When six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, thousands of ordinary people lent a hand. How could they?

Callous and inhuman acts have not ceased with the Nazis. From Vietnam to the present day there have been reports of atrocities committed by people with wives and children - people who would otherwise seem perfectly normal. Were they in reality sadists gratifying their desires? Or is our society full of people whose background and upbringing make it impossible for them to disobey an evil command, even when they know it is wrong?

Some years ago Professor Stanley Milgram devised an ingenious experiment aimed at finding out whether people chosen at random could be persuaded to inflict torture. He used neither threats nor the promise of reward. He wanted to find out whether you, the man in the street, would be willing to give another human being electric shocks of 450 volts.

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