ABSTRACT
Boundary objects, as described in the opening chapter, are said to bridge the
interstices of organizations because they combine plasticity with elements “robust
enough to maintain a common identity across sites” (Star & Griesemer, 1989,
p. 393). And as noted in the previous chapter, one of the integrative elements in
facilitating a common identity for the gas van murderers of the Sipo Technical
Matters Group was a shared culture of anti-Semitism. The religious and economic
basis of this hatred had a long history in European society and, since the emer-
gence of Social Darwinism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, had inten-
sified by acquiring a racial animus. Thus, the basis of anti-Semitism shifted from
the mutable trait of religious confession to the immutable trait of racial identifi-
cation, a historical development that helped the killers overcome more traditional
inhibitions against murder.
