In the last post, we came across the atrocities committed by the Japanese against the innocent people of Nanjing. we read, heard, and saw how Japanese officers brutally slaughtered innocent civilians, leaving a dark mark on history for humanity. As we all know, the Japanese people are known for their sense of responsibility and patriotism as an island nation. In a part of history, it is said that Samurai would receive a sword from their mothers before going to war, with a message that if they were to become prisoners of war, they should take their own lives to avoid bringing shame and dishonor to their country. However, during World War II, there were instances where Japanese soldiers attacked the US Navy fleet in Hawaii, Japanese pilots would crash their planes into American ships in a suicidal manner after running out of ammunition, inflicting heavy losses on the US.

Moving on from Japan, we arrived in Nazi Germany. After World War I, Germany was stripped of its right to have an army due to heavy reparations imposed on the German Empire and the collapse of the empire. This international humiliation became the backdrop for another major event in the world, which we refer to as World War II. During this time, the only military force that Germany could have been the police force, but they were trained in military tactics like army officers. A large number of trained personnel were also ready to join the army in times of war and crisis with a call to arms. The spark of Nazism and Hitler’s nationalist speeches ignited national resentment amongst the German people, becoming a great flame that engulfed the world’s hem.

When it comes to Nazi Germany, we have heard a lot about the crimes of the Nazi party and the Holocaust. However, what is striking is how ordinary people who are typically busy with their daily lives and work, such as workers, clerks, teachers, and salespeople, can commit such strange and unbelievable crimes. In the book “Ordinary Men” by Christopher Browning, which refers to the German police battalion 101, we are dealing with ordinary people like ourselves who had ordinary jobs before the war, and their harassment did not even reach ants! But during the war, they fired at non-combatant Jews from behind and in front! In this way, no moral barrier such as being a child or a woman mattered to them. But the interesting point of the story is that these people became merciless killers very calmly and without even realizing what had happened. In one part of the book, it is mentioned that the first time the battalion was ordered to attack the city and commit mass murder of Jews, the battalion commander told the soldiers that anyone who did not want to participate in this operation could opt out! That is, at first, there was no coercion to participate in this massacre, but more soldiers participated in this operation due to moral excuses such as “we are not halfway comrades” or fear of being called cowardly. During the operation, killing people gradually became a normal and easy task for them, and they became accustomed to killing. Perhaps killing an innocent girl for the first time with an innocent look would be a difficult and challenging task, but after killing ten more girls, killing the eleventh becomes normal and easy. This book precisely deals with this issue, which is that we gradually become monsters, and one day we come to ourselves and see what crimes we have not committed!