...Professor Brown The Holocaust: History and Memory April 23, 2012 Ordinary Men In Christopher R. Browning’s Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and The Final Solution in Poland, Browning describes the story of how “ordinary men” were placed in an extraordinary situation that forever changed these men’s lives. Browning’s novel focuses on the role of the German Order Police, more specifically Reserve Battalion 101, and how they played a small, yet significant role in carrying out Hitler’s “Final Solution.” By focusing on the unit of Reserve Battalion 101, Browning aims to shed some light on how a battalion of less than 500 men could cause the deaths of nearly 83,000 Jews in the span of less than a year. Through his research, Browning illustrates how these men were not cold-blooded killers recruited for such a job, but rather a group of “ordinary” middle-aged men shaped by the situation at hand to carry out unspeakable acts all in search of a judenfrei world. When analyzing Browning’s work, the question of who were the men of Reserve Battalion 101 must first be answered. Originality, the main task of Reserve Battalion 101 was to aid in the “Germanizing” of Germany’s newly acquired regions, such as Poland, through deportations of the “undesirables” to the “east.” Places like the Łódź ghetto became the new homes for hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews, forced to live in sealed-off communities. Between November 1940 and May 1941, Reserve battalion 101 was assigned...
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...Ordinary Men Christopher Browning’s book, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, examines how ordinary men in Reserve Police Battalion became such cruel, cold-blooded killers. During World War II, the Police Battalion 101 helped cleanse out Poland as part of the Final Solution. The Final Solution was Nazi Germany’s plan to execute all European Jews during the World War II. Most of the Battalion 101 were made up of working class or lower middle class from Hamburg area, with majority of them falling in the age between 37 to 42, which “would not seem to have been a very promising group from which to recruit mass murderers on behalf of the Nazi vision of a racial utopia free of Jews” (Browning, pg.48). As ordinary as the men of the Battalion 101 were, the question remains how most men in the Battalion became killers and what caused this behavior. Browning cities several theories to how such ordinary men could commit such atrocities, such as “wartime brutalization, racism, segmentation, and routinization of the task, special selection of the perpetrators, careerism, obedience to orders, deference to authority, ideological indoctrination, and conformity” (Browning, pg.159). Out of these theories, conformity is the most important reason how the ordinary men in the Police Battalion 101 became killers. The Reserve Police Battalion 101 was a group of ordinary men from Hamburg, with most men not having any experience in any kind of military...
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...#1 What was the purpose of the Order Police? What was their function within the larger Nazi hierarchy? Generally speaking, who were the members of Police Battalion 101 (their background, age, affiliations, occupations, etc.) The purpose of the Order Police, a group of about 500 policemen, most of them being from Hamburg, was made up of ordinary men. Most of them were in their 30's and 40's because they were too old to join the army or they were from the middle or lower class. It included men who were professional policemen, businessmen, truck drivers, machine operators, teachers and construction workers before the war. Battalion 101 of the Order Police and alongside other Order Police battalions had enough power needed to carry out the devastating mass killings of the Jews in Poland. The Order police were involved in mass atrocities against the Jews as Browning states in the third chapter. In this chapter he gives insight of how Jews were murdered in the Soviet Union. Orders to kill innocent Jews or anyone who was suspected to be anti-Germany, came from the German government. Alongside the Jews being killed they were also humiliated. Some of the police commanders were extremely rude like urinating on a Jew while they are begging for mercy. Many Jew were forced into the woods and shot and also moved to concentration camps. In the fourth chapter of the book the order police were trusted with moving the Jews as they were commanded to do. #2 What happened at the massacre...
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...After reading the book Ordinary Men, Christopher Brown made me realize how terrible the holocaust affected humankind. Not only were humans lost but also a mass amount of religious Jews were held accountable for the downfall of the German empire. Hitler was one of the main leaders of the cause of the holocaust, but in the state of South Carolina we believe the hand of one is the hand of all so Hitler could not have wanted to cause this uprising tragedy all by himself. Germans agreed and supported his theory of the mass killing of all the Jews in Europe, that’s why the holocaust was executed. During the mass destruction of the Jewish population in Germany, Christopher Browning referred to the German murders as ordinary men. Any person that I know has committed such a crime is referred to as a convict. He referred to these men in that nature because these men were young middle-aged civilians with little or no career in law justice as a police officer or any other reinforcement officer. He discovered his knowledge on the men from many different testimonials that were left behind from the frightened...
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...Browning’s Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland described events in Poland regarding the Nazi Regime’s answer to the Jewish question. Browning sought answers to the question of how the Nazi’s were able to exterminate so many Jews in Europe and how they found the manpower that was needed for the task while not sacrificing the number of front line troops. The answer was found in the court records of the survivors from the Police Battalion 101 that was assigned to Poland during 1942. Browning stated that many of the men from Police Battalion 101 were residents of Hamburg and resided there even after World War II. This afforded Browning the opportunity to obtain detailed information regarding what happened while the unit was assigned to Poland. Browning focused his narrative on Major Wilhelm Trapp, commander of Police Battalion 101. By using personal stories, Browning was able to portray the events from more of an...
