Samenvatting

Genocide is so cruel and extreme that a first natural reflex is to distance ourselves from the perpetrators and qualify them as deranged criminals, psychopaths and sadists – very different from us ordinary people. Although some of the perpetrators fit this description, most perpetrators are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances who commit so-called crimes of obedience. A genocidal regime is usually led by a criminal mastermind, who is supported by a number of fanatics and opportunistic careerists who take advantage of the situation to make themselves a career. Many of these perpetrators are special cases who deliberately participated in the genocide. Perpetrators in the middle cadre as well as the rank and file members are however often very ordinary people who just go along and follow the flow out of ideological conviction, fear or material gain.