Reserve Police Battalion In Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men

In his book, Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning describes the men of Reserve Police Battalion as “ordinary men” because he is attempting to portray them as any other man regardless of their nationality. Daniel Goldhagen, on the other hand, describes the men of the Police Battalion as “ordinary Germans” as to why they would voluntarily commit such horrendous acts of violence as a unique German mindset of the time.
Browning uses the idea that German’s think that most other nations of the world view Jews in the same way that they do, that they are a parasite on the human race that needs to be exterminated to explain why these reserve police are “ordinary men”. He also states that like any other reserve unit, reserve Police Battalion 101 was raised from men from Hamburg, who were ordinary citizens, who had ordinary jobs.(42,Browning) Browning contends that these men evolved into hardened killers over time as they overcame the psychological and the visual trauma of killing unarmed men, women, and children.
Goldhagen sees the men of reserve Police Battalion as “ordinary Germans” because after they slaughtered thousands of Jews, they returned to their barracks and continued their conventional German life style by frequenting clubs, recreation centers, canteens, sporting events,
movies, plays, and religious activities.(203-4, Goldhagen) A German doctor at Auschwitz said that killing Jews was preserving human life by removing the cancer from the body of mankind. Goldhagen uses the example of Germans treating their animals better than the Jews as an indicator that the killings were particular to the German people as a society. During this time, the Germans thought they were morally obligated to treat animals humanely.(270, Goldhagen) The German guards were instructed not to over stuff cattle onto the train cars because of the food they produce, yet the Jews were stuffed in so tight that the guards had trouble closing the doors and many Jews died en route from overheating and not being able to breath. Police dogs were taken to the veterinarian at the slightest sign of illness, while Jews with an illness were shot or sent to the gas chamber.(268, Goldhagen) The Germans thought it was better to be a dog than a Jew.(269, Goldhagen)
The implication of Browning’s conclusion that the men of the Reserve Police Battalions were ordinary men is that with the right conditions set in place; the political mood of the country, pressure from friends or relatives, or threat of punishment by the government, anybody from any country could have been made to commit these atrocities.
The pressure to fit in and demonstrate your manhood would have been too great not to commit these acts. It would have taken more courage to not kill innocent people than it would be to follow orders and do as everyone else was doing. A man would not want to feel and/or be treated like a coward by people they have grown up with and lived around most of their
lives.
Goldhagen’s implication is that only the Germans could have done these atrocities because of their longtime, deep anti-Semitic views. The Reserve Police Battalions were made up of random men in their community with no requirements to belong to any certain political party or military unit. Depending on what assignment and location the Battalion received, was the factor in determining if a unit was involved in the mass murders with a result that many of the units did not participate in the killings. Out of the units that did commit mass murder, while all members were given the choice not to shoot not one excused themselves from the task. This is an indication that the members of the police battalions were willing participants in committing genocidal cleansing of the Jews.
It is my opinion that Browning presents the most persuasive explanations as to why the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 committed mass genocide. I agree with his argument that these were “ordinary men” and could have been any other man under the right conditions. Men of a close knit unit would find it very difficult not to follow the orders of their superiors. The threat of punishment or the shame in letting the unit down would have been hard to resist. Also, having your closets friends see you as weak or a coward would have been a heavy physiological burden to bear. At that point in time, it may have been acceptable by certain people to get rid of the cancer of humanity in this way, just as it was acceptable to crucify people during the time of the Roman Empire or that slavery had been acceptable throughout the world for thousands of years until the 1880s. Man’s treatment of other men that are not of his own race, ethnicity or class has not always been humane. It is my opinion that these were ordinary men caught up in a bad situation with no viable way out.