Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil"While living in Argentina in 1960, Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was kidnapped and smuggled to Israel where he was put on trial for crimes against humanity. The New Yorker magazine sent Hannah Arendt to cover the trial. While covering the technical aspects of the trial, Arendt also explored the wider themes inherent in the trial, such as the nature of justice, the behavior of the Jewish leadership during the Nazi Régime, and, most controversially, the nature of Evil itself. Far from being evil incarnate, as the prosecution painted Eichmann, Arendt maintains that he was an average man, a petty bureaucrat interested only in furthering his career, and the evil he did came from the seductive power of the totalitarian state and an unthinking adherence to the Nazi cause. Indeed, Eichmann's only defense during the trial was "I was just following orders." |
Contents
The House of Justice I | 1 |
The Accused | 18 |
An Expert on the Jewish Question | 32 |
Copyright | |
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accused Adolf Eichmann Allies anti-Semitism Argentina Army asked Auschwitz Austria Becher Ben-Gurion Berlin Budapest command committed concentration camp conscience course criminal death defense deportation East Eich Eichmann trial Einsatzgruppen emigration Europe evacuation extermination fact Final Solution Foreign Office Führer's order gassing German Gestapo ghetto Gruppenführer Hans Frank happened Hauptsturmführer Hausner Hence Heydrich Higher S.S. Himmler Hitler Höss hundred Hungarian Hungary Israel Israeli Jewish Council Jewish functionaries Jewish question Jews judenrein judges judgment justice Kaltenbrunner Kastner killing knew later mann matter ment mentioned military million months Müller murder Nazi never Nuremberg Laws Nuremberg Trials Obersturmbannführer organization Party Poland police examination Police Leaders Polish political prosecution reason Rumania Russia S.S. and Police sent Servatius Slovakia stateless Storfer story territory testimony Theresienstadt things Third Reich thousand Jews tion told tried victims Vienna Wannsee Conference whole Wisliceny witnesses words Zionist