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Introduction The image of the Nazi perpetrator has often been cast in the mold of a fanatical, sadistic monster—a figure so alien in his cruelty that he seems to belong to a different species. This comforting separation, the notion of a “savage beast,” allows us to distance ourselves from the horrors of the Holocaust. However, the historical record presents a far more disturbing and complex reality. The machinery of genocide was operated not only by ideologically hardened SS officers but by hundreds of thousands of ordinary men: policemen, civil servants, soldiers, and professionals. Understanding how these individuals came to commit,…