Demonic Transitions: How Ordinary People Can Commit Extraordinary Evil

Collective violence is a man-made event. The organized exclusion, persecution, and murder of thousands of victims is not a chance occurrence that suddenly erupts within a society. On the contrary, these episodes of violence are often well planned, prepared, and executed. Several actors play a crucial role in this process, sometimes steered by an authority, sometimes initiated within the killing fields itself. But all these actors have their own attitudes, fields of interest, maneuverability, and individual responsibilities. This heterogeneous perpetrator group, which has continuously expanded over time and research, can be divided into various categories or typologies.¹ Consider, for instance,