Eichmann In Jerusalem : A Report On The Banality Of Evil

“Eichmann In Jerusalem..” is based on the court reports Hannah Arendt wrote for the New Yorker. Although some issues have been raised regarding it’s objectivity ( it’s claimed that Arendt’s treatment of the prosecution attorney Hausner bears the unmistakable stamp of a Western Jews contempt for the “ostjuden” for example ) it’s still provides some fascinating insights.

Eichmann was clearly conflicted. He was indignant at a suggestion that he beat a Jewish boy to death but entirely unrepentant for his larger role within the holocaust. He finessed the “Nuremburg defence” of “I was only following orders” with an appeal to Immanuel Kant as moral justification. It’s only in the light of this that Eichmann’s difficulty with comprehending the Gestapo’s bestial cruelty can be understood. It could be self-serving but it’s also credible that he considered that if his actions were consistent with the injunction to “avoid unnecessary suffering” then he was not culpable in any way. He’d merely discharged his duty. As his defence pointed out, he was on trial for something that in Nazi Germany would have seen him decorated.

The main line of defence hinged upon a “medicalisation” of the final solution. All exterminations, with the exception of the atrocities perpetrated by the einsatzgruppen, were “supervised” by medical staff. This allowed Eichmann, who on many occasions referred to “mercy killings”, to reframe the wholesale murders as “euthanasia” In this way Eichmann’s behaviour is shown to be entirely consistent with his, obscenely distorted, worldview. Ultimately Arendt’s view is still that Eichmann’s behaviour was indefensible and inhumane but can be understood if located within a rational framework. Not a monster. Just an ordinary man.

Considerably shorter and coming to a parallel conclusion is the following contribution from Leonard Cohen –

All There Is To Know About Eichmann

EYES:......................Medium

HAIR:......................Medium

WEIGHT:....................Medium

HEIGHT:....................Medium

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES....None

NUMBER OF FINGERS:.........Ten

NUMBER OF TOES.............Ten

INTELLIGENCE...............Medium

What did you expect?

Talons?

Oversize incisors?

Green Saliva?

Madness?