I put both of these items in the same entry because they are related. I also put this entry directly behind Dogville because although the subjects seem completely unrelated I was repeatedly reminded of some of the themes of Dogville by both Masters of Death and Hitler's Holocaust.

First I would like to give a bit of historical information about the subject matter of Masters of Death and Hitler's Holocaust. When Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and the Soviet Union in 1941, the German military - the Wehrmacht, did not participate in the invasions alone. There were special task forces that followed closely behind the Wehrmacht during the invasions. These task forces were called einsatzgruppen and they had a very specific purpose. They were not part of the military and they were not sent to fight in any battles. Their purpose was to kill civilians - As the Wehrmacht fought the battles and conquered territories, the einsatzgruppen moved in behind them and arrested Jews, Communists, and anyone else that the nazis considered to be enemies. The men of the einsatzgruppen burned entire towns and villages and committed mass murder - open air shootings of thousands of innocent civilians including women, children, and babies. Their atrocities left mass graves all over areas of Europe. 

The crimes of the einsatzgruppen were mind boggling and I began to wonder about the men who were carrying them out. I began to wonder what made them capable of committing such horrid and disturbing acts against innocent people pleading for their lives. I discovered a fascinating book that delved into the psychological aspects of the men of the einsatzgruppen.

Masters of Death: The SS Einsatzgruppen and the invention of the Holocaust is a compelling book by Richard Rhodes that delves into the details of the einsatzgruppen. It is very well researched and informative and it carefully examines the structure of the einsatzgruppen units, their beginnings, and their crimes.  It also delves into the psychology of the men who made up the einsatzgruppen and the road that led them to be able to murder masses of innocent civilians. Rhodes uses the theory of violent socialization identified by criminologist Lonnie Athens to explain how the men of the einsatzgruppen became brutal killers. The interesting theory of violent socialization is a process that involves four sequential stages: brutalization, belligerency, violent performances, and virulency. Although it may sound quite complicated, all of the stages are carefully explained and easy to understand. Rhodes details how they apply not only to the einsatzgruppen but also to well known people such as Hitler and SS Cheif Heinrich Himmler. The book is a very thorough and fascinating psychological study of the men behind one of history's greatest atrocities. I must say that it is very graphic as well, it includes very detailed, violent accounts and descriptions of the mass shootings carried out by the einsatzgruppen. 

Not all of the men of the einsatzgruppen reacted the same way to their experiences.  The book also examines the various psychological effects that the shootings had upon the men.  Some refused to carry out their orders, others went mad and had to be taken to institutions, and still others committed suicide.  Complaints had reached reached the upper echelons of the SS, whereupon it was decided that a more impersonal and faster method of killing needed be found.  Thus came the invention of the infamous concentration camps with gas chambers.  

My only problem with this book is that it gave a somewhat loose explanation about Adolf Hitler's own anti-Semitism and why he came to hate them so viciously.  It is made to sound as though he needed a scapegoat for the mysery of the end of WWI and happened to pick the Jews because they were expedient.  The thing is that Hitler himself did not invent the scapegoating of the Jews (as well as the communits and socialists) for the loss of WWI, it was an ideology that was already formed by many extremists groups and the nazi party was one of these groups, it was formed before Hitler even joined it.  The hatred of the Jews by Hitler and the nazis goes much deeper than what is offered in this book.  That being said,  Masters of Death is a very interesting and informative book and I would highly recommend it.

Hitler's Holocaust is a documentary series from the History Channel that examines the systematic development of the Holocaust. The series has six parts, each one details a different aspect of the Holocaust - Invasion/Decision/Ghetto/Mass Murder/Resitance/The Final Toll.

Using interviews from former perpetrators as well as victims, Hitler's Holcaust tells the painful story of how such a great atrocity took place in modern history. It includes graphic footage, some of which had never been released prior to this documentary.  The different parts deal with aspects such as the spread of anti-Semitism within Germany itself, the nazi occupation of Poland and the formation of the infamous Jewish ghettos, the creation of the concentration camps and death camps, and the Jewish resistance against the nazis.  Each part is presented with documentary footage and personal stories told by interviews.  These interviews add a compound element as they are told by former nazis as well as their Jewish victims.

A good deal focuses on the role of the einsatzgruppen. The first part, Invasion, deals with Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union and focuses on the activities of the einsatzgruppen. One of the things that was most shocking was the reaction of the residents of the territories that were occupied by the nazis.   As the German armies invaded, they pushed back the Soviet armies and gained territory. Behind them, the einsatzgruppen followed and began their task of arresting and murdering the Jews and Communists. The einsatzgruppen looked to the local populations to turn over the Jews living among them and even encouraged the people to commit their own violence against the Jews. Surprisingly, they did not have to try hard and as a matter of fact, violence against the Jews by the local populations had exceeded nazi expectations. It was disheartening and shocking to see how quickly the people had turned against their Jewish neighbors and committed atrocious acts of violence against them. People even turned against their former friends, beating them and even murdering them. The Jews had once been seen as friends and neighbors but when the nazis came hunting for them they suddenly became "just Jews" and "enemies" and many of the local people went after them with uncompromising cruelty and viciousness. Many killings were carried out by willing local collaborators rather than the einsatzgruppen; there was an average of ten local collaborators to one nazi officer.  

Although it is completely unrelated, I must say that I was reminded very much of Lars von Trier's Dogville with these accounts of how people turned on each other with uncontrolled cruelty and violence.  Why did they react that way?  Some people perhaps did it out of fear, they felt threatened that the nazis would come after them if they protected the Jews, others perhaps did it because with the nazi occupation they suddenly found themselves with power over the Jewish populations...too much power over them.  Others perhaps had felt envious over the economic successes of some of the members of the Jewish communities and saw this as a chance to bring them down. 

Masters of Death and Hitler's Holocaust deal with one of the most compelling and atrocious events of human history and they delve into the darker sides of humanity. Although they are very disturbing, the mistakes of the past are best looked at as something to learn from.

Tags: adolf hitler, dogville, einsatzgruppen, hitler's holocaust, masters of death
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