"There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are faced to deal with" (William Halsey). The same can be said about volatile men. This is the quote Christopher R. Browning thought of when he named this book. The men of the 101st battalion were rarely faced with decisions. Even if it had been proposed by Trapp the morning of Jozefow that "any of the older men who did not feel up to the task that lay before them could step out" (Browning, chapter 7, pg. 57), he didn't actually allow them any time to truly think about it. He brought it up moments before they were about to go out to the slaughter. They were blind-sided and the men who didn't want to risk the future of their jobs as policemen or the men that didn't want to look weak in front of their peers were ushered into a massacre unlike that they could have ever imagined. But because they were all basically forced to give killing a shot, it only allowed them to adapt to war easier. The job that the men of the 101st had to carry out continued to get easier as they adapted to the climate of the war by creating rules for themselves. These ordinary men were no longer in an ordinary situation.
Major Trapp is a character who's story I believe you can track beneficially for the sake of studying the overall adaptation of war climate. Trapp, when he first learns of the order to terminate the Jews in the Jozefow area, is distraught. Several times he says how "such jobs don't suit him" and others accounted him "weeping like a child" (Browning, Chapter 7, pg 58). He even spares the life of a ten-year old child at the close of the slaughter. Since Major Trapp is the one with the most responsibility, it makes sense that he is gong to assess the situatio...
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...ty" (Browning, chapter 10, pg 95). Knowing the Jews lives were going to be taken made it easier for them to take the lives themselves, because they knew their destiny was sealed anyway.
Another set of rules that gave them an easier time murdering Jews was their awareness of the battalions make-up. Some men were more equipped to deal with the shootings then others. In the case of Lieutenant Buchmann's unwillingness to kill, their ruling was "as long as there was no shortage of men willing to do the murderous job at hand, it was much easier to accommodate Buchmann and the men who emulated him than to make trouble over them" (Browning, chapter 11, pg 103). By allowing people who didn't want to kill to sit it out, they actually helped the overall performance of their killings. It seems to have made them fast, more efficient and isn't scaring anyone out of the battalion.
“The old man mumbled something, groaned, and died. Nobody cared. His son searched him and took the crust of bread”. But then two men saw the boy and killed him to for the crust. The people in the cattle car were no longer people, but animals who only cared for food. The people outside the cattle car also painted a dark picture of human nature. People gathered around the cattle car to have a glance at the fights happening over the piece of bread. Soon the spectators continued to toss bread inside the cattle car and watched the effects of their action with great interest. They observed those monsters who were ready to kill for a crust of bread. The circumstances that allowed this dark side of human nature to emerge was the instinct to survive. The Jews did everything to survive and no longer cared about anyone else. They went through so much suffering that they didn't listen to their conscience and didn't care if they killed somebody. The people outside revealed their dark side too because they enjoyed watching people kill each other for food and they encouraged the fight instead of stopping it. They watched in awe because at that time Germans didn't see Jews as humans. They enjoyed seeing the Jews
Many of the soldiers that comprised Reserve Police Battalion 101 were of random choosing; they were not picked due to their anti-Semitic sentiments nor for their prowess in previous battles. Browning argues that these ordinary men were not forced to become killers rather they had the option to speak out against these horrific actions and accept the consequences of that or to conform to the orders even if it was a violation of their moral standards. Browning argued that any man had the potential to become a killer if their values were at all compromised, if they were susceptible to peer pressure, if they did not want to seem cowardly in front of their comrades, or if they had a dislike towards Poles, Jews or Soviets which may have been instilled by Nazi propaganda or its ideological training. Through Browning’s research he found out that of the approximately 500 German soldiers that composed Reserve Police Battalion 101, only about ten to twenty percent (50 to 100 soldiers) of men totally abstained from killing altogether, which means at
“The war correspondent is responsible for most of the ideas of battle which the public possesses … I can’t write that it occurred if I know that it did not, even if by painting it that way I can rouse the blood and make the pulse beat faster – and undoubtedly these men here deserve that people’s pulses shall beat for them. But War Correspondents have so habitually exaggerated the heroism of battles that people don’t realise that real actions are heroic.”
