 45,000 more to Treblinka. These were not racial fanatics nor committed Nazis. Their motives were quite ordinary: careerism and peer pressure. Browning's book is based on interviews with the participants collected after the war.

Not everyone blindly followed orders. The battalion's commander ordered that anyone not wishing to participate in the shootings could be excused and about 12 were. For many of the others rationalization became the order of the day. One later testified he killed only children because his partner was shooting the mothers and he did not think it was right that children should grow up without mothers.
The horrifying aspect of this account is how little it took for these men to become transformed psychologically from "normal" people into willing participants. These were not atrocities one has come to expect from war during the heat of battle (Malmedy, My Lai, etc.), rather an institutionalized, bureaucratic government policy. That bureaucracy may be part of the cause. It distances people from their actions. Bureaucrats never saw the hideous result of their actions, seeing only their small paper-shuffling role.

That still does not explain the actions of the men who were doing the actual killing. Women and children were marched up to graves they had been forced to dig and were shot point-blank in the head. The shooters were even instructed on the best location on the neck to shoot in order to save ammunition. Occasionally the killer would be splattered with brain tissue and skull parts.

There was a deliberate process of dehumanization abetted by Nazi racial policies. In fact, the soldiers found it much more difficult to kill German speaking Jews, especially those who had fled Germany. They saw them not as the barbarians they had been told they were killing. Euphemisms, (protective reaction strikes) were common: killing became "actions" and shipping to concentration camps became "resettlements." Responsibility was diffused by deferring to orders from "above" and dividing the tasks into different parts.

There was a perversion of ethical outlook, too. Those few who were revolted by what they were doing and who refused to participate were called cowards. We need to cultivate a society where those who follow individual conscience are the heroes and those who follow the crowd are the cowards.

As an aside, before my Dad died, I was talking to one of the aides in his nursing home who came from Argentina. We got to talking about my years in Germany and she mentioned her grandfather had emigrated to Argentina from Germany after the war. (Little tiny red flags waving over my head.) I queried if he had been in the German army. Her response was quite unashamedly, yes, he had been in the SS. (Red Banners now waving over my head.) Then she went on to talk about how the victors rewrite history. I decided then I had to visit the men's room.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'd bought this book years ago after it was recommended by a professor in college, but it took me a while to sit down and actually read it. The author attempts to explain how a group of five hundred "ordinary men" from Germany could become cold killers of Jews in Poland. The transformation is chilling. The book starts out with the unit's leader, Major Trapp, tearfully informing his soldiers that they were to undertake a "frightfully unpleasant task," which turns out to be the murder of Jews. And not just any Jews, mind you; the Jews that were mowed down by Police Battalion 101 were often women, children, babies, and the elderly. And then Major Trapp gave them an extraordinary choice: anyone who felt that he was incapable of performing this task should step forward and he would not be required to kill. Only a few took this offer. And though most of the men had a "distaste" for killing, eventually most of them grew immune to it - and some grew to enjoy it a great deal. I think the picture on the cover says it all. The photograph features member of the battalion in Lukow in 1942, as they were liquidating the ghetto there. The entire photo is included in the book; you can see the Jews with their hands up, and yet these policemen are smiling. Wow. In the end, Dr. Browning tries to draw some conclusions from the material presented in the book. It's difficult to explain how such a group of "ordinary men" became killers. He explores different theories; Milgram, Zimbardo, and Steiner are all mentioned. But in the end, there is no real answer, and the book itself ends with a question: "If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?" Indeed.This book isn't for the faint of heart, but it does a good job of drawing on primary and secondary source material to paint a sickening picture of what happened in Poland during the Holocaust. It is difficult subject matter, as it should be. And it will likely leave you with unsettling questions about just how far you would, or could, go in a similar situation. This is an excellent work in the field of Holocaust studies.

[jcbrunner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In the public discussion, Browning's earlier book was unfortunately overshadowed by Daniel Goldhagen's polemic. This is the vastly superior book (and Browning's reply to Goldhagen, which is added to this edition of the book, is devastating). The easy solution to the world that evil speaks with a German accent is just not true. This makes it all the more important to study the subject why and how men, ordinary or not, go and kill (and torture) their fellow men.Browning shows how this reserve police battalion murdered or deported a shockingly huge number of Jews in a restricted time frame, in the wide plains of Eastern Europe. Only a few refused to participate, some sulked and evaded to kill. Most just followed orders. The shocking revelation is that they were not forced to do so. Those who objected or those who abstained from further killing were left to alone. It was not force that turned them into killers but a combination of an elaborate division of labor, peer pressure (of not letting your fellows down on the "job") and obedience to authority (the Milgram effect). Browning's findings apply equally to My Lai and Abu Ghraib.One of the most disturbing aspect of the book is that those men resumed their police duties after the war and only a few were punished for their deeds. All too often war criminals escape just punishment.An important book, both regarding why men kill and how the holocaust happened.

