Reflection: Hilter's Ordinary Men

Ordinary Men Reflection Mr. Sams Spring 2024 Reflection My first impression of the book was interesting. Through the explanation of the content of the story, I was intrigued to learn more about the German perspective and their psychological justification for their actions in the war, in a learning manner. But, when I started and continued to read the book, my perspective of interest shifted to a kind of horror. The deep descriptive information about the different Battalions, Commanders, and Hilter’s plans was horrible to read, but informative to learn. Information and ideas like this I think everyone should learn and to know, because it’s real life and being culturally aware of things that are happening now and events that happened in the past
The description of the specific number of people that the soldiers killed in a day was devastating to read. Especially the way the author words it, though I know that isn’t supposed to be their perspective. For example, on page 111 the author states, “Another group was collected and shot on November 14.” I believe that the terminology “collected”, dehumanizes the Jews, but also shows how depersonalized and desensitized the German soldiers were. This was really where I was shocked. There to me is absolutely no justification for what they did and how many people Hilter coerced into his sick mindset. But, the most shocking part for me is that there were soldiers and commanders who put aside their good morals and judgment in order to “carry out an order”. For example, one of the commanders says, “ ‘If this Jewish business is ever avenged on earth, then have mercy on us Germans.” While Trapp complained of his orders and wept, his men proceeded to carry out the battalion’s task” (pg. 58. The nlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnlnln This was definitely a stand out moment when
I never really viewed them as people. People who actually thought through their actions, and people who sometimes walked away when they couldn’t handle it. For example, in a real testimony on page 65, the text says, “For this reason he relieved me. Other comrades were also relieved sooner or later, because they simply could no longer continue.” I think these lines of text put humanity back into a dehumanizing situation. Through reading this, I think it just gave an internal perspective into a very important, well-known historical topic. It also sets up the question of humanity, and how far humans can go psychologically. As the author states at the end, “If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot?” I think it sets it up to understand, though not condone, the actions of WW2 and the Holocaust and the toll it took on everyone involved. It also helped me understand the complexity and how many people were actually involved in their