Wow...

There are a few reasons for Battalion 101 killing the Jews in Józefów. One is that they never talked about what happened. The men in the battalion kept everything they did to themselves and never spoke of killing. If there is no talking about what is going on, how can anything be done to stop it. Another reason is that after every killing the men were given alcohol. I am sure that some, if not most of the men drank so much that they forgot what they had done. Also, while intoxicated it could be easier to convince the people to do the killings. A few of the men gave the reason that they did not want to be looked at as a coward. They saw the killings as a military order and did not want to be the one who backed down from an order. They viewed the men who did back down as cowards and lesser men. I do not think anti-Semitism had anything to do with any of these killings; the men were too distraught from killing Jews to be anti-Semitic. Some men also became desensitized to the violence after a few kills. The men in Battalion 101 are still guilty of mass murder but they killed more because of a military order than personal hate.