A famous study of the utmost significance, a study of one part of the Holocaust from the perspective of one battalion of German special police. The later edition has a very interesting up-date, which is absolutely reason for buying the 2017 edition. Unfortunately still relevant. How do very ordinary middle-aged men, police officers, rule following and law abiding, become actors in the Holocaust? This ground-breaking study is a necessary read. It is a detailed, shocking, and traumatic book that explores in great detail the events of this one reserve police battalion in Poland, shooting, hunting and deporting tens of thousands of Jews in 1942. It is heartbreaking. A necessary read. Brownings work is often compared with that of Daniel Goldhagen: Higler’s Willing Executioners, Browning and Goldhagen have been involved in an unfortunate and heated public disagreement for decades. They reach different conclusions about the motivation of ordinary men / people who participated in the Holocaust: Goldhagen emphasizes the centrality of anti-semitism and race indoctrination; Browning leans more into the social psychology of group identification and eagerness to support their colleagues. This is a gross simplification, of course, about such complex, thoughtful and intelligent books. Read both.