A fraternal atmosphere undoubtedly aided the shooting of innocent Jews. Many men were not comfortable with cold blooded massacre, and while they were given free reign to side step the duties, in one of the articles a man commented on the verbal abuse he received for taking this out. Further, men that did choose not to shoot, had to give their explanation as being of weakness, not on any moral grounds. This is significant. An order of massacre was carried out by men who viewed it as a test of manliness. This avoidance of morality in favor of cruelty shows the conflict in our human nature with learned moral systems. Humans beings, brought to the twentieth century after millions of years of evolution, are violent creatures. Killing ensured survival for our earliest ancestors, thus they lived to pass on their genes to us. Violence is carnal. In time of war this instinct is profound, and even though the Jews were not a military opponent the mindset of the third reich fostered this degradation of these German's humanity.
Likewise, these men undoubtedly felt uncomfortable about their role. Some of them, represented by Trapp, felt sick about the prospect of this slaughter. Here a latter aspect of human evolution, our consciousness, is openly in conflict with other instincts. Browning did cite examples of men who appeared to be average citizens all around. These individuals carry the weight of his entire article. These men represents learned humanity, the single factor that separates ourself from all other species. Our ability to conceptualize right and wrong is this defining trait, and has taken human beings from ape like creatures into pieces of civilizations.
American society isn't very hateful. If seriously interrogating university students across the nation, I doubt many would be able to give a sure fire answer as to where they direct their hatreds. This is a relatively recent development. Most cultures have harbored ill feelings for specific groups. This hatred was entirely prevalents toward the Jews in Nazi Germany. Hate, unfortunately, mirrors its opposite, love, in that it has a powerfully intoxicating effect upon the individual possessing the emotion. It is hard to understand another's hatred, and adds complexity to the study of the holocaust. When assessing it from my perspective, I do think that these men were relatively normal. However, I feel that they fell prey to state sponsored hatred, and that their base animalistic instincts helped make sport of the massacre. Many of these men felt the psychological pangs of moral burden, but unfortunately this was not enough to halt the mission. When I see the holocaust, I see complexity, and potential for humans to learn from our fellow ancestors that took part in this horrific narrative. I don't know if this post is convincing or not, but I'd like to reiterate that I feel that both Browning and Goldhagen's analysis were elementary in their narrow vision. I have not read their books in their entirety, which could potentially change my opinion.
