The Incentive to Kill: An Examination of the Motivations for German Perpetrators During World War II

• Main Author: Manikowski, Agathe
• Language: en
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: ordinary individuals; mass killings; Germany; World War II; SS Einsatzgruppen; Death Camps; ideology; dehumanization; brutalization
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/20244

Why do ordinary individuals participate in mass violence perpetrated against civilians? That is the question I will attempt to answer in the following paper. I consider these men ordinary to the extent that the majority was not socially deviant. Looking at the case of Nazi Germany, two groups stand out as good case studies: the SS Einsatzgruppen and the SS cadres in the Death camps. The following analysis will focus on the motivations of these men to commit mass murder. I argue for a causal sequence of action, beginning with the onset of Nazi ideology, further followed by the dehumanization of the victim and the brutalization of the perpetrator. I will demonstrate how the ideology present during German interwar society influenced these men into participation. Dehumanization and brutalization are complimentary factors that push these men into action.