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...The Holocaust was a short, intense wave of mass murder. The center of gravity of this mass murder was Poland, (xv) but how had the Germans organized and carried out the destruction of this widespread Jewish population? And where had they found the manpower during this pivotal year of the war for such an astounding logistical achievement in mass murder? (xvi) These questions are answer by Christopher R. Browning in Ordinary Men. Browning knows that the genocide required a sizeable amount of resources nevertheless Germany was in the same time in a war bid for Stalingrad. He therefore visited the offices assigned with the investigations on the Nazi crimes or crimes related to the holocaust, State Administrations of Justice. On his visit to these offices, he...
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...heal. In the novel, Ordinary People by Judith Guest, the main character, Conrad Jarrett, is recovering from his suicide attempt. After his brother's death, his life starting falling apart, which led him his attempt. After spending a month in the hospital, he finally comes home and that's when he starts his journey to recovery. Throughout the novel, the reader can clearly tell what events...
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...Daquan Jackson 3/11/14 Prof. Powell Mus 101 The song I chose for this assignment is Ordinary people by John legend which to me is a great song. Ordinary people came in out in 2004 in Legends album Get Lifted. The song doesn’t have any personal meaning for me; I just really enjoy listening to song for some reason. There’s only one instrument throughout this song and it’s the piano which Legend plays himself. The man has a great voice which makes me keep listening to his music because if it wasn’t for that I don’t think I would listen to him. This songs is completely different to all the other music I listening I listen to more Spanish and house music then I do to soul, in fact this is probably the only soul song I actually have listened to more than once. This is different to the music I listen to because most of what I listen to makes no sense and has no meaning to it, unlike ordinary people which actually talks about real life situations that people in relationships go through even today. According to Legend the point of this song was to say that relationships are tough and no one will really know the outcome and that even if it does work it will require compromise but even with that the relationship won’t end the way you would want it to. Ordinary people is a soul/ R&B song that talks about guilt, contradiction, fear and doubt. In this line ("I know I misbehaved/and you've made your mistakes/and we both still got room left to grow") he talks about how people in...
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...Rudolf Hoess was not an ordinary man. He was born into a religious family with a history in warfare. He was raised to be a soldier and to live out his life as a man of God. Once his father died he ran away to the front lines during WWI and abandoned his religion. Eventually he became the Kommandant of Auschwitz where he dealt out death to hundreds of thousands of Jews. He was not an ordinary man. Christopher Browning in his book, Ordinary Men, discusses the Reserve Police Battalion 101 and their change over time from ordinary men to hardened killers. He proves that, through varies experiences and decisions that the Nazi regime manipulated them into becoming killers while also saying that it was also their own person choice to kill throughout the entirety of their time in the Battalion. Rudolf Hoess, although he did start off as a regular man who wouldn’t hurt anyone on his own, was never manipulated like the men of Battalion 101 to become a killer. The choice was always his own and he at no point rejected the idea of the murder of Jews. Browning discussed a transition period for the Battalion where they became hardened by their surrounding and became accustomed to the killing. This transition period was never present in Hoess’ memoire and therefore one must conclude that he never had the same struggles of a man coming to grips with murder. The need to follow orders is also prevalent in both Browning and Hoess’ works but in Brownings’ investigation it is shown that orders did...
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...Irony of Childish Behaviors in “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” In Richard Wright’s “The Man Who Was Almost A Man”, there are a constant examples of irony that is opposite of its literal meaning in the story. This irony, in which Dave expresses his needs to be acknowledged as a adult, but he does a lot of immature acts. In “A Man Who Was Almost A Man”, Dave acts of manhood worked against him. He goes about trying to get respect in the wrong ways. He wants a gun for respect, he wants to be a real man but his mother keeps his money, and he runs away from his debts, which is something a real man would never do. Wright’s purpose for writing is to not only show how immature Dave is but to show that becoming a man is a lengthy process and t help someone else avoid those same childish acts. The transition from manhood to adulthood is quiet and force to be reckoned with but Dave shows that his childish mind has a lot to accomplish. A gun is merely a piece of metal tube in which bullets are propelled out of and a noise is given off. Dave wants a gun or metal tube for all of the wrong reasons. He believes that if he had a gun or brought a gun his co-workers would no longer treat him like an boy, in which he really is. Dave is only a young man who is trying to find his identity in his little hometown in the South. Every male wants to have power, to be masculine, and respected but if you still have a child mindset, there is no way possible that a person well ever take u serious...
