Were the Perpetrators of Genocide "Ordinary Men" or "Real Nazis"? Results from Fifteen Hundred Biographies

In: Holocaust and genocide studies: an international journal, Band 14, Heft 3, S. 331-366

Abstract

An analysis of the largest such sample yet assembled, this article surveys the biographies of 1,581 men & women involved in Nazi genocide. The quantitative study of these perpetrators suggests that they resemble "Real Nazis" more than they do "Ordinary Germans." Most of the Sudeten Germans, the women, & the foreign ethnic-Germans who were recruited only after the Wehrmacht "liberated" their countries did seem relatively "ordinary." But among the remaining 90% of the sample, two-thirds were long-term Nazis, a third had been prewar extremists, & "careers" in violence were common. Perpetrators came disproportionately from "core Nazi constituencies." The more committed Nazis were of higher rank & longer experience -- bringing the pressures of hierarchy & comradeship to bear on newer recruits. Previous scholars have shown how the Nazi movement was "radicalized" into genocide; biographies of its participants illustrate the social processes, institutional cultures, & power relations involved. 8 Tables, 1 Map, 127 References. Adapted from the source document.