Welp kiddos, here's the finished product. I'll post and let you know what score I get on it. Let me know your thoughts on my essay.
David Lee
HIST 202
Book Review: Ordinary Men
War has always
been a difficult thing for people to participate in or to handle. From the strategy involved to the
heart-wrenching scenes of children being ripped brutally from the arms of their
parents as they gear up and head out to sacrifice their lives for their
countries, human conflict has played a major part in the development of human
history. In addition to affecting the
world on a larger scale, war affects people on a personal level. Many a story of “shell-shocked” soldiers have
filtered down through the ages and taken hold in the lore of modern
warfare. It turns out that these
soldiers were actually afflicted by a condition called PTSD, which is an
acronym for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
Sometimes people who are afflicted with this condition see horrific
hallucinations and flashbacks of their past lives, especially the memories that
were formed during the particular war in which their posttraumatic stress
disorder developed. So this is how
people are affected on an individual level, although this is not the only way
individuals are affected on a personal level; there are many other
personal-scale afflictions of war, including feelings of abandonment, loss of
money, and the common cold. No matter
what it is that changes people on an individual level, individuals are changed
by war by a number of causes. No matter
what, any people who are involved in war will not escape the experience
unscathed. Sometimes these scathes run
too deep to heal. Other times they can
be fixed by a simple bandage and the next week the people who were scathed can
be getting ice cream with their cute two-year old child who will not experience
abandonment issues or PTSD for that matter.
However sometimes the scathes sustained are deeper than just skin and
bones; these wounds usually lead to amputation or death. However there is a third, extremely deeper
kind of scathe that may involve amputation or death (these are optional
features) but more importantly involves the scathing of the soul. The soul is a precious resource that is not
in as high of supply today and this is because of war. In the book Ordinary Men, this scathing of the soul is explored in a
non-intrusive way so as not to exacerbate the problem. Basically, based on the first chapter of the
book, the book is about the descent of so-called “ordinary men” into the sort
of people who have voluntarily scathed others and themselves on several
different levels, sometimes involving amputation and usually incorporating
death. This book takes place during the
Holocaust but its tone is completely serious.
It’s a good thing that this book has complete respect for the events
that happened over in Europe during that time—I don’t think Holocaust jokes are
appropriate, Anne Frankly I don’t find them funny either.
This book is mainly about how some
“ordinary men” became less than ordinary because they got into the business of
scathing other countries and Jews. In
the very first chapter the book describes how the men of the police battalion
were ordered to go kill some Jewish folk in Jozefow, which is a horrible thing
that they were asked to do. It talks
about Major Wilhelm Trapp, not to be confused with other World War II
Historical figures such as the Von Trapp family, and how he was nervous for his
assignment. The book says: “Pale and nervous,
with choking voice and tears in his eyes, Trapp visibly fought to control
himself as he spoke. The battalion, he
said plaintively, had to perform a frightfully unpleasant task. This assignment was not to his liking, indeed
it was highly regrettable, but the orders came from the highest
authorities. If it would make their task
any easier, the men should remember that in Germany the bombs were falling on
women and children. He then turned to
the matter at hand. The Jews had
instigated the American boycott that had damaged Germany, one policeman
remembered Trapp saying. There were Jews
in the village of Jozefow who were involved with the partisans, he explained
according to two others. The battalion
had now been ordered to round up these Jews.
The male Jews of working age were to be separated and taken to a work
camp. The remaining Jews—the women,
children, and elderly—were to be shot on the spot by the battalion. Having explained what awaited his men, Trapp
then made an extraordinary offer; if any
of the older men among them did not feel up to the task that lay before him, he
could step out.” But they didn’t and
ended up killing a lot of good Jews. So
that is how this book addresses the topic of regressing humanity within those
who are chosen to fight in wartime. The
vignettes like these ones were enjoyable to read sometimes when they weren’t
too depressing, so actually only about three of them were enjoyable to
read. Although this was a very serious
topic to discuss, it could have been more lighthearted if some comic relief was
included to break up the monotony of war.
It is a scientifically proven fact that those soldiers who lived and
killed and ate and slept and breathed during the war also had fun sometimes,
especially on Christmas. So if there was
a scene in this book involving Christmas, probably that problem would have
taken care of itself.
The
style of the information presented says a lot of “according to this man” kind
of thing, which makes me think that these conversations are drawn from actual
interviews. Although this means it is a
first person account, this also means that in order for these people to feel
better about themselves they kind of sugarcoated a lot of stuff in their
brains. It mostly isn’t their fault,
because memory can be a fickle thing, especially when you have PTSD
(Posttraumatic stress disorder) which a lot of people had from this war,
especially from killing Jews and homosexuals.
Seeing the information provided in this harsh and blaring light, one is
forced to ask several questions: Is this
information correct? Do the men have
PTSD? What even qualifies as “scathing”
in this instance? Did it get easier for
them? Are they lying about some of these
things? Who is to say that this war
wasn’t a good thing? Did anything
positive come out of these things? These
questions are literally impossible to find answers to, it’s almost pointless to
attempt. However the answers can be
found through an examination of the way that these men justified these actions
to themselves, their wives, their children, their cousins, and their drinking
friends when they got home (a lot of PTSD victims turn to alcohol to satisfy
their sorrow). Perhaps a better solution
can be found if we look at
The
way that the book talks about some of the people in this particular battalion
of the german community. The book
says: “others were more cautious and
refrained from shooting only when no officer was present and they were among
trusted comrades who shared their views.
As Martin Detmold recalled, ‘In small actions it often occurred that
Jews whom we had picked up were let go again.
That happened when one was sure that no superior could learn anything of
it. Over time one learned how to
evaluate one’s comrades and if one could risk shooting captured Jews contrary
to standing orders but rather letting them go.’
The battalion communications staff also claimed that they ignored Jews
they encountered in the countryside when they were laying lines on their
own. When shooting at a distance rather
than giving a necks hot, at least one policeman merely fired ‘into the air.’ “
That quote pretty much explains itself, in that it talks about the ways that
people in this battalion felt about shooting Jews and homosexuals.
Basically, the
book is about the descent of so-called “ordinary men” into the sort of people
who have voluntarily scathed others and themselves on several different levels,
sometimes involving amputation and usually incorporating death based on the
first chapter of the book. It’s really
interesting to note that due to the literary references I have provided it is
easy to see this conclusion. Thinking
about these issues always provokes thought of the real effect of war and if
people ever think of it beforehand when they decide to actually enter into the
war. I sit here at this computer,
pondering these questions, searching my un-scathed soul for an answer to the
question: How many wars does it take to
get to the center of the human soul? The
answer is most definitely not three, but I’m not sure what it could be, and so
it is almost pointless to do anything but keep these things in my heart and
listen to them when the tumult of life and politics surges restlessly around me
in the future. One thing is for sure,
however, that researching and writing for this paper has had a major influence
in my personal life, and I may never see some very general subjects in the same
light as when I began this paper that has changed my life. I can only hope that it has done the same for
others, opening up their understanding, possibly helping them to appreciate the
book Ordinary Men even more, and to
appreciate life, and death, and the scathing of unscathed yet still scatheable
things. I suppose the only thing my
generation can do is attempt to look to the future and prevent further mass
scathings from happening and make the world a better place by being
extraordinary men (and women).
Bibleography
“Ordinary Men”, Christopher R.
Browning, HarperCollins, 1992
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