Final answer:
People are most likely to be destructively obedient when they perceive their orders to come from legitimate authority figures, as demonstrated by the German police officers in 1942 and supported by Stanley Milgram's research. Examples of resistance during the Holocaust exist, yet the general trend shows that authority can compel individuals to act against their conscience.
Step-by-step explanation:
In 1942, the obedience of German reserve police officers who carried out the killing of 1500 Jews in Jozefow, Poland, illustrated that people are most likely to be destructively obedient when they perceive their orders to come from legitimate authority figures. This is in line with the findings of social psychologist Stanley Milgram's research, which showed that individuals could be compelled to perform acts against their conscience under the direction of an authority figure. During World War II, under Nazi rule, ordinary individuals committed or facilitated inconceivable acts against Jews and other groups not because they were forced to, but often out of a belief in the legitimacy of the authority or because of societal pressures. There were, however, examples of resistance and individuals like Irena Sendler who defied the regime's orders to rescue Jews. These acts of disobedience highlight the individual's capability to resist destructive orders despite the pressure to conform. Still, the capacity for widespread obedience to authority without question, as seen in both the Holocaust and Milgram's experiment, emphasizes the importance of ethical standards and personal responsibility in positions of subservience to authority.