1. What are some of the factors that caused the “ordinary
men” of Reserve Police Battalion 101 to be able to do the things they did
in Jozefow, Poland? What, in other words, were the the reasons these
men cited for not excusing themselves from the killing? Compare
these factors with some of the excuses cited by the Nazi doctors for their
involvement with the Final Solution in Germany.
2. On p. 150, Browning discusses one of the possible reasons for the reluctance
on the part of the former soldiers to admit to their previous anti-Semitism,
and he says: "To admit an explicitly political or ideological dimension
to their behavior, to concede that the morally inverted world of National
Socialism -- so at odds with the political culture and accepted norms of the
1960s -- had made perfect sense to them at the time, would be to admit that
they were political and moral eunuchs who simply accommodated to each successive
regime." Explain what Browning means. How can people avoid becoming
"political and moral eunuchs"?
3. On a related issue: What is the virtue that our culture seems especially
to value today? What virtue would men and women in our culture have
valued more in, say, 1930 or 1940? What are the pro's and con's of each?
4. On p. 152, Browning talks about the "range of attitudes" towards Jews
"revealed in less direct and guarded statements" made during the interrogations
of the former reserve police battalion members. Discuss the dichotomy
of reactions to the Jews. Why do you suppose there were these two very
different reactions among the men?
5. A similar point is made about the German memory of Polish anti-Semitism.
What did the Germans think of the actions of the Poles who surrendered
Jews to them? What sort of mitigating factors does Browning point out?
6. Consider again the reactions of the German soldiers to the Jews, on the
one hand, and the anti-Semitic Poles, on the other. Now compare this
phenomenon with the what Hallie suggests was the case with Henry David Thoreau
when he looked upon the dead bodies on the beach at Hull and looked inside
one of the "charity huts" in the area. In both cases, what did the person
see? When you look upon circumstances, what do you see? Compare
this to what John Paul II says in his encyclical Veritatis splendor
about "how we are made holy" -- by "obedience" to what? (See q. 1
on Veritatis splendor.)
7. On p. 161, Browning distinguishes between atrocities
that occur "in the brutalizing context of war" -- those done by soldiers
"who were inured to violence, numbed to the taking of human life, embittered
over their own casualties and frustrated by the tenacity of an insidious
and seemingly inhuman enemy -- versus those he calls "atrocity by policy":
acts done "not out of frenzy, bitterness, and frustration, but with
calculation." Which of the two, according to Browning, applies to the
"Ordinary Men" of Reserve Police Battalion 101?
8. According to Browning (p. 162), "War is the most conducive environment
in which governments can adopt 'atrocity by policy' and encounter few difficulties
in implementing it." Why is this the case? How do governments
accomplish this goal?
9. Browning suggests that "modern bureaucratic life fosters a functional
and physical distancing." Discuss what he means. Then describe
the following means by which bureaucracies can accomplish this "funcational
and physical distancing": segmentation and routinization, the
depersonalizing aspects of bureaucratized killing, the desensitizing
effects of the division of labor.
10. In the course of Browning's study, did he find that the men of Reserve
Police Battalion 101 had been carefully chosen as personnel particularly
suited for mass murder?
11. If the Jozefow killers were not specially selected by the government,
were they perhaps "self-selected"? Explain the thesis of Theodor Adorno
in this regard. What was Zygmunt Bauman's response to Adorno's thesis?
12. Explain the results of Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment.
According to Browning, what light does Zimbardo's study shine on the
Adorno-Bauman debate?
13. On p. 169, Browning asks the following question: "If special
selection played little role and self-selection seemingly none, what about
self-interest and careerism?" Good question. What is his answer?
14. As Browning notes (p. 170), among the perpetrators of such atrocities,
orders (i.e., that they were under orders from their superiors) have traditionally
been the most frequently cited explanation for soldiers' behavior. What
does Browning think of this explanation? What about "putative duress"?
15. Explain the results of the famous "Milgram Experiment" (designed by
Stanley Milgram). Why did Milgram conclude that "Men are led to kill
with little difficulty"? (Does that conclusion trouble you? Because,
of course, if people can be led to kill with little difficulty, what else
might they be led to do to others under peer pressure?)
16. Does Browning think ideological indoctrination materials played a major
role in the behavior of the Jozefow killers?
17. What, according to Browning (p. 184), is another "vital factor" responsible
for the behavior of the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 that was "touched
upon but not fully explored in Milgram's experiments"? Explain the
significance.
18. At the end of p. 189, Browning asks the following troubling question:
"If the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 could become killers under
such circumstances, what group of men cannot?" What would be your
evaluation?
19. Consider this: Where was the Kingdom of God more clearly manifested
during the Second World War -- in the village of Le Chambon sur Lignon
in the Haute Loire district of France? Or among the German doctors
who worked for the Third Reich in Germany? Explain your choice in
terms of the characteristics, as you understand them, of the Kingdom of
God.
20. In light of what you've read and what you answered above, what would
it mean to you if you took seriously the call to go forth and preach the
Kingdom of God to all peoples?