The attack by Hamas on October 7, the destruction and mass killings in Gaza, the assault on Ukraine, the torture chambers in Syria, are all crimes which shock the human conscience and horrify us and yet they dominate our news channels.
Who are these people? Why would they do something like that? What motivates them? We tend to believe that they must have a violent past, long criminal records or mental deficiencies otherwise they would not be able to commit such horrendous crimes. But: Is that really the case? Are perpetrators born to be violent and cruel? Or are they made that way?
The book also aims to end the debate on whether or not perpetrators are ordinary people as the answer simply is: most are but not all.
And if so: by whom, how and why? Are they ‘terribly and terrifyingly normal’ as the famous philosopher Hannah Arendt suggested when, during the sixties, she witnessed the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers and executioners of the Holocaust. If true: would that mean that we could all become perpetrators of mass atrocities?
For over 30 years I studied the minds, motives and life trajectories of perpetrators of mass violence in order to find answers. When realizing that perpetrators differ, I developed a typology of perpetrators which is presented in my book Perpetrators of mass atrocities – terribly and terrifyingly normal? (Routledge 2024). The book helps to get a better and deeper understanding of the very diverse motives that can drive perpetrators. It shows who the perpetrators are, where they come from, how they interacted with the environment and other perpetrators and what kind of choices they made. The book thus describes and explains how, when and why even ordinary people can transform into perpetrators.
The Context
Mass atrocities do not occur out of the blue. They occur in a period of political conflict in which there is a struggle for political power and in which people have been divided in two opposing groups: us versus them.
The ‘us’ represents the good people, striving for a better world and merely defending themselves and the ‘them’ is the outgroup, the bad and evil people, the ones out there to harm or even kill us.
Ideology is used to first demonize and then dehumanize the other group. Demagogic and extremist political leaders use emotion-laden rhetoric to create the perception of an ongoing crisis and to blame the bad and evil people for all the misfortune and the hard times society is going through.
Their message is so effective because it is psychologically comforting to blame others and not oneself and the solution seems so easy at hand: get rid of this group (the evil them) in order to make the world a better place. We see it happening in the world right now.
States, which let go of the fundamental principle that everyone has basic and inalienable human rights, put themselves on a very slippery slope and risk to slide into a period of extreme mass violence in which mass atrocities are committed. It is a gradual process, a continuum of destructiveness, all so familiar from our history books, but ongoing in the world around us right now which makes the lessons we can learn from these processes more topical than I could ever have imagined when I started writing my book.
The Individual
The book focuses (as the title suggests) on perpetrators of mass atrocities such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and terrorism and discusses all people who are somehow involved in such atrocities.
It aims to show how so many different people for so many different reasons and with such different trajectories can get trapped in a continuum of destructiveness which makes them commit ever more extreme crimes.
Some perpetrators are, indeed sadists, psychopaths or predators but most are not and it is crucial to realize that.
It shows, by using many illustrative case studies, how individuals make certain choices often without realizing where they are heading towards, until it is too late.
The book also aims to end the debate on whether or not perpetrators are ordinary people as the answer simply is: most are but not all. Some perpetrators are born with certain mental deficiencies, a lack of empathy or a lack of conscience which makes them more prone to engage in some kind of extreme violence than ordinary people. Some perpetrators are, indeed sadists, psychopaths or predators but most are not and it is crucial to realize that.
We will not make the world any safer by merely identifying and locking up those who committed horrendous crimes. That is only part of the solution. What we need to do is to understand why, when and how ordinary people transform into perpetrators and tackle the causes. This book aims to help with that by providing a deeper understanding of the many different pathways into perpetration.
4 Types of Perpetrators – 14 Trajectories into Mass Violence
By identifying 14 different types of perpetrators and describing 14 different trajectories into mass violence the book brings more nuance to both the academic and public debate on perpetrators. Obedience, ideology, self-interest, material gain, revenge, fear and hatred can all play a role but in different ways for different types of perpetrators.
People differ and so do perpetrators: some are driven by obedience, others by ideology. Some ruthlessly go after their own personal interest, others are scared or threatened and merely try to save their own lives. In the book each chapter is devoted to one type of perpetrator. It describes the type, explains their behavior by relying on scientific literature and provides illustrative case studies. Some examples:
The Criminal Mastermind
The first and most important perpetrator is the destructive leader or Criminal Mastermind. They are the ones at the top of the chain of command who set out the agenda, shape the context and lead the way. People like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad qualify as such.
They are ruthless and power hungry. Once in power they try to get more and more power. They feel themselves to be above the law and are often characterized by narcissistic and psychopathic traits such as lack of a conscience, lack of empathy and a lack of fear. They are often charismatic and have the ability to make people believe in them. Criminal Masterminds, however, cannot act alone. They need support.
Careerists and Fanatics
Destructive leaders and Criminal Masterminds are usually surrounded by Careerists and Fanatics who become their close associates.
The Fanatics are the ones who believe in an extremist ideology and who support the leader for ideological reasons and are sometimes even more extreme than the leader himself. Their ideology is rigid and intolerant and they are prepared to use extreme violence to change the world according to their own Utopian vision. Osama bin Laden and other religious fundamentalists are Fanatics.
The Careerist is a very different type of perpetrator: they are not primarily driven by ideology but are ambitious and power-hungry. They would support any cause to get into a position of power and are even prepared to risk a war or support genocide as we saw in Nazi Germany and former Yugoslavia. The top-ranking Nazis, Herman Goering and Albert Speer but also Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian-Serbian leader in former Yugoslavia are examples of Careerists discussed in the book.
The True Believers and Holy Warriors
Destructive leaders who want to radically change society usually attract a group of very fanatic followers who are strongly driven by ideology, hatred and contempt.
They crave for change, believe in the leader and feel themselves to be part of a superior elite. They want to change the world by eliminating certain groups of people they believe to be bad and evil.
They strongly believe in their own ability to make the world a better place and they readily accept extreme violence. They can believe in a secular ideology (True Believers) or a religion (Holy Warriors). They become the fanatic supporters of the extremist leaders and are prepared to kill and even die for their beliefs as many ISIS supporters and foreign fighters showed but also supporters from other extremist parties show.
The Followers and Devoted Warriors
There is also a large group of perpetrators who somehow get involved simply because they indifferently follow the flow. They are obedient and just do as other people do, go along because they don’t want to stand out: the Followers.
They believe the leader has the legitimate right to make choices, even if that amounts to war or genocide. Their task is to just follow and obey. Devoted Warriors also follow the flow, but they do so eagerly.
They are ambitious and want to show that they are the best, the most loyal and most obedient follower of all. They internalize the ideology and go beyond the call of duty. They are very eager to stand out and become the perfect and willing instruments of a destructive regime, ideology or leader. Examples of such Devoted Warriors are Adolf Eichmann, Duch (Cambodia) and Alfredo Astiz (Argentina).
The Profiteers and Criminals
There are also many people who ruthlessly go after their own personal profit or material gain. They accept the world as it is and do not take any responsibility for the harm they cause others. They believe the social order is a permanent struggle and they believe in the survival of the fittest.
Most perpetrators of mass atrocities are not people who are born evil, they have become evil.
They always look for each and every opportunity to take advantage of a situation no matter at what costs for others. They just don’t care. To them that’s all in the game.
There are winners and losers in life, and they want to be the winners.
Examples in the book include arms dealers and people in the Netherlands who during the Second World War betrayed Jews for no other reason than bounty money.
The deranged, the predators and the sadists
Not all perpetrators are ordinary though. Some are deranged, violent prone, anti-social and have psychopathic traits or even enjoy hurting and killing others.
This is partially due to inherited biological or psychological factors and partially due to circumstances such as upbringing, the social environment they live in and the choices they make in life. Although they are a minority, they can come to play a crucial role by taking the lead and escalating group dynamics thus pulling others into criminal and violent behavior.
They are the type of people we usually would consider outcasts and deviants but in a period of mass violence, they can become the ones in the lead. They can also act as lone wolves killing many people in a solitary act as Anders Breivik (Utoya) and Bouhlel (Nice) did. These are the perpetrators that can be qualified as deranged, predators or sadists. They are, however, the exception rather than the rule.
Conclusion
Most perpetrators of mass atrocities are not people who are born evil, they have become evil. The book shows how, when and in what way ordinary people can become perpetrators and how some less ordinary people thrive in a period of mass violence and take the lead.
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To acknowledge this is crucial because we need to stop merely blaming those who actually committed horrendous crimes but tackle the causes and think about ways on how to prevent ordinary people from becoming perpetrators. In order to do so we need to become more aware of the risks and recognize the mechanisms that can become psychological traps and lead people to commit mass atrocities.
With the rise of very destructive and authoritarian political leaders, the so-called strongman, such an awareness is crucial. When looking at the extreme periods of mass violence we tend to blame the leaders, people like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Saddam Hussein but their followers are the ones putting them in power, facilitating their violence, executing their orders and such destructive followership is a bigger problem than the rise of a few bad people.
With this book I hope to make its readers more familiar with the social dynamics underlying the act of perpetration and to make us better equipped to find effective means and methods to prevent and stop such atrocities.
