Final answer:
The Milgram experiment indicates that people are likely to follow authority, showing that Nazis may have committed atrocities during the Holocaust under direction from superiors, reflecting the 'just following orders' defense.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Milgram experiment helps to explain the actions of Nazis during the Holocaust because it showed that ordinary people are often willing to obey authority figures to an extreme degree, even when asked to perform actions that conflict with their own morals and values. Stanley Milgram's research demonstrated that nearly two-thirds of participants were willing to deliver what they believed to be potentially lethal electric shocks to another person, doing so solely on the instructions of an authority figure. This experiment shed light on the power of authority and obedience in social psychology and suggested how individuals like Nazi soldiers might follow orders that lead to great harm, reflecting on the 'just following orders' defense used by war criminals.