Authorities and Uncertainties: Applying Lessons from the Study of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust to the Milgram Legacy

Abstract

Milgram's experiments were born out of a desire to understand the Nazis’ persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. This article argues that the study of Jewish resistance against that persecution also furthers our understanding of Milgram's experiments. Case data from the Nazi‐created ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna, and Łódź—settings in which Jews reached very different decisions with regard to resistance—illustrate that decisions about resistance reflect obedience and disobedience to multiple authorities, including agents of the Nazi regime as well as moral and religious dictates. Whereas Milgram himself recognized the role of multiple authorities, these cases also point to the role of uncertainty, which is relevant to yet not discussed explicitly in Milgram's experiments. A recognition of uncertainty and multiple authorities provides a more nuanced understanding of obedience and shows that, contrary to common assumptions about both Milgram's experiments and the Holocaust, neither resistance nor obedience is “ordinary” or straightforward.