HUM450 - One Day in Josefow: Initiation to Mass Murder - Christopher Browning

Browning examines the testimony of police officers (middle aged men who were recruited for police service) who were ordered to round up and kill all of the women and children in the town of Josefow, Poland. The police officers were ordered to go into the town and round up all of the Jews in the town. The male Jews were to be sent off to a labor camp and the women and children were to be shot just outside of town in the woods.

The commander, Major Trapp offered his men several opportunities to not participate without any fear of being punished. While a few men took him up on the offer, most of the men didn'tt. The men who didn't participate were given alternate duties, such as escorting the male jews to the labor camp or were reassigned to other units to fight the Polish partisans.

Of the men who carried out these orders, most admitted years later that they didn't want to be seen as weak in front of their comrades. Others admit that is was wrong, but were "cowards" by not doing the right thing and not participating in the first place. It's not clear after reading this if there is really any answer as to why these men did this, other than peer pressure, cowardice, and anti-semitism.