Stanley Milgram conducted his series of experiments in 1961, shortly after the trial of Adolf Eichmann (Saul).

Around this time many of the German Nazis were being tried in Jerusalem for their war crimes. Many people were quick to believe that all Nazis and German soldiers were evil people to be able to commit such horrific crimes to other human beings. Milgram saw something different in those being tried for the crimes committed during WWII and the Holocaust. Saul states: Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. Milgram concluded his experiment with: "Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being" (Saul). This is due to the way people are raised, and how we are taught to respect authority figures. In that time period many war criminals were being tried for their crimes, and often used the excuse: "I was only doing what I was told" (Saul). Milgram's discovery came as a shock to many. They now held the question as to: how responsible are those soldiers for their actions? As Milgram said: ""Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority"