ABSTRACT
The Nazi regime was the most genocidal the world has ever seen. The institutions of genocide were coercive, comradely well-paid, secure, career-friendly, and routinized. Murderous cleansing also yielded loot. Such an army of perpetrators must have included fairly ordinary people. Most perpetrators probably had mixed motives. The existing literature includes many case studies of individual perpetrators and organizations. Many offer greater psychological depth than can a quantitative study like this. Yet evidence on motives is problematic. It has to rely heavily on the testimony of the perpetrators, and so is biased toward "ordinariness" and "banality." Most rank-and-file perpetrators who kept their heads down remained anonymous and free. All samples are biased. Perpetrators were embedded in institutional sub-cultures already favorable to tough physical, legal, and biological remedies for social ills years before genocide was initiated. The Nazis could more easily accomplish genocide wielding such a willing core.
