Ordinary People as Mass Murderers Perpetrators in Comparative Perspectives

Now available for the first time in paperback, Ordinary People as Mass Murderers offers a series of essays that explore one of the most fundamental and widely-discussed questions confronted by humanity: how do 'ordinary' people come to participate in mass murder? Recent scholarship has presented a complex and heterogeneous picture of ordinary perpetrators and shows that no age group, gender, or social, ethnic, religious or educational cohort is exempt from feeding the ranks of mass murderers. This book brings together a mix of established and younger experts to provide a unique and up-to-date overview of the current state of research, much of it previously unpublished in English. Nine contributions and an introduction combine to present complex findings in an accessible format, approaching the topic from a variety of perspectives (history, gender, sociology, psychology, law, comparative genocide) and addressing a number of hitherto unresolved questions. Together they show that our knowledge has moved on considerably since Christopher Browning's path-breaking Ordinary Men (1992) and they add significant new impetus to contemporary efforts at understanding different forms of genocide.

OLAF JENSEN was born in Hamburg and studied in Hanover. He is Lecturer in Holocaust Studies and Director of the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies at the University of Leicester. His research has focused on National Socialism and the Holocaust, particularly on the impact of memory on contemporary German society. He has published widely on these topics, most importantly, Geschichte machen. Strukturmerkmale des intergenerationellen Sprechens über die NS-Vergangenheit in deutschen Familien (2004).

CHRIS SZEJNMANN was born in Munich, studied in London, and is Professor of Modern History at Loughborough University. His major publications are Nazism in Central Germany: The Brownshirts in 'Red' Saxony (1999), Vom Traum zum Alptraum. Sachsen während der Weimarer Republik (2000), and (co-editor), How the Holocaust Looks Now. International Perspectives (2007). He is currently writing Contesting the Rise of the Nazis (2009); and Nazism in Germany: A Comparative Regional History (2011).

List of Photographs
List of Tables and Figures
Preface
Notes on Contributors
Glossary
Introductory Thoughts and Chapter Overview; O.Jensen
PART I: PERPETRATORS OF THE HOLOCAUST
1. Perpetrators of the Holocaust: A Historiography; C-C W.Szejnmann
2. Male Bonding and Shame Culture: Hitler's Soldiers and the Moral Basis of Genocidal Warfare; T.Kühne
3. The Men of Einsatzgruppe D.: An Inside View of a State-Sanctioned Killing Unit in the Third Reich; A.Angrick
PART II: FEMALE PERPETRATORS OF THE HOLOCAUST
4. Women under National Socialism: Women's Scope for Action and the Issue of Gender; C.Herkommer
5. Female Concentration Camp Guards as Perpetrators: Three Case Studies; I.Heike
PART III: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES
6. The Ordinariness of Extraordinary Evil: The Making of Perpetrators of Genocide and Mass Killing; J.E.Waller
7. On Killing and Morality: How Normal People Become Mass Murderers; H.Welzer
PART IV: PERPETRATORS AND GENOCIDE
8. The Organisation of Genocide: Perpetration in Comparative Perspective; D.Bloxham
9. International Law after the Nuremberg Trials and Rwanda: How Do Perpetrators Justify Themselves?; G.Hankel
Index