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...In the beginning of this movie there is a lot of communication going on between all the jurors. When it is came time to a vote on whether or not the victim will be guilty or not there is one man who stands out. During the trial he was observing and taking down notes in his mind about the case. Others were also doing the same thing, but did not take in account how to analyze the situation like the old man did. This vote/tally by the whole group is basically a system. They all use this system to see where they all stand on the verdict. The old man decides to state his individuality because these factors: his beliefs, values and morals. This man has a belief that you cannot just send a young man off to possibly die without having talked about it first. He also made this decision based on the context on the situation. He knew some of the people in the room would be too scared to voice their own opinion. Others people’s belief though in the room are not in the right place. Some are more worried about a baseball game or money. Others are basing some things off their background such as the one of the other older gentlemen and his issues with his children. Their background experiences all reflect their actions and attitudes during the whole movie. This was also due to the perception of the situation they were in. Their attitudes and values were also a big influence on them during the movie. The old man that first voted not guilty was definitely a leader. He also had very high self-esteem...
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...alpha-male. Tyler becomes the narrator’s hero and he envied him. After creating Tyler the narrator’s view on the world is adjusted. Tyler ends up changing the narrators life and has him doing things he never thought he would do. Both the narrator and Tyler bond over the fact that both their fathers were not major factors in their lives. The narrator says “ Me, I knew my dad for about six years, but I don’t remember anything”(50). Tyler goes to say that his father was distant and he would only speak to him once a year. Being raised mainly by woman, they both feel they never had a man around to teach them what being a man is. Tyler and the narrator and the generation of men they represent have been trying for years to regain their masculinity and at the same time find a sense of direction. At the support group for men with testicular cancer the narrator meets Bob. Bob later enters fight club and shows he is one of the better fighters that is there. He is seen as a “true man” for his physical abilities. Later on in the book Bob also joins Tyler’s Project Mayhem. While on a mission for Project Mayhem Bob is killed. “His name is Robert Paulson”(178) becomes some kind of chant for the other members of project mayhem. The narrator, Tyler and the rest of the members of fight club and project mayhem claim to be angry because of the way they were raised by woman and emasculated, they come to admire a man who literally has been...
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...Many people think that a boy becomes a man when his facial hair starts to grow out, how much money he makes, and what he starts to wear. A man is not defined by his age or looks. Men can have all the money in the world or looks but that doesn’t necessarily make them a man. Men are not born but men are made and raised. Responsibilities, maturity, and respect for women turn a boy into a man. Many boys grow up fast to take they can take care of their families at a early age. Because of no father figure around boys usually end up the man of the household, and start working. Therefore age never determines when you become a man or not. Many 15 years old take many responsibilities while some don’t know the meaning of responsibilities. A man is responsible for keeping food in the fridge, paying the bills, keeping clothes on, etc. “Being a dad is the most manliest job you will ever have”(144) Many young boys today become dads at a very early age and most of them end up not taking the responsibility of their child. “Fathers have stopped passing down the art of manliness to the next generation”. Many fathers neglect their families and children and let them be on their own. This means not having a male figure around for the little boys. Boys look up to their fathers and want to see a good role model. They need a man figure in their lives to teach them how to be a man. How will a boy learn how to be a man if his own father is not around to teach him about manliness and responsibilities...
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...the customs and traditions, my friends and I accepted. We had only heard about what goes on at symposium from older teenagers and among them their experiences varied, as well as their impressions. Needless to say, my friends and I were feeling a mixture of curiosity and fear. Prior to the evening’s festivities, my father had told me about the symposium and the importance of taking part in one within our culture. He had told me that it was an important event in a young man’s life where he learns from what is being discussing by the elder men as well as establishing important contacts that my help as I grew into an adult.4 The symposium was scheduled to begin after sunset.5 All the men, along with my friends and a few other boys my age, assembled in the house’s andron. This particular room in the house was specifically for symposiums. There were couches on every wall except the wall with the entrance.6 Before the symposium could begin, the men had to establish who the toastmaster was by rolling dice.7 The toastmaster had the power to institute and impose the rules of the...
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...a couple of things changed for me – my childhood ended, as I saw it, and I now was the man of the house. This feeling of responsibility was new to me as I was the eldest child but very much sheltered from the perspective how life actually was but I was rudely awakened to it. I now felt a responsibility for my mother and her emotional well-being as well as continuing being the big brother to my younger sister that I had already been. I overcame this by learning how to cope better with the stressors of forced manhood via talking with some of my older family members and friends. They offered me valuable advice on how to deal with everything from male-female relationships as well as the unwritten code of conduct as it pertains to men, and Black men in specific. I am incredibly grateful that I have the opportunity to have these folks in my life for that specific season. I’ve also come to realize that the code of conduct as espoused by society towards being a Black man is very interesting yet complex. We are often asked to be strong and powerful yet not be too aggressive or derelict in our responsibilities or actions. I think that every man needs to have role models that they can aspire to be like and to emulate. I am thankful that I serve that role for my young son who looks up to me and my hope is that I can continue to be a good model for him. As a member of a fraternity, I am interested in fostering and building better relationships with my peers and to understand better...
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