by Matt Gadfield

Created on: May 01, 2008   Last Updated: December 11, 2009

Psychological studies such as Zimbardo's infamous Stanford Prison Experiment have shown that, in the right or rather wrong circumstances almost all humans have the capacity to inflict great cruelty if ordered to do so. That study was called off when it became apparent that those participants given the role of guards were abusing their power over prisoners, and that those given the role of prisoners were suffering serious psychological damage. When interviewed afterwards, the "guards" tended towards one explanation: They were obeying orders.

That is, of course, the same defence mounted by Nazi war criminals at Nuremburg and by the many SS and regular army troops involved in Hitler's Final Solution. Interviews with these men have shown that, apart from in a few cases, they did not suffer from a mental illness, they were not psychopaths as we would think. So what led them to kill millions of innocent people. Why did so few revolt? In one particular case, considered in the work "Ordinary Men" by Christopher R. Browning, there were no reprisals threatened or indeed taken against those who refused to kill. Yet few of those involved did step back and say "I will not do this".

In the case of SS units, it is relatively easy to explain. As Nazi elite troops they were heavily indoctrinated with the ideology and tended to be the most fanatical followers. There is evidence that the other German armed forces considered them thugs and bullies, and that survival rates amongst Allied troops captured by SS units were far lower than those captured by other forces. It is likely that SS units contained a sizable number of people who enjoyed provoking fear and killing, and that the training techniques used rapidly stripped away any remaining humanity. Yet this does not explain the other troops involved. We know few faced the threat of reprisals, at least until the final months of the war. They were volunteering for this.

It would be easy to paint them as victims of a cunning and manipulative propaganda movement, but that would be too lenient. Their willingness to follow orders unquestioningly is what led to the Holocaust. We have seen this so many times since, and it continues today in some of the more unsavoury parts of the world.

This, then, is an important reason why the Holocaust must not be forgotten. It reminds us of what unquestioning, unthinking obedience can lead to, especially when those in authority are murderous tyrants. It reminds us that there is the potential for great evil in the human mind, alongside the potential for good.

Studies such as that carried out by Zimbardo show us that there was nothing unusual about Germans between 1933 and 1945, modern people can be just as suggestible. The Holocaust must be held as an example of the dangers of allowing political extremism a voice in government, and the dangers of the herd mentality.

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