In the book Ordinary Men written by Christopher R. Brown, four major leaders showed a variety of different leadership styles, which turned men into killers. Throughout the book, the author talks about how the police battalions were formed to perform the mass murders, how the soldiers perfected the murders, and how the soldiers themselves were mentally, and physically affected by the murders. Four leaders had a major impact on the mass murders, Major Wilhelm Trapp, Lieutenant Heinz Buchman, 1st Lieutenant Heartwig Gnade, and Captain Wolfgang Hoffman. Each of these leaders showed similarities and differences in their leadership qualities. The leader with the most diminishing leadership qualities is Major Wilhelm Trapp. Trapp showed respectable leadership qualities …show more content…
This turned his men into killers because if they didn’t take the offer, it showed that they wanted to participate. Major Wilhelm Trapp wasn’t just a respectable leader, he was also a weak, cowardly leader who couldn’t handle the situation at his hands. He could not handle the situation when one policeman bitterly commented “‘Major Trapp was never there, instead he remained in Jozefow because he allegedly could not bear the sight.’” (Browning, 58). Major Trapp was a weak leader because he made all his soldiers do the dirty work, when he couldn’t even show up. This turned his men into killers because it forced them to do the killings without the support of Major Trapp. Just like Major Trapp, Lieutenant Heinz Buchmann also did not like persecuting the Jews. Lieutenant Heinz Buchmann was a leader who knew Major Trapp personally and didn’t enjoy prosecuting the Jews. Buchmann displayed leadership qualities that were similar to those of Major Trapp. Buchman did not like his job, he said “as a reserve officer and Hamburg businessman, he could not shoot defenseless women and children.” (Browning,