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1-Page Summary of Eichmann In Jerusalem

Overview

In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt wrote about the trial of Adolf Eichmann. He was a high-ranking Nazi official who was charged with crimes against humanity for his role in organizing the deportation and transportation of Jewish people to death camps during World War II. The prosecution wanted to demonstrate how much suffering he had caused and that the state of Israel needed their own country so they could be safe from persecution. They also wanted to make sure that everyone knew what happened during the Holocaust and give victims an opportunity to face their murderers. Meanwhile, the defense argued that he was just doing his job as required by law, not motivated by hatred against Jews or any other group.

Arendt portrays Eichmann as someone who is unable to think for himself and only speaks in cliches, whose one concern is his career. She argues that most of the prosecution’s case against him is moot since he clearly did not act on his own initiative but would do anything to further his own career. Nazism had destroyed any distinction between legal and illegal, moral and immoral; it produced a nation full of people like Eichmann. He was able to follow along with the jumps in ideology without questioning them because he felt it was his duty. Arendt observes that this perversion of Kant’s categorical imperative (always act in such a way that your actions could be the basis of a universal law) has been responsible for many atrocities throughout history.

Finally, Arendt describes the deportation and murder of Jews by geographic region. She mentions that local Jewish authorities rounded up the Jews for transport to concentration camps. National governments also participated in these deportations with enthusiasm and eagerness. What she wants readers to understand is that Nazis were able to effect a complete moral collapse in European life through terror, war, and their ever-escalating ideology. Resistance is always possible so long as people are able to preserve private existence which makes moral judgment possible. Eichmann committed crimes against humanity; he was an enemy of mankind who deserved death sentence according to Arendt’s opinion.

Chapters 1-3

In the first chapter of her book, Arendt describes the courtroom where Eichmann was tried. She notes that it is in a building with an impressive façade and is designed to look like a church. The court has three judges who listen to everything through headphones because all of the proceedings are being translated into different languages at once. Arendt also notes how little influence German Jews have on Israel despite their huge role in creating Zionism.

Eichmann sits in a glass booth, surrounded by his lawyer and four assistant attorneys. The rest of the courtroom is occupied by judges as well. Arendt admired them all, especially Judge Landau who was born and educated in Germany.

Arendt credits Landau with keeping the trial from becoming a show trial, despite its theatricality. She believes that Ben-Gurion wanted to make the proceedings into a spectacle by having Eichmann abducted and brought to Israel for punishment. However, he was able to keep it on track as long as Landau remained in charge of the courtroom. Hausner’s desire for spectacle is fulfilled through his dramatic statements and press conferences, but Landau keeps things fair by sticking to legal protocol.

Arendt also notes that this trial differs from the trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II. In those cases, they were being tried for “war crimes.” The Holocaust was on trial and only the Holocaust. The prosecution’s main case was proving that Adolf Eichmann was responsible for killing Jews during the war.