Ordinary Men

In a desperate appeal for mercy, Adolf Eichmann pleaded that he “was simply following orders”. His crime? The systematic murder of over six million Jews in the largest genocide in history. Predictably, his excuse was met with little sympathy and he was executed.

Of course, when thinking about Nazi’s, compassion is one of the last things that come to mind. However, Christopher Browning, in his book Ordinary Men, responds with an unsettling thesis: you and I are Eichmann. Browning warns of the oppressive control institutions can exert in their pursuit of power and the unlikeliness of the “ordinary man” to…