I'm Afraid of Fear

I feel that nothing “made” the men participate in the killing, but, in the end, fear is the reason that those men killed in Józefów. As Browning said, the men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101 were not of the generation born and bred in the Nazi regime, thus extreme anti-Semitism and Nazi ideology is most likely not a major reason why these men killed. Each reason given by the men of Battalion 101 for their murderous acts can be founded in the emotion of fear. Most site that they had no choice in the matter of participating in the massacre at Józefów, although they were clearly given the choice to back out by Major Trapp and several times throughout the massacre. Despite the fact that Browning stated that the consequences were not severe, fear of the consequences for refusing orders may have held back certain men at that time. Even Major Trapp did not want to go through with the massacre at all, to the point where he did not show up for it; however, he still gave the commands because “‘orders were orders’ and had to be carried out” (124). Once again a fear of the authority and the consequences of disobedience hung over the heads of Battalion 101. Furthermore, fear is also the underlying factor in the actual reasons given by the couple men who chose to participate in the killings. One stated that he did not want “to be considered a coward by his comrades” (127). Not wanting to be considered a coward is essentially the same being afraid to be seen as a coward. The fear of what others think was thus an underlying reason for their decision. More to the point, “another—more aware of what truly required courage—said quite simply: “I was cowardly” (128). Once again, the fear kept the men from defying their orders. Lastly, Browing states that most of these men felt "bitterness about what they had been asked to do" (127). If there was not some fear of repercussion for their decision to disobey, why would the men have choosen to commit an act they would not be proud of? I am by no means exempting the men who decided to kill from the horror of their actions; I still believe that the choice was their’s to make. However, in my opinion, the driving force behind their decision was fear.