Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ordinary Men, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom of Choice
Peer Pressure, Conformity, and Acceptance
Normalization of Violence
Nationalism, War, and Ethnic Cleansing
Summary
Analysis
Only about a dozen out of 500 men immediately take advantage of Trapp’s offer to excuse themselves from the mass murder. One of the reasons so few men choose to step out right away is that they have very little time to truly comprehend what killing another person entails. Another major factor is the pressure on the individual to conform and not separate from the rest of the group. The battalion is fairly new and their bond is still forming, but the men still don’t want to step out on their comrades—doing so would be an admission of weakness. Indeed, some men cite fear of being called a coward in their decision to shoot. One man, on the other hand, says his choice to shoot that day was actually cowardly.
When Trapp first gives the men their orders to execute the Jews in Józefów, they are in a group setting. This immediately creates a certain type of pressure on each person not to make a choice that will set him apart from the rest of the group. As members of the same battalion during a war, the men have an extraordinarily strong feeling of obligation to one another. It’s almost like a betrayal to walk away from a task that might create a bigger burden for the others, and it creates a new burden for the person refusing because he knows that the others will accuse him of cowardice.
Themes
According to Browning, most of the interrogated policemen struggle to explain why they chose to shoot when Trapp offered them the chance to opt out in the beginning. Some try to rationalize that stepping out wouldn’t have changed the Jews’ fates and one man even claims that killing the children was an act of mercy that saved them from life without their parents. What’s clearest to Browning is that the men were more concerned for their standing within the battalion than with any sense of shared humanity with their victims. The Jews were simply beyond their obligation, which is a common element of the “us” and “them” mentality of war.
The men view Jews as an “other” and that makes it easier to kill them and justify it afterwards. Furthermore, the Jews are an enemy, and it should be the enemy’s job to look out for themselves, which is what Browning means when he says that the men felt like the Jews’ lives were beyond their obligation. These attempts to rationalize their individual decisions to participate in the shooting squads, however, do not justify their actions. Even in the us-versus-them mentality of war, the enemy is typically armed, which means that they can fight back and defend themselves. These Jewish women and children were unarmed, and not all of them were foreign enemies, but rather natives of Germany who were sent to live in Poland.
Themes
According to Browning, even if the men in the battalion aren’t actively anti-Semitic, they accept the idea that the Jews are the enemy. Trapp appeals to this when he urges the men to think of how “the enemy” is killing German women and children while they carry out a mass execution of Jewish women and children. Between the dozen men who step out before the shooting begins and the number of men who either evade or request to be excused after it commences, Browning estimates that between 10 and 20 percent of the battalion opt out of the firing squads at some point. This is a significant number, but it still means that 80 percent of the men who initially choose to shoot keep going until all 1,500 Jews are dead.
One of the reasons the Nazis are able to kill so many innocent Jewish people during the war is that they effectively convince so many of their soldiers, police, and ordinary citizens that Jews are Germany’s true enemies. According to Browning, what the men in Reserve Police Battalion 101 feel for the Jews isn’t hatred of their Jewishness, but opposition to an enemy; presumably, most men would feel a similar opposition towards Americans, Russians, or the British.
Themes
Although the men who admit to shooting and then stepping out at some point cite physical disgust as their reason for opting out, Browning argues that, given their general lack of education, one can’t expect an eloquent explanation of abstract principles like ethics or politics. However, just because they don’t know how to talk about these things doesn’t mean their disgust doesn’t have roots in a more humane instinct. Some even do express political or ethical opposition to violence against the Jews, but it’s rare. A couple of men, including Buchmann, claim their lack of interest in a lifelong career or promotion makes it easier to step out.
Browning points out that the men’s general lack of education might have a role in why so few of them describe having ethical or political concerns about killing unarmed people. Ironically, this same logic might explain why so many men didn’t seem to have a problem shooting all day long. Unable to articulate or possibly even identify an ethical or political reason not to shoot, many men might have felt that backing out without a good reason would be shameful.
Themes
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After the massacre, everyone in the battalion resents that they were asked to kill people, including the men who chose to shoot the whole time. Still, only a few actively try to get themselves out of being put in such a position again, including Buchmann, who asks Trapp to get him a transfer back to Hamburg. Trapp and his superiors do not worry about the few people with ethical opposition to violence; their concern is the widespread demoralization resulting from the killing process. To alleviate this psychological burden after Józefów, most of the battalion’s duties include clearing ghettos rather than committing mass executions, and auxiliary units help with the worst violence. This makes it easier for the battalion to continue their participation in the Final Solution.
Earlier, Browning noted that the gas chambers are designed to help alleviate the psychological burden associated with firing squads. Reserve Police Battalion 101, then, is a perfect example of how demoralizing being on a firing squad is. The demoralization is worrying because if the men become too depressed, ashamed, and angry then they won’t function well in any other part of their job. After the prevalence of mental illnesses like shell shock (which today might be diagnosed as PTSD) after World War I, military leaders were very aware of how important it is to tend to their men’s mental health as well as physical health.
Themes
