Essay on Eichmann in Jerusalem - 641 Words

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil In her book, Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt uses the life and trial of Adolf Eichmann to explore mans responsibility for evils committed under orders or as a result of the law. Due to the fact that she believed that Eichmann was neither anti-Semitic, nor a psychopath, Arendt was widely criticized for treating Eichmann too sympathetically. Still, her work on the Eichmann trial is among the most respected works on the issue to date. Eichmann built a defense during his trial by arguing that he was not responsible for his actions because he was acting under orders and in accordance with the law of his land. Since his orders came from Adolf Hitler himself, Eichmann†¦show more content†¦Hannah Arendt ends her book with the phrase The Banality of Evil. This phrase encapsulates her belief that the great evils of mankind have not been committed by sociopaths or the criminally insane, but rather by ordinary people who have accepted the decisions of corrupt authorities wit hout question. Current examples of this behavior can be found internationally, specifically when looking at the ethnic cleansing policies of some African nations, but also within the United States at the corporate level. Employees of Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom and other disgraced corporations have claimed innocence due to the fact that they only acted as they were instructed by superiors. The most alarming thing about Arendts book is that she is able to make a compelling case that the greatest evils of mankind are committed by ordinary people. Her work forces one to look at the world and realize that the Holocaust was not an isolated incident committed by blood thirsty sociopaths. One must realize that the decision making processes that created an environment accepting of the Final Solution is still alive an well today as it has been throughout history. The weight of personal moral choiceShow MoreRelatedHannah Arendt on the Banality of Evil1769 Words   |  8 PagesGerm an Jewish community. In 1963, she was sent to Jerusalem to report on Eichmann’s trial by The New Yorker. Hannah Arendt’s thoughts on Eichmann’s trial were expected to be harsh, considering the philosopher’s roots. However, her first report from Jerusalem shocked everyone. Far from defending Eichmann, Hannah Arendt tried to question why would such an ordinary man, as she depicted him, commit such atrocities. Hannah Arendt’s reports on Eichmann trial led in 1963 to the publication of one of theRead MoreAdolf Eichmann: The Existential Failure1596 Words   |  7 Pagesmember Adolph Eichmanns trial in Jerusalem, first published as a series of articles in The New Yorker, Hannah Arendt managed to spark great controversy, both in the academy and among the general public. The primary attack on Arendt was that she seemed to â€Å"blame the victim†, in this case the Jews, for their role in their own extermination during the Holocaust. While by no mean s the focus of her book, this perceived accusation in combination with her portrayal of Eichmann as an apparently sane, ordinaryRead More Normalizing Thoughtlessness Essay1294 Words   |  6 Pageshigh-ranking SS official at Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem is not necessarily that of a radically wicked neurotic mastermind, but comes in the form of a banal and unimpressive distortion of normalcy. Arendt argues that the banality of evil is standardizing as thoughtlessness into the unthinkable action of human’s terrible deeds in a systematic and methodical way to explain the normalization of the stupid acts of men. In Hannah Arendts book Eichmann in Jerusalem, I argue that the banality of evil as negligenceRead MoreTruth And Justice : A Lexicon Of Terror And The Banality Of Evil, Victoria Sanford s Buried Secrets1612 Words   |  7 Pagesdescribed in Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Victoria Sanford’s Buried Secrets: Tr uth and Human Rights in Guatemala and in Marguerite Feitlowitz s A Lexicon of Terror, these aspects of truth and justice play an important role in describing the tragedies in each respective book. The books also illustrate to readers why truth and justice in general are necessary. Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem is a book about Adolf Eichmann who was a German Nazi who heldRead MoreGuided Inquiry : The Nature Of Evil1429 Words   |  6 PagesGuided Inquiry: The Nature of Evil My Inquiry: â€Å"To what extent is Adolf Eichmann just a bureaucratic businessman doing his job, or were his motivations composed of pure evil and murderous intent?† ‘Is Eichmann a rotten, soiled and evil man, and were his motivations boring, mundane and obvious?’ Why did Eichmann kill so many Jews if he ‘supposedly’ no real hate or motivation to do it? Reading 1 â€Å"Adolf Eichmann went to the gallows with great dignity. He had asked for a bottle of red wine and hadRead MoreBanality of Evil and Adolf Eichmann Essay1028 Words   |  5 Pagestrial of Adolf Eichmann, which evoked legal and moral controversy across all nations, ended in his hanging over four decades ago. The verdict dealing with Eichmanns involvement with the Final Solution has never been in question; this aspect was an open-and-shut case which was put to death with Eichmann in 1962. The deliberation surrounding the issues of Eichmanns motives, however, are still in question, bringing forth in-depth analyses of the aspects of evil. Using Adolf Eichmann as a subjectRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Hannah Arendt 1641 Words   |  7 PagesIn â€Å"Eichmann in Jerusalem,† Hannah Arendt analyzes Adolph Eichmann while he is on trial in Jerusalem for the crimes that he committed while being a Lieutenant Colonel in the SS during the Nazi Regime. In the book Arendt talks about how Eichmann’s actions were â€Å"banal† in the sense that he seemed to be an ordinary person who just committed acts that were evil. Italian-Jewish Writer Primo Levi, a Holocaust Survivor, states that SS officers like Eichmann lived in their own self-deception that made themRead Moretrials involving genocide or crimes against humanity800 Words   |  4 Pagesreporters and published front-page coverage of the story. Eichmann sat inside a bulletproof glass booth to protect him from assassination attempts. A cage / a display case Israelis had the opportunity to watch live television broadcasts of the proceedings and film was flown daily to the US for broadcast the following day. Inherent tension between procedural requirements and didactic intentions ‘†¦what stood against a trial of the â€Å"real† Eichmann was the Israeli government’s intention to use the trialRead MoreThe Diary Of Anne Frank2206 Words   |  9 Pagesauthor of the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt would agree with Frank that human nature is not evil, she would certainly criticize for her lack of reasoning to back up her beliefs. In fact, Arendt’s book revolves around careful explanation of her views about Adolph Eichmann, a man who was significantly involved in the deportation process of the Jewish people to the concentration camps during the Holocaust. After attending his trial in Jerusalem on April 11, 1961Read MoreArendt Eichmann and Anti-Semitism589 Words   |  2 PagesArendt, Eichmann and Anti-Semitism Introduction: The Holocaust invokes a great many emotions based on the scale of the atrocities committed and the degree of hatred that both allowed them to occur and that remained embedded in world culture thereafter. This is why the trial of Adolph Eichmann, which laid out the extent of crimes committed by the Nazis and which levied them against the alleged architect of the Final Solution, would promote so much debate. In spite of the obviation that the Jewish