Since the end of this dreadful time-period, many questions have been raised concerning why most of the German men in the reserve police participated, when they were given the option not to. The ideas of obedience to authority and conformity were studied by the social scientist, Stanley Milgram. Toward the end of the Holocaust, Milgram became very interested in these two concepts and their relation to

the German participation in the killings of Jewish decent. "Milgram tested the individual's ability to resist authority that was not backed by any external coercive threat" (Browning172). The results of the tests corresponded with what Milgram felt was the cause of the many men who coincided with authorities. When conducting series of tests with middle-aged men to observe their actions in relation to obedience to authority, "two thirds of Milgram's subjects were 'obedient' to the point of inflicting extreme pain" (Browning172). He performed other tests as well which showed evidence that the men (the subjects) were influenced greatly by their peers. This suggests that conformity played a large role as well in the decisions that many of the men in the reserve police made during the Holocaust.

If these events cannot be backed up by the psychological factors mentioned previously, then is there something in German history or culture, which led to this massacre? Although some people may believe otherwise, the answer is no. The Holocaust is recognized as the most brutal series of events resulting in a mass destruction of Jews in Europe. However, several other events in history took place, which suggests that people of other cultures or nations are capable of the same type of murderous acts. Through the 1500's and 1600's, the destruction of a large portion of the Native American population for the sake of gaining territory, was exercised by the Spanish, French, and later on by the British in North America (Perry272). This illustrates a similar comparison to the actions that the Germans took in the Holocaust. The French Revolution is another example of massive killings that occurred for irrational reasons. The economic and social problems that developed within the nation are what caused France and its people to become unstable. There could have been ways to improve the nation's government and social issues without punishing people by death, and making the loss of a life such a common event. However, the government had difficulty controlling the people of France, and therefore, killed many people for the sake of the nation's stability.

Christopher R. Browning poses the question in his book Ordinary Men, whether or not the members in the reserve police were "subject to such a barrage of clever and insidious propaganda that they lost the capacity for independent thought and responsible action" (176). This idea of reasoning is believed by many peo

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1669
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)