59 pages • 1 hour read
Christopher R. BrowningOrdinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1992A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before You Read
Super Short Summary
Published in 1992, Christopher R. Browning’s Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland explores the activities of a battalion of German police officers who are involved in the murder of vast numbers of Jews in occupied Poland during World War II, examining how ordinary, middle-aged, working- and middle-class men became responsible for such atrocities. This book includes detailed descriptions of violence and genocide.
Reviews & Readership
Review Roundup
Christopher R. Browning's Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland offers a chilling account of how ordinary individuals became perpetrators of the Holocaust. Praised for its meticulous research and compelling narrative, some criticize it for its emotional detachment. Despite this, it remains a crucial text in Holocaust studies.
Who Should Read Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland?
Readers fascinated by the psychology of atrocity, WWII history, and moral dilemmas will find Ordinary Men compelling. Comparable to Hitler's Willing Executioners by Daniel Goldhagen and The Destruction of the European Jews by Raul Hilberg, it's essential for those interested in the dynamics of human behavior in genocidal contexts.