A review by akgrantmatz
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil by Hannah Arendt

challenging dark reflective

4.0

I understand why these articles/this book has faced so much criticism, but also believe that is why it is deeply important. 

I have several thoughts.

  • I think the portrait we get of Adolf Eichmann, his sanity, regularity, and rationality is terrifying and was criticized as sympathetic. I don't believe that it is sympathetic, but attempting to display how easy and rational it was for an individual to participate in and perpetrate genocide and other crimes against humanity simply because it was convenient, popular, and he was doing what he was told. While I know that later in life Arendt regrets the use of the term "Banality", but in hindsight and watching the current rise of totalitarianism, fascism, and autocracy there is not a better word I could find to describe its followers.  
  • I strongly agree with Arendt's point that every victim of the Third Reich deserves their day in court and to get justice, I also agree that these testimonies did not seem to serve the purpose of trying and sentencing Eichmann. When I think of this in a modern sense I don't know if there was enough specific evidence presented in the trial to convict Eichmann for the crimes he was accused of beyond a reasonable doubt. 
  •  Victims and survivors are in no way responsible for crimes committed against them, regardless of the crime or their behavior. The comments that Arendt presents concerning the lack of resistance from Jewish victims and the cooperation of Jewish leaders are presented callously. But there is some evidence she presents that there could have been fewer victims without so much early cooperation and appeasement by individuals and officials. She makes compelling point specifically around non-violent, administrative resistance (i.e not answering the door, not providing addresses, not showing up at the train station, not relocating, not signing over property). While no one is at fault, it provides good instructions to not comply with the demands of tyrants or their governments. 

Overall I think this is an essential read to understand, contextualize, and combat the current rise of the far right.