Ordinary Men

Ordinary Men recently returned to popularity thanks to the influx of police brutality stories being shoved into the spotlight and the catch all phrase of, "I'm just following orders." Ordinary Men is a fascinating read not only because it is based around the first hand accounts of Police Battalion 101, but at the end the reasonings behind these killings are explored in depth, and I can tell you immediately it's not for the reasons you and I were taught. Eventhough the goal of Nazi Germany was to create a judenfrei (Jew free) Europe, the men of Police Battalion 101 were not racist or antisemitic. As you'll come to find out by the end, the Polish were more antisemitic than those who were doing the actual killing. In fact, you will discover it was the Polish who happily betrayed the Jews whenever they could and curtly handed them over to their killers. Meanwhile, the men of Police Battalion 101 cried, vomited, and refused to kill whenever it was possibly to get away with it. Sound odd? Think of peer pressure as a great comparison. These men would be outcasts in a time where Nazism was the way, and frankly, they would be looked at as cowards, weak, and lazy compared to their Macho companions. Their refusal to kill infants and purposefully miss their targets when forced to shoot is the only human trait I've ever seen bestowed upon any German during this time period. As time wore on these men would kill and "just follow orders" but then get blackout drunk immediately after only to get the horrors at night and begin shooting in their sleep. This book really calls into question the idea of if men can be against killing and still do it to this magnitude in the name of civic duty...can that happen to anybody? Certainly we've seen it happen multiple times throughout the years, and judging from the left's obvious fascistic traits, I'd say the next attempt isn't far behind them. 10/10⭐