ABSTRACT
The Devoted Warriors are perpetrators who totally subordinate themselves to a leader, party, idea or authority. Many of these perpetrators had never committed a crime before they got involved in mass atrocities, nor did they commit any crimes in the period thereafter. They are usually very gentleman-like law-abiding citizens, driven by obedience and conformity. To them it is a matter of professional honour to give it their best and to even go beyond the call of duty. Their sense of responsibility and morality is strongly related (and restricted) to the leader, party, idea or authority they serve. They internalize the ideology and genuinely come to believe that they did the right thing. This chapter focuses on Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi bureaucrat who played a crucial role in the genocide; Kaing Guek Eav better known as Duch, the leader of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge; Alfredo Astiz, the Argentinian Dirty Warrior responsible for kidnapping political opponents and Eugene de Kock, the South African killer and leader of Vlakplaas under the apartheid regime. It identifies the similarities and the typical frame of mind of this type of perpetrator.
