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Eichmann in Jerusalem 1961–1963

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Eichmann in Jerusalem 1961–1963 Eichmann in Jerusalem 1961–1963 “Going along with the rest and wanting to say ‘we’ were quite enough to make the greatest of all crimes possi"le#$ %&annah Arendt( inter)iew with Joachim Fest( 196+# ' terward( when Hannah Arendt pu"lished her book-length account of the trial of 'dol Eichmann( the fugitive Na.i SS of icer who had hel!ed to im!lement 'dol &itler’s Final Solution( the tumult the book created deeply shocked her# “People are resorting to any means to destroy my reputation(” she wrote to her friend 1arl Jas!ers soon a ter the "ook( Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, a!!eared in 1963# “2hey have s!ent weeks trying to find something in my !ast that they can hang on me#$ 2he Anti,3efamation League and other Jewish organi.ations, the editors of in luential maga.ines she had written for( faculty mem"ers at colleges where she earned a precarious li)ing as a visiting professor( and riends from every period of her li e objected to her characteri.ation of Eichmann( who had been popularly "randed “the most e)il monster of humanity(” as “terri"ly and terri yingly normal#” 6any were in uriated by her depiction of -a.i,era European Jewish leaders — some of whom were still alive and highly regarded — as ha)ing (“almost without exception”) cooperated with Eichmann in sending ordinary Jews to Auschwit.( 2reblinka( and Chelmno# Where only months earlier 'rendt had been celebrated as a brilliant( original( and deeply humanistic political thinker( she was now attacked as arrogant( ill,in ormed( heartless( a du!e of Eichmann( an enemy of <srael( and a “sel -hating Jewess#” “;hat a risky business to tell the truth on a factual level without theoretical and scholarly em"roidery(” she wrote to her "est friend and stead ast defender Mary Mc:arthy# But the trou"le with her "ook was its theory — namely that ordinary men and women( driven not "y personal hatred or "y extreme ideology but merely "y middle,class am"itions and an ina"ility to em!athi.e( voluntarily ran the machinery of the Na.i death actories( and that the )ictims, when pushed( would lie to themselves and com!ly# The book launched a !itched battle among intellectuals in the United States# It blunted Arendt’s reputation at its height and has cast a shadow on her legend ever since# &annah Arendt was seated in the press benches when the Eichmann trial opened to a tidal wave of pu"licity on '!ril 11( 1961( in a makeshi t courtroom in west Jerusalem# The /tate of Israel was only thirteen years old# -o <sraeli courthouse was big enough to accommodate the s!ectacle( so a brand-new per ormance theater called the &ouse of the People was taken over for the proceedings. <t seated ?@A people( but interest far out!aced ca!acity# In the opening days( as many as seven hundred reporters from three dozen countries( international politicians and celebrities( jurists( Israeli and European cam! sur)ivors, historians, and tourists com!eted to squeeze into the arena or a glim!se of the notorious Na.i# Arendt was on assignment for the New Yorker, and on many days she "rought along her seventeen,year,old first cousin once remo)ed( Edna Brocke( nBe Fuerst( who had grown u! in Israel# Taking notes near"y were former war corres!ondent 6artha Gellhorn( representing the Atlantic MonthlyC Elie Wiesel( writing or the Yiddish, language American Jewish Daily Forwar!C ormer deputy judge advocate general 4ord Russell of Liver!ool and Ox ord professor Hugh Trevor,Eoper( both writing or the "on!on Sun$ day %imesC along with reporters from the New York Times, Der #piegel, and the 'ashin&ton Post) Ca"les and electrical wires crisscrossed the courtroom floor to transmit the first continuous live tele)ision feed and )ideota!ing of a judicial proceeding for an international audience( and transcri!ts were distri"uted daily# Later( Arendt’s critics would claim that she attended too ew courtroom sessions and depended too hea)ily on ta!es and transcri!ts( and in fact she was on hand in Jerusalem for a total of only ive or six weeks of the five-month trial# But others also came and went( while the world watched on television# 2he indictment against Eichmann was read by the chief judge on the irst day of the trialC it ran to i teen counts. 2hese enumerated “crimes against the Jewish !eople” and “against humanity” that had been committed or caused by Eichmann "etween 193G and 19+@( beginning with his alleged !artici!ation in the murderous 1ristallnacht pogroms of Novem"er 193G and encom!assing the forced trans!ortation and e8termination of the majority of Jews then li)ing in Germany( the A8is countries, and the nations occu!ied by the German army during the war years. The indictment listed the concentration and death cam!s to which Eichmann “and others” knowingly sent Jews for the pur!ose of mass murder( the a!!ro8imate num"er of Jews sent to the cam!s, and the dates during which the cam!s operated# At the end of the reading( Eichmann( asked i he understood the indictment( s!oke for the irst time# “Des, certainly(” he said in German# Asked how he !leaded( he answered( “Not guilty in the sense of the indictment#$ 2here were a num"er of reasons for the almost hysterical interest in the Eichmann trial — the international equi)alent of the O# J# Sim!son trial in its day# At the end of World War <<( hundreds of ugitive Na.i of icers were rumored to be hiding in towns and cities around the world( evil phantoms a"etted by right-wing governments and networks of fascist fellow travelers# Eichmann and his bosses in the notorious S/( or Schut.sta el —Heinrich Himmler’s elite paramilitary cor!s, which was directly res!onsi"le or carrying out Hitler’s plan to e8terminate the entire Jewish population of Europe — had either disa!!eared( "een murdered( or( in the case of &immler( committed suicide and thus esca!ed prosecution and sentencing during the historic war crimes trials at Nurem"erg in 19+@ and 19+6# 0artly as a result( the destruction of as many as six million Jewish men( women( and children — murder on a scale !reviously unknown in history — had not been thoroughly adjudicated or even acknowledged at -urem"erg or in the successor tri"unals of the late 19+As( which had focused on Germany’s illegal actions against other sovereign states in Europe# With Eichmann now in the seat of judgment in Jerusalem( the full story of the Jewish Holocaust( including( for the first time( the testimony of concentration cam! sur)ivors, would inally be heard# Or so the young State of Israel e8!ected# 'nother reason was that a year earlier( in May 196A( Israeli secret ser)ice agents had extracted Eichmann from his hiding place in Argentina( sedated him( kidna!!ed him( and brought him to Jerusalem in a dramatic( e8tralegal maneuver that had "een cheered( critici.ed( and generally debated around the world for months "e ore the trial# 2he com!elling attraction for most observers and for 'rendt( however( was the mysterious figure of Eichmann( who( for his own protection( sat sealed in a bullet!roof glass cage at the foot of the judges’ raised !latform for the duration of the trial# Slight( "alding( bes!ectacled( with a runny nose and a com!ulsive twist of his thin and bitter mouth( he looked more like “a ghost who has a cold on top of that(” as Arendt a!tly descri"ed him in a letter to Karl Jas!ers, than the representative of a sel ,a!!ointed master race# He had been the head of the F ice of Jewish ' airs of the Gesta!o( the -a.i secret police( as well as a midranking lieutenant colonel in &immler’s murderous S/( and he was considered the most wanted war criminal alive in the early 196As. 2he Israeli and American news!a!ers of the period characteri.ed him not only as monstrous and “"loodthirsty” but also as Hitler’s fore- most architect of and technician for the im!lementation of “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question(” a !articularly repellent -a.i eu!hemism for un!recedented genocide# This last characteri.ation of Eichmann turned out not to "e entirely credi"le( as Arendt and others made clear at the time# Reprinted by permission) All ri&hts reserve!).
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