Review: Ordinary Men

[sniper1shot]

Title: Ordinary Men
Authour: Chistopher R. Brown
ISBN: 0-06-019013-2 (Cloth)
0-06-099506-8 (Paperback)
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Stars: 4 (out of 5)

I picked this book up at a book fair for $2 and believe that I got a good deal as the book was both interesting and informative. As I study WWII this was a topic that I rarely read on.
This book is about a German Reserve Police Battalion that is formed up and sent to Russia for "behind the lines" duties. As this was not a front line unit, it is picked to carry out Round Ups of Jews and in a few cases the actual massacre of Jews, and on at least 1 occassion, Poles
This unit has older men, with quite a few family men in its ranks too. The book has been researched well, to say that quite a few of them were upset at what they did however still carried out the duties that were ordered of it. There are also well researched comments, that some of the soldiers that carried out a small amount (or large) of the executions quietly left the sites or hid until the shootings were over as they could not believe they had to perfom such tasks. The book also states that there were no shortage of volunteers to cover for those that were not available, or were busy with other tasks.
The chapters deal with the forming of the unit, the first massacres and Round Ups, duties in Russia and the final aftermath

This book was written with actual court documents that were made available after the war during some of the trials. The only men actually executed for these crimes were for the execution of the Poles.

I recommend this book as it deals with a topic and a unit that there is not that much written on. The authour does mention that he has had some disagreements with another authour that has touched on this unit.

[Jody]

Ordinary Men

Hello,
It is a very good book and many folks have read and liked it. Here are older threads that discuss it.

Regards,
Jody

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...t=ordinary+men


http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...t=Ordinary+Men

[Ron Weinand]

Ordinary Men NOT

I have corresponded with Browning concerning his work and, while I admir it and think it has a lot of merit, I take exception with his theory about that particular police unit and his naming them "ordinary men".
That unit originated in Hamburg with the commander a long time veteran of the Hamburg police. This particular Police Battlion was made up of mainly older men who many were Hamburg police members. I am sure they were well acquainted with SS Gen. Streckenbach, who was responsible for training the Einsatzgruppen in the late 930s and early 1940s and assisted in the formation of several of the units involved in Poland early in the war.
Streckenbach was a veteran of the police system in Hamburg as well as a member of the SS from the early 1930s and, I am sure, knew many of the police unit members long before the war.
Also, Hamburg was one of the main centers of early Nazi involvement in the police system and he was named by Heydrich to train the initial Einsatz units before he transfered to the Waffen SS and became a military hero with the RK.
So, to say that these were "Ordinary Men" seems to be a stretch to me. The Hamburg police, especially the members from the 1930s who commanded these units, had to have had a relationship with Streckenbach well before the war and were well indoctrinated into the ways of the party.
JMO,
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria
PS: I wrote a rather lengthy paper on this subject for one of my adult college classes of the Holocaust and the teacher is considering having it published, hence my contact with Browning.

[Chap15]

Hello,
I too have talked with CB, and read the other work by Goldhagen. I even walked the ground at Joseflow and a few other places in Poland (see the link above for my police book for a guy from 101...it has Gnade's sig on it).
Although there were a few hard core nazi's from Hamburg, historically with the elections, it was more red than brown. That is why the nazis pushed hard with the police (and the rest of Germany too).
I agree maybe ordinary may not be the right word and maybe they were not so ordinary (old men). Which makes the case even more interesting (which CB would say) because they are least likely to have done the things they did.
Just my opinion and I have learned that a hard complicated question can't be answered with an easy answer.