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Obedience and Conformity: Police Battalion 101

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How can we explain the behavior of individuals who followed orders, and committed atrocities and murder during the Holocaust? Why did some choose to obey authority rather than resist? This lesson outline explores these questions and others through a detailed study of perpetrators of horrific violence during the Holocaust. Connections are made to the Milgram experiment as well as readings from Chapter 7, The Holocaust, in Holocaust and Human Behavior