Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

In what ways do the men dehumanize their victims and to what extent are they dehumanized themselves by such behavior?

Why is distance symbolically significant to the question of how the men were able to kill thousands of Jews?

How does Browning use and subvert the idea of weakness in his discussion of the men’s decisions?

The pressure to conform to the group is a significant motivating factor within the battalion. What role does anti-Semitism play in enabling this?

To what degree were the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 well-suited to the task of murdering Jews?

In what way do Buchmann’s actions offer insights into the choices made by Trapp, Gnade, and the rank-and-file policemen?

In what ways does the pressure to conform to the group exert more of an influence on the men than the pressure to obey orders?

Few of the policemen discuss anti-Semitism in their testimonies. Why is this the case and does it accurately represent the role racial hatred played in the men’s decisions?