At a time of loss, the German people needed a reason to rebuild their spirits. The Jews became a national target even though Hitler’s theory could not be proven. Even as a Jew, he accused the Jews people for Germany’s defeat in order to rally the people against a group of people Hitler despised. The story-telling of the Jews’ wickedness distracts the Germans from realizing the terror Holocaust. Millions of Jewish people died because Hitler said they caused the downfall of Germany. Innocent lives were taken. The death of millions mark the rise of Hitler. He sets the stage for the largest massacre in
...f the major Optimism of the Jews is that they could not comprehend the killing of all their people. They see it as a task that contains no possible way to be fulfilled. They justify it by saying “Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use?” (6). The answer to their question is yes but there is many chances to escape this fate, although the Jews of Sighet deny it.
The violent actions of the Germans during this event force an image upon them that conveys the message that the Germans had little respect for the life of a person, specifically that of a follower of Judaism, and their capability to act viciously. If the Germans are acting so cruel and begin to act this way as an instinct towards the Jews, they are losing the ability to sympathize with other people. This would be losing the one thing that distinguishes a human from any other species, and this quote is an example of the dehumanization of the victim, as well as the perpetrator. Later on in Night, all the Jewish prisoners discover their fate at the camps and what will happen to people at the crematorium. They respond by saying to the people around them that they “...can’t let them kill us like that, like cattle in the slaughterhouse” (Wiesel 31). This simile develops the theme by comparing the Jewish prisoners to cattle in a slaughterhouse and emphasizes what little value their lives had to the Germans, implying they are not worthy of human qualities. The Germans are once again not able to emphasize with the Jews that are around them and being murdered, which over the course of the novel leads to them being
The events which have become to be known as The Holocaust have caused much debate and dispute among historians. Central to this varied dispute is the intentions and motives of the perpetrators, with a wide range of theories as to why such horrific events took place. The publication of Jonah Goldhagen’s controversial but bestselling book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” in many ways saw the reigniting of the debate and a flurry of scholarly and public interest. Central to Goldhagen’s disputed argument is the presentation of the perpetrators of the Holocaust as ordinary Germans who largely, willingly took part in the atrocities because of deeply held and violently strong anti-Semitic beliefs. This in many ways challenged earlier works like Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” which arguably gives a more complex explanation for the motives of the perpetrators placing the emphasis on circumstance and pressure to conform. These differing opinions on why the perpetrators did what they did during the Holocaust have led to them being presented in very different ways by each historian. To contrast this I have chosen to focus on the portrayal of one event both books focus on in detail; the mass shooting of around 1,500 Jews that took place in Jozefow, Poland on July 13th 1942 (Browning:2001:225). This example clearly highlights the way each historian presents the perpetrators in different ways through; the use of language, imagery, stylistic devices and quotations, as a way of backing up their own argument. To do this I will focus on how various aspects of the massacre are portrayed and the way in which this affects the presentation of the per...
