“A remarkable—and singularly chilling—glimpse of human behavior. . .This meticulously researched book...represents a major contribution to the literature of the Holocaust."—Newsweek Christopher R. Browning’s shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews—now with a new afterword and additional photographs. Ordinary Men is the true story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that most of the men of RPB 101 were not fanatical Nazis but, rather, ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities out of a mixture of motives, including the group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms to justify their actions. Very quickly three groups emerged within the battalion: a core of eager killers, a plurality who carried out their duties reliably but without initiative, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts of killing without diminishing the murderous efficiency of the battalion whatsoever. While this book discusses a specific Reserve Unit during WWII, the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition. Ordinary Men is a powerful, chilling, and important work with themes and arguments that continue to resonate today.

The shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews.

This groundbreaking international bestseller lays to rest many myths about the Holocaust: that Germans were ignorant of the mass destruction of Jews, that the killers were all SS men, and that those who slaughtered Jews did so reluctantly. Hitler's Willing Executioners provides conclusive evidence that the extermination of European Jewry engaged the energies and enthusiasm of tens of thousands of ordinary Germans. Goldhagen reconstructs the climate of "eliminationist anti-Semitism" that made Hitler's pursuit of his genocidal goals possible and the radical persecution of the Jews during the 1930s popular. Drawing on a wealth of unused archival materials, principally the testimony of the killers themselves, Goldhagen takes us into the killing fields where Germans voluntarily hunted Jews like animals, tortured them wantonly, and then posed cheerfully for snapshots with their victims. From mobile killing units, to the camps, to the death marches, Goldhagen shows how ordinary Germans, nurtured in a society where Jews were seen as unalterable evil and dangerous, willingly followed their beliefs to their logical conclusion. "Hitler's Willing Executioner's is an original, indeed brilliant contribution to the...literature on the Holocaust."--New York Review of Books "The most important book ever published about the Holocaust...Eloquently written, meticulously documented, impassioned...A model of moral and scholarly integrity."--Philadelphia Inquirer

Of all the controversies facing historians today, few are more divisive or more important than the question of how the Holocaust was possible. What led thousands of Germans – many of them middle-aged reservists with, apparently, little Nazi zeal – to willingly commit acts of genocide? Was it ideology? Was there something rotten in the German soul? Or was it – as Christopher Browning argues in this highly influential book – more a matter of conformity, a response to intolerable social and psychological pressure? Ordinary Men is a microhistory, the detailed study of a single unit in the Nazi killing machine. Browning evaluates a wide range of evidence to seek to explain the actions of the "ordinary men" who made up reserve Police Battalion 101, taking advantage of the wide range of resources prepared in the early 1960s for a proposed war crimes trial. He concludes that his subjects were not "evil;" rather, their actions are best explained by a desire to be part of a team, not to shirk responsibility that would otherwise fall on the shoulders of comrades, and a willingness to obey authority. Browning's ability to explore the strengths and weaknesses of arguments – both the survivors' and other historians' – is what sets his work apart from other studies that have attempted to get to the root of the motivations for the Holocaust, and it is also what marks Ordinary Men as one of the most important works of its generation.

This groundbreaking work is the most detailed, carefully researched, and comprehensive analysis of the evolution of Nazi policy from the persecution and "ethnic cleansing" of Jews in 1939 to the Final Solution of the Holocaust in 1942.

Abteilung Deutschland came about as a department of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 1940, following a reorganization of the Referat Deutschland. The latter was established in 1933, and its first task was justifying German anti-Jewish policies to the outside world. Later its functions expanded, and in 1938-39 Referat Deutschland was instrumental in the policy of "forced emigration" of Jews, launched by the SS. The Referat D III was a desk in the Abteilung Deutschland dealing with Jewish matters. Dwells on the personalities of the chief of the department, Martin Luther; the Referat D III's chief, Franz Rademacher; and its leading "Jewish experts", e.g. Karl Otto Klingenfuss, Herbert Müller, and Fritz-Gebhardt Hahn. In 1940-41 the Referat D III prepared Nazi projects for resettlement of European Jews (e.g. the Madagascar project) and helped the Nazi satellite states (and exerted pressure on them) to introduce anti-Jewish legislation and implement their own anti-Jewish policies. Luther coordinated the Abteilung Deutschland's policies with every turn of the Final Solution. With the start of the deportations and mass murders of Jews, the Abteilung Deutschland became involved in deportations of Jews from satellite and neutral countries. However, the department remained a junior partner of the SS, since the latter did not always consult with the Foreign Office in carrying out its anti-Jewish actions. In March 1943 Abteilung Deutschland was dissolved, following a personal conflict between Luther and Ribbentrop, and its functions passed to the Inland II A department.

The 25th anniversary edition of the much-beloved true adventure tale of Nathaniel Courthope; “A magnificent piece of popular history” (The Independent on Sunday). The tiny island of Run is an insignificant speck in the Indonesian archipelago. Just two miles long and half a mile wide, it is remote, tranquil, and largely ignored. Yet 370 years ago, Run’s bountiful harvest of a then-priceless spice, nutmeg, turned it into the most lucrative of the Spice Islands, precipitating a battle between the all-powerful Dutch East India Company and the British Crown. Out of the fighting came one of the most spectacular deals in history: Britain ceded Run to Holland, and in return was given Manhattan. This led not only to the birth of New York, but also to the beginning of the British Empire. The man who made it all possible? Nathaniel Courthope and his small band of adventurers, who were sent to Run in 1616 and for four years held off the massive Dutch navy. Nathaniel’s Nutmeg centers on the remarkable showdown between Courthope and the Dutch Governor General Jan Coen, and the brutal fate of the mariners racing to Run to reap the limitless profits of the spice trade. Written with the flair of a historical sea novel but based on rigorous research, Giles Milton’s Nathaniel’s Nutmeg is a brilliant, true tale of high adventure in the South Seas.