Banality of Evil and Adolf Eichmann

"It was as though in those last minutes he was summing up the lesson that this long course in human wickedness had taught us--the lesson of the fearsome, the word-and-thought-defying banality of evil" (252).

The capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann, which evoked legal and moral controversy across all nations, ended in his hanging over four decades ago. The verdict dealing with Eichmann's 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 Eichmann's motives, however, are still in question, bringing forth in-depth analyses of the aspects of evil.

Using Adolf Eichmann as a subject and poster-boy of a new threat to society, author Hannah Arendt is able to penetrate the limitations of the trial itself and create her thesis, which revolves around the idea of the banality of evil. This phrase accents the limitations of the term evil, along with the ideology surrounding it. This ideology becomes more complex in a world in which theories of evil are ever-changing. "Arendt's thesis points to an understanding of evil as particular, evolving, and nonessentialist" (Geddes).

The thoughtlessness in which Eichmann embodied in the courtroom, along with the normalcy he possesses, aids in the development of the enigmatic structure of the trial. Arendt's battle to find middle-ground between the idea of Eichmann as a common man attempting to fulfill objectives and his connection to the Nazi regime is what defies original theories on evil. The guilt Eichmann carries is clearly much larger than the man himself, especially one so simplistic and thoughtless. Therefore, the evil presented in Eichma...

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...stead, he was an empty shell of sorts, an egocentric automaton who, due to the society in which he was surrounded and the power of a political movement, became another components in the Final Solution.

By recognizing evil as banal, society is forced to face the reality that monstrous acts are not committed by those carrying an abnormal trait. It is the normality and mediocrity which terrified Arendt, along with others who study the Eichmann trial. It is the way in which evil became so average that makes Eichmann as dangerous as he was considered, not just the thoughtless acts he committed. By changing views on evil, however, society will be able to makes steps toward understand how events such as genocide can occur within the larger society.

Arendt, H. 1977. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. Harmondsworth,

U.K.: Penguin.