First published 1998
In 1942, Reserve Police Battalion 101 entered a Polish village and rounded up 1,800 Jews. By the end of the day, they had executed 1,500 women, children, and elderly. These were not fanatical Nazis, but average working-class Germans who succumbed to the pressures of conformity and authority. In the following months, this same unit participated in the deaths of over 80,000 Jews. Ordinary Men lays bare the disturbing capacity for human cruelty, even in the most ordinary of people.
Genres: history, 20th-century, world-war-ii, non-fiction, military-history, academic
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-non-fiction, true-crime
Setting: Germany, Poland
Period: 1942
271 pages · Hardcover · HarperCollins
Content warnings: violence