The Banality of Evil.
What can Adolf Eichmann tell us about the origins of evil?
This photo shows Adolf Eichmann listening to the proceedings of the Israeli court in 1961, following his capture by Israeli forces in 1960. Eichmann was charged with, and found guilty of, being one of the main organising forces behind the Final Solution of the Nazis. He had been responsible for initially sending Jewish people to deportation centres, then later assigning them to death camps. But during the trial, despite his eventual convictions and little doubt regarding his guilt, a more unanswerable observation came up. Namely, the fact that Eichmann seemed, both to those observing in the court and the numerous psychologist who observed him, completely and chillingly normal. He did not appear to be a monster or harbour any vengeful hatred against Jewish people. Yet his involvement and guilt were in little doubt. This raised the question, possibly the most important when considering the question of violence, where does evil come from?
Perhaps the most important place to start when considering this question is the writing of Hannah Arendt. Arendt attended the trial of Eichmann on behalf of the New Yorker as a reporter at large. When the trial was finished, she published her most famous work, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil in which she discusses the off-putting…
