Ordinary Men

Ordinary Men (1992) tells the disturbing tale of how a group of men went from “ordinary” to brutal, hardened killers executing the Nazi mission during the Holocaust. It examines in detail the evolution of these men’s attitudes, from the beginning when most experienced disgust at the gruesome tasks they were asked to carry out, through to the end when almost all had become accustomed to the cruelty and some even came to delight in it. Above all, it is a warning and a reminder of what humanity is capable of in its darkest moments.

• World War II and Holocaust historians
• Survivors of the Holocaust and their relatives and ancestors
• Anyone who thinks themselves incapable of acts of cruelty

Christopher R. Browning is the professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2006, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He won the National Jewish Book Award three times, including for Ordinary Men in addition to The Origins of the Final Solution and Remembering Survival.