[rsplenda477 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A haunting book that shows the utter evil that humankind will sink to when treating its own species. Wonderfully researched by Browning, this book will send chills down your spine when reading it. Yet another example of the horrors of the Holocaust.

[becks2611 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are interested in the Holocaust, this account from the perspective of those that carried out Hitler's orders is gruesome yet riveting. The first attempt to read this book usually ends in disgust. If you can get through it the stories are astounding and it gives a more complet picture of Hitler's final solution.

[lriley_43 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book details atrocities of German police operations in occupied Poland during World War II. Examines the psychology of ordinary middle-aged conscripts thrown into extraordinary situation. The police unit in question at first is appalled by the murders they are being asked to commit of mostly peaceful jewish civilians. With a few notable exceptions all the members of the unit are drawn into these atrocities--some becoming more willing in time and others doing what they can to avoid. Browning sorts through the court records and interviews and tries to explain the varieties of psychologies at work of those who survived the war. One of the main ideas he posits is that people are capable of much more than they may think--and under pressure from cultural and authoriatarian forces are much more easily manipulated. It's an interesting read and Browning keeps it moving along.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Browning’s subjects were extensively interviewed after WWII, creating more extensive records than exist for other German groups. These men were largely not career go-getters, though they varied in their commitment to Nazism, and they were sent to Poland to keep the conquered territory in line and to carry out massacres. About 85% of them participated directly in killing Jews (and some non-Jewish Poles), while a limited amount of refusal to participate directly was tolerated (though they ended up standing guard or otherwise just standing there, rather than resisting). Browning argues that anti-Semitism, though clearly relevant, wasn’t something that distinguished most of the killers; they did it because it was their job, and because their comrades were doing it so refusal would just increase the burden on their mates. Many also became jaded over time—some retreated to alcohol and others to more absolute brutality.

[JefferyBrian Rieves · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very thorough and balanced account. Rare attributes for this subject.

[vladimiro sousa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing book. Knowledge needs this kind of books. Able to understand without excusing, to portrait the realistic account of the events without trying to shadow the ages with the contemporary perspectives, rather to portrait events like they were lived.
It’s easy to judge the past in the present eyes. That does not give you the understanding of the past, just the quick indifferent soundbite of your own limitations. To take shortcuts in understanding bad thinks is to shadow all past thinks – good and evil – with a cloak of enlighten ignorance that serves nothing more than glorify an empty and self-centered present base in comfortable and limited ideas, prejudices and personal shortcomings. If personal perception is so important that we judge the past in the present eyes, out of fear or lack of ability to try to fully understand without excusing, the consequence is a shallow life compose of an empty collection of “complete successes and nothing else”.
This bias toward all thinks difficult and bad, founded in an indifference to everything that does not serve the “success story”, is the recipe to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“… the road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but paved with indifference.”

[Stefan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent look inside this moment of history. Let this be a warning to everyone; it can happen here as well.

[Brett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very interesting book. The concepts displayed should be studied by all humans

[itspeter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The ongoing debate that the source material used by Browning is still with us. The issue of how the "ordinary" german, rather than the "Nazi" could transform themselves into mass killers, with out being members of the Nazi party, and therefore already motivated to kill "jews". The fact that ordinary men could and did, lies at the heart of the ongoing debate. Just how German are the killers, just how ordinary. The debate is continued in "The Orgins of the Final Solution".

[bibliobeck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very difficuly read, but a very important book. Alex Haslam, one of the psychologists who replicated Zimbardo's Prison Experiment in conjunction with Exeter University and the BBC recommended this when he came to speak to our students. He spoke about how ordinary men can do extraordinarily horrific things when in certain situations. Everything about this book is traumatic - from the photo on the cover to the very last page, but the message is clear - we can't hide from what happened and we should never forget. The book is an intensely detailed account of the men who formed Police Battalion 101 and how they went from mundane tasks to murder in Poland. Browning has undertaken the unenviable meticulous research of hundreds of hours of judicial interviews and transcripts which make up this hugely important document of the holocaust.

[sgerbic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reviewed May 2006 Wow - very intense book, I only read maybe 6 pages before crying then having nightmares. This book along with “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” is the focus of a paper as well as a quiz for class (I got 100%). the two authors battle back and forth in their respective afterwards. In a nutshell Browning feels that Germans killed because of peer pressure and felf pretty bad about it later. Goldburg feels that Germans killed because they wanted to, were given permission and didn’t feel bad about it later. Both authors agreed that antisemitism played a part. Goldburg feels that it played a much bigger role than Browning does. both men also agreed that ordinary men and women did kill with little encouragement. The debate is healthy, an still waging in the Holocaust field of study and amongst Germans. A good argument can be made for each book. 7-2006

[kimbee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read it for my Holocaust class. The main thing I'll take away from the class and this book is that everyone had a choice during the war of race and space 

