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Well, I did link to a review of another long and well-researched book that picks apart Arendt's portrayal. Unless the referred documents are complete fabricatio
by kryptiskt 12y ago
Well, I did link to a review of another long and well-researched book that picks apart Arendt's portrayal. Unless the referred documents are complete fabrications I can't see how Arendt's thesis holds water anymore.
- GftaLW 12y agoI encourage others to read that review of Bettina Stangneth's "Eichmann Before Jerusalem". Again: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/books/book-portrays-eichmann-as-evil-but-not-banal.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/books/book-portrays-eichma.... It does contradict Arendt's thesis, and does so with comprehensive grounding in source material that had been unexamined. Arendt's thesis is that Eichmann was banal -- that is so lacking in originality and boring -- in his evil, that he was an unthinking functionary just following orders. This is not what Eichmann's memoirs and interviews from his time in Argentina (after