Have you ever thought about what it was like to live during World War 1, or what it was like to fight at war? At first glance of any war piece, you might think the author would try to portray the soldiers as mentally tough and have a smashing conscience. Many would think that fighting in a war shows how devoted you are to your country, however, that is not true. According to All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the reality of a soldier's life is despondency, carnage and eradication at every bombardment. Living every day is not knowing if they will eat, see their families, or even if they will awaken the next day. Demeaning themselves from heroes to barely men without their military garment or identity. Remarque conveyed how
When soldiers think about commoners after a traumatic experience, they often get frustrated that no one will ever understand their plight. Siegfried Sassoon portrays this in “Suicide in the Trenches” by showing anger at the happiness of other people. Saying “You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye / Who cheer when soldier lads march by, / Sneak home and pray you’ll never know / The hell where youth and laughter go.” (Sassoon 9-12), he effectively pours his unsolvable frustrations onto other people although they are not to blame. The men he is describing are people not only who don’t care, but never had the opportunity to care because they never thought about putting themselves in the same position as these soldiers. Remarque portrays the same message, but in a different tone as he brings it to a sad end because he has no energy to fuel any more anger. He is trying to reason with himself, but then thinks aloud “And men will not understand us-for the generation that grew up before us, though it has passed these years with us already had a home…, and the war will be forgotten” (Remarque 294). The men who may be ‘remembered for their service’ will merely be remembered within their family as another human being, but not a person of strong willpower. Along with the soldier, the war itself will be forgotten
This new perspective makes them realize how lucky they were not to be mortally wounded. Another cause of change in the men besides the battles, results from seeing friends in the hospital. The first display of this sorrow is Kemmerich’s death. He was a good friend to all the men, especially Paul. When the men see him lying in his bed about to die, they feel terrible. Because they feel this way, they tell Kemmerich that he is going to be okay. The hospital scene with Kemmerich dying is meaningful and touching to the readers, because it too shows a change in the men. This change shows the hate and anguish of the battlegrounds, contrasted with compassion towards a close friend who is in need. This scene also lets the reader know how many people received injuries each day. When Paul goes to tell the doctor that Kemmerich The doctors response was that he had already amputated five legs that same day. The reader sees why when one person dies, it really does not mean anything to the doctors, except a free bed. This scene, plus the others which take place in the hospital, shows change in the way that men pull together when someone is in need. The hospital scenes also show that men are so accustomed to death, they know when someone is going to die, and can tell the degree of an injury when it happens. There is a major change in the men in this novel. At first, they are excited to join the army in order to help their country. After they see the truth about war, they learn very important assets of life such as death, destruction, and suffering. These emotions are learned in places like training camp, battles, and deal with death, which is very important to one’s life. & nbsp;
...ings by then, whose memories, fears, and enthusiasms should not be remembered." Thus, unlike the title suggests, this remarkable war memoir is not about one soldier. Instead it refers to the entire German army who were defeated by the Allies. Although the German cause was very controversial, these gentlemen bravely fought for their country. Many men died, many were mutilated, and many more had to forever live with the atrocities they encountered. At war's end, however, they were merely "forgotten" for their failure of success. And although The Forgotten Soldier is an astonishing account of the horrors of infantry warfare, it serves a much greater purpose. It allows the historian to glance into the German experience and realize they too were young men fighting because their nation called upon them, and they deserve to be remembered for such a courageous act.
... could not help themselves, they were not going to be helped. If struggle were encountered, men had personalized ways to reconnect with the real world, and if a tragedy were encountered which affected the entire company, they also found a combined way to cope with this pressure. The priorities of men during the war shifted greatly toward emotional connections to people and events other than the war, and it was these connections that helped them survive and return home. Coping with the stress and burden of war is not an easy task for anyone, yet in The Things they Carried, O'Brien depicts men dealing and coping as much as they can, using only their primeval resources. They learn how to cope with the barest necessities in life, and they learn how to make use of the smallest opportunities to obtain the most relief and joy from every moment in life.
O’Brien’s unique verisimilitude writing style fills the novel with deep meaning and emotion. Analyzing the novel through a psychological lens only adds to its allure. Understanding why characters act the way they do helps bring this novel to life. The reader begins to empathize with the characters. Every day, the soldiers’ lives hang in the balance. How these soldiers react to life-threatening situations will inspire the reader. Life has an expiration date. Reading about people who are held captive by their minds and who die in the name of war, will inspire the reader to live everyday as if they are currently in the
both kill in order to get their own way that would not be expected of
Although this short story -- one of the greatest in American Literature -- was published almost a century before Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychologist and psychoanalyst, published his works, Young Goodman Brown almost explicitly illustrates how Freudian psychology works. A lot of aspects of psychology are depicted in this short story.