Perpetrators Why did the perpetrators commit these acts? How were they able to do such horrible things? *Once concept we are going to explore is dehumanization. Whether considering the mobile killing squads, the gassing procedure at Aushchwitz, or the jobs of bureaucrats who organized the transportation of prisoners, some level of dehumanization of Nazi victims was a constant presence and essential ingredient that helped enable perpetrators to commit heinous acts.

HHB: PERPETRATOR Readings 1) Reserve Police Battalion 101 (pp. 313 - 316) 2) A Commandant’s View (pp. 353 – 354) Respond: 1) What evidence is there that peer pressure played a role in the massacre described? What about antisemitism? What other factors? 2) Nazi propaganda and policies sought to dehumanize Jews in the eyes of others. Did dehumanization play a role in the massacre at Jozefew? What evidence exists to refute or support the idea that the policemen viewed their victims as less than human? 3) Which of Stangl’s statements show that he thought of the prisoners in his camps as less than human? Could Stangl have performed his job without this dehumanization? 4) Compare the role that dehumanization played in Stengl’s participation with the role it played for the policemen at Jozefew. What similarities do you notice? Differences? 5) In thinking about ways of preventing another Holocaust, what can be learned from the words of perpetrators like Stangl?