[fpdc_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A modern classic. This book, first published in 1992, is an extremely important study about the Holocaust. Browning describes how a unit of ordinary, middle-aged, conscripted reserve policemen without the special ideological indoctrination of the type received by the members of the SS, became active participants in the murder of several thousands of Polish jews. The book starts by an analysis of the first occurences of Final Solution policies in occupied Russia in 1941, and then describes the actions of the Reserve Battalion 101 in Poland in the fall of 1942 and in 1943. The last two chapters contain extremely insightful and penetrating observations about the processes that could have transformed five hundred ordinary men into a group of mass murderers. In the Afterword to this British edition the author examines the critique the original American edition was subjected to by Daniel Goldhagen in his best-selling book Hitler's Willing Executioners. Goldhagen's biased methodology, lack of consistency, his double standards, and his skewed use of, and sometimes disregard for, the sources, is here brilliantly and devastantingly exposed. This book is a remarkable work of serious scholarship that do help us to understand (in)human behaviour not only in Nazi Germany but also in our own time. Indispensable!

[bakabaka84 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting read on how ordinary men can become willing killers if the circumstances are right but that eventual everyone had a choice to comply or object. Some objected, most did not or were indifferent. Highly recommended

[sgtbigg_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Browning reviewed hundreds of interviews conducted with former members of Reserve Police Battalion 101 during the 1960s. He used these to explain how "ordinary men" could commit the crimes of the holocaust and what made those men different from us. The disheartening answer is nothing made them different, they're just like us. About 20% of the members took no or little part in the killing, about 20% were glad to take part, and the remaining 60% just went along. A very interesting and informative book and one that I highly recommend.One interesting thing was Browning's inclusion of an afterward in the paperback edition which responded to the publication of Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Goldhagen. Goldhagen's book drew in large part from the same records Browning used but came to vastly different conclusions. Browning used the afterward to refute Goldhagen's conclusions, as well as to defend accusations made against his research by Goldhagen. Goldhagen concluded that ordinary Germans took part in the holocaust because they had historically hated Jews (obviously an oversimplification of his argument). As an aside, I had a military history professor who said that Goldhagen's book proved that even in academia crap can get published.

[davidpwhelan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Ordinary Men" came on my radar after reading the Wikipedia.org entry on the Belzec concentration camp, a place I'd never heard of, which in turn was surfaced after learning about Jane Yolen's "The Devil's Arithmetic". This book looks at a 400-500 man paramilitary (not active or regular military) unit that assisted in the deaths of thousands. The early-middle and middle-aged Hamburgers are startled by their first murders but then we follow the group as some continue and grow proficient while others try to avoid further killing.Browning does a tremendous job of walking through the history of this unit, based on German government documents and other sources. It's a horrific business as he approaches each massacre or other action in a scholarly, almost antiseptic way. In this way the text is a bit mechanical, but heavily documented and supported with citations. The author walks you through the descent of this group into its significant participation in Hitler's Final Solution.If the idea of reading the historic accounting of these murderers is too much, skip to Chapter 18. Browning looks at the possible reasons that ordinary, non-descript, not terribly partisan individuals could make these choices. He calls on pyschology research done by Milgram and others, looks at Nazi indoctrination, and other variables that might cause people to choose murder. Browning doesn't see any of these variables as exculpatory, but it's interesting to see him draw the threads together and gain the vantage of what being a member of this police unit might have entailed.

[chris_el-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ordinary people, when faced with enough social pressure, and a limited array of choices, will not shrink from becoming monsters. Essentially, that is the theme of the historical review of a German reserve police battalion from WWII. Much of the records from this group were provided in the years after WWII thru interviews from the members themselves though there were also witness statements about the events they participated in.

10 to 20% of the men refused or asked for other jobs when they were ordered to execute Jews. Few relished the role. Most, just did it as their grim and terrible duty as they shot hundreds of people one by one on several occasions.

A quote from the book that I think captures the beginning of this analysis well: "The battalion had orders to kill Jews, but each individual did not. Yet 80 to 90 percent of the men proceeded to kill, though almost all of them-at least initially-were horrified and disgusted by what they were doing. To break ranks and step out, to adopt overtly nonconformist behavior, was simply beyond most men. It was easier for them to shoot.
Why? First of all, by breaking ranks, nonshooters were leaving the "dirty work" to their comrades. Since the battalion had to shoot even if individuals did not, refusing to shoot constituted refusing one's share of an unpleasant collective obligation. It was in effect an asocial act vis-à-vis one's comrades. Those who did not shoot risked isolation, rejection, and ostracism-a very uncomfortable prospect within the framework of a tight-nit unit station abroad among a hostile population, so that the individual had nowhere else to turn for support and social contact."

[Kirk Coppinger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This gives the current reader a unique look into what is in progress in America today. The Nazis (lefts) propaganda of being victims of Jewish (white) abuse to the social science of crowd mentality we see many of the milestones that allowed the Holocaust to happen. Excellent book and a very excellent analysis of individuals choices to participate in the murders of the Holocaust. Great book!