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Eichmann in Jerusalem
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil is a book written by political theorist Hannah Arendt, originally published in 1963. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Hitler's rise to power, reported on Adolf Eichmann's trial for The New Yorker. The book Eichmann in Jerusalem is the result of this reportage.
The major point that Arendt wants us to derive from this book is the same. For her the story of Eichmann and the story of his trial are important primarily for what they reveal to us about the nature of justice and about the attempts, deliberate and otherwise to pervert it.
In 1960, Adolf Eichmann was kidnapped in Argentina by Israeli Agents, and was smuggled to Israel where he was tried in Jerusalem, for crimes against humanity. He was found guilty and executed by hanging. The trial dragged on for a long time and Eichmann was portrayed by the prosecution as a much bigger fish then he probably was. However, I believe, if anyone ever deserves the death penalty, Eichmann did.
What is fascinating about the book were not the details of the trial, but the exploration of Eichmann's character, the ethical questions Arendt poses and the historic details of the mechanism of the Holocaust.
Hannah Arendt was criticized when this book was published for her discussion of the Jewish Leadership Councils, and their role in facilitating the plans of the Nazi's. If these Nazi apponted groups of Jewish leaders had been less cooperative, the Nazi's might have had a harder time, but after centuries of the strategy of Jewish accommodation with enemies, it is not hard to understand why they did not act differently.
This is a difficult book to read, but I highly recommend it. I think that it has given me some insight into the nature of evil and of personal responsibility.
