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Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)
 
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Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)

by Hannah Arendt (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 312 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (26 May 1994)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140187650
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140187656
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 56,543 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #6 in  Books > History > Military History > War Crimes > Genocide
    #6 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy > Topics > Religion > Good & Evil
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Product Description

Product Description

This report on the trial of German Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in "The New Yorker" in 1963. This edition contains further factual material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt's postscript commenting on the controversy that arose over her book.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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4.7 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A trial report, 26 Sep 2005
By marty mcfly "sparklethewonderhorse" (London, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
Arendt is at pains to explain that this book was just a trial report and she is further at pains to dispel the idea of controversy that seems to surround it. There are certain points continually broached by the author and they are that 1) the trial was a foregone conclusion and the manner in which it was conducted never addressed the principal charges 2) Eichmann was at no time much more than a glorified clerk (nowhere more evident than in his role at the wanasee conference) 3) Eichmann never killed anyone 4) the trial raised questions of humanity, not just of Eichmann or Germany or the SS or the Holocaust 5) was Israel the apropriate place for this trial?

What seems to have created the controversy was mostly the study of Eichmann that Arendt made (point 2). Eichmann continually stressed that he was not a 'Jew-hater', in fact he reports repeatedly of his contact with and respect for the Zionists. In fact, Eichmann also stresses that he never killed anyone nor was he ever capable of it.

So what is Arendt saying? well, she is actually just making a report, not really a judgement. She never suggests for a moment that Eichmann is not guilty of some definition of crimes against humanity - he shipped hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths. But what of the machine of government? Actually, she is not telling us that we might have been Eichmann under the same circumstances and she is not justifying his behaviour thus. There is no contention that his defence of 'i followed orders' is in anyway suitable to explain his crimes. But, Eichmann is no monster and that's not what people want to hear about the so-called 'architect of the Final Solution'.

The wider question of whether or not the court of an individual country can, or should, judge crimes against humanity in general is not one she particularly cares to answer, but i think history has done that for her.

An excellent, disturbing and utterly stimulating read for any student of WWII and/or the Holocaust.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Challenging and informative, 18 Feb 2005
This book is a key contribution to the debate about the nature of evil and a must-read for anyone making a serious study of responses to the holocaust.
Arendt writes fluidly and you can polish the text off at quite a pace. It is not directly a work of philosophy, even in the sense that the rest of Arendt's work is, but a commentary on the key players in Eichmann's trial and the pertinent historical events, and mostly an analysis of the psychology of Eichmann. It is this psychological study which provokes the most important moral questions, as Eichmann is comes across as a rather stupid, ambitious individual who is sometimes comical in his failure but too complex to be a monster - in fact, too normal for comfort. This is the challenge posed by "the banality of evil": given the right environment and social factors, might there be an Eichmann in all of us?

Be aware that Arendt has her own social and political axes to grind,and this comes through in her commentary on the trial.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Shocking story told with an objective voice, 9 Nov 2003
By Anders Rasmussen (Lund, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
What is perhaps most striking about the way that the story of Eichman is told is the insensitivity with which he is treated by Arendt. One would expect a more emotional account but Arendt keeps her feelings apart from the facts and her analytical thoughts in a way that seems to ensure the user that the account of this criminal man is not biased. Although the book is not the kind that motivates the reader to continue reading all the time it does reward the person who is persistent enough to get through it. Many interesting and seemingly important facts that are not so well known are included in the story.

It is very shocking to realise that Eichman was not a sadistic psychopath, and that he even for a while tried to follow Kant's categorical imperative, in other words that he probably was to a high extent just a normal man who became a monster because of the context.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars such a complete work
This book not only picks up major philosophical questions described by other more lerned reviewers but contains well researched facts and information about the second world war,... Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2005 by Paul C.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Chillingly Believable study
Hannah Arendt's interpretation of the Eichmann trial is a chilling investigation of what she calls 'the banality of evil. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2002 by MR ROBERT P FOOT

5.0 out of 5 stars Proves the ordinary banality of evil
This book helps to show how an ordinary man becomes a functionary of evil. The book follows the life of Eichmann through the evidence and events of his trial. Read more
Published on 27 April 2002 by J. E. Parry

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