Ordinary men audiobook mp3 download free

This is an excellent work in the field of Holocaust studies. If you are interested in the Holocaust, this account from the perspective of those that carried out Hitler's orders is gruesome yet riveting. The first attempt to read this book usually ends in disgust. If you can get through it the stories are astounding and it gives a more complet picture of Hitler's final solution.

A haunting book that shows the utter evil that humankind will sink to when treating its own species. Wonderfully researched by Browning, this book will send chills down your spine when reading it.

Yet another example of the horrors of the Holocaust. And another in our continuing series of depressing books: Christopher Browning examines the motivation of a man police battalion assigned to the rear lines of Germany's Eastern Front. This small group of men was personally responsible for the massacre of over 38, Jews and the deportation of some 45, more to Treblinka.

These were not racial fanatics nor committed Nazis. Their motives were quite ordinary: careerism and peer pressure. Browning's book is based on interviews with the participants collected after the war.

Not everyone blindly followed orders. The battalion's commander ordered that anyone not wishing to participate in the shootings could be excused and about 12 were. For many of the others rationalization became the order of the day. One later testified he killed only children because his partner was shooting the mothers and he did not think it was right that children should grow up without mothers. The horrifying aspect of this account is how little it took for these men to become transformed psychologically from "normal" people into willing participants.

These were not atrocities one has come to expect from war during the heat of battle Malmedy, My Lai, etc. That bureaucracy may be part of the cause. It distances people from their actions. Bureaucrats never saw the hideous result of their actions, seeing only their small paper-shuffling role.

That still does not explain the actions of the men who were doing the actual killing. Women and children were marched up to graves they had been forced to dig and were shot point-blank in the head. The shooters were even instructed on the best location on the neck to shoot in order to save ammunition.

Occasionally the killer would be splattered with brain tissue and skull parts. There was a deliberate process of dehumanization abetted by Nazi racial policies. In fact, the soldiers found it much more difficult to kill German speaking Jews, especially those who had fled Germany.

They saw them not as the barbarians they had been told they were killing. Euphemisms, protective reaction strikes were common: killing became "actions" and shipping to concentration camps became "resettlements. There was a perversion of ethical outlook, too. Those few who were revolted by what they were doing and who refused to participate were called cowards. We need to cultivate a society where those who follow individual conscience are the heroes and those who follow the crowd are the cowards.

As an aside, before my Dad died, I was talking to one of the aides in his nursing home who came from Argentina. We got to talking about my years in Germany and she mentioned her grandfather had emigrated to Argentina from Germany after the war.

Little tiny red flags waving over my head. I queried if he had been in the German army. Her response was quite unashamedly, yes, he had been in the SS. Red Banners now waving over my head. Then she went on to talk about how the victors rewrite history.

I decided then I had to visit the men's room. Ordinary people, when faced with enough social pressure, and a limited array of choices, will not shrink from becoming monsters. Essentially, that is the theme of the historical review of a German reserve police battalion from WWII.

Much of the records from this group were provided in the years after WWII thru interviews from the members themselves though there were also witness statements about the events they participated in. Few relished the role. Most, just did it as their grim and terrible duty as they shot hundreds of people one by one on several occasions.

A quote from the book that I think captures the beginning of this analysis well: "The battalion had orders to kill Jews, but each individual did not. Yet 80 to 90 percent of the men proceeded to kill, though almost all of them-at least initially-were horrified and disgusted by what they were doing.

To break ranks and step out, to adopt overtly nonconformist behavior, was simply beyond most men. It was easier for them to shoot. First of all, by breaking ranks, nonshooters were leaving the "dirty work" to their comrades.

Since the battalion had to shoot even if individuals did not, refusing to shoot constituted refusing one's share of an unpleasant collective obligation. Those who did not shoot risked isolation, rejection, and ostracism-a very uncomfortable prospect within the framework of a tight-nit unit station abroad among a hostile population, so that the individual had nowhere else to turn for support and social contact. I read it for my Holocaust class. The main thing I'll take away from the class and this book is that everyone had a choice during the war of race and space.

A very difficuly read, but a very important book. Alex Haslam, one of the psychologists who replicated Zimbardo's Prison Experiment in conjunction with Exeter University and the BBC recommended this when he came to speak to our students. He spoke about how ordinary men can do extraordinarily horrific things when in certain situations. Everything about this book is traumatic - from the photo on the cover to the very last page, but the message is clear - we can't hide from what happened and we should never forget.

The book is an intensely detailed account of the men who formed Police Battalion and how they went from mundane tasks to murder in Poland. Browning has undertaken the unenviable meticulous research of hundreds of hours of judicial interviews and transcripts which make up this hugely important document of the holocaust. Browning reviewed hundreds of interviews conducted with former members of Reserve Police Battalion during the s.

He used these to explain how "ordinary men" could commit the crimes of the holocaust and what made those men different from us. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Audiobook Download. Author John F. Follow podcast failed.

Unfollow podcast failed. Stream or download thousands of included titles. Ordinary Men By: Christopher R. Narrated by: Kevin Gallagher. No default payment method selected. Add payment method. Switch payment method. We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method.

Pay using card ending in. Taxes where applicable. Listeners also enjoyed Peterson Narrated by: Jordan B. Peterson Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins Unabridged Overall. Maps of Meaning By: Jordan B. Peterson Length: 30 hrs and 52 mins Unabridged Overall. Peterson Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins Unabridged Overall. Browning P HarperAudio. Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews. Amazon Reviews. Sort by:. Most Helpful Most Recent.

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Fedorov Very chaotic narration. Daniel Eduardo Lopez Gomez They were ordinary men Lauren Grippo Terrifyingly real This is a must listen.. Erich Soiles Chad Nathaniel Overcash Should be required reading This should be required reading in any High School History class. Amazon Customer Roberts Absolutely chilling but necessary I found the afterward a bit tedious but the body of this book will change your perspective on human nature and the events that too many people throw around as casual epithets.

Show More. OL Lee Not an easy read but a very important one I came to this book on the recommendation of several renowned psychologists. Anonymous User Solid, well-written and terrifying Argues convincingly that normal people are capable of terrible things. Those that refused to get involved never ever faced any real repercussions besides social stigma. Assume on that. Overall, a challenging yet good read. The research study Browning did was exceptionally detailed and detailed, too he illustrates the happenings with wonderful respect and clarity.

You never consider the individuals that become part of horrible durations in history. The statute cops were just regular guys, that most likely did what most in their position would certainly have done. The method guide is based on interviews and after that discourse is interesting … A lot more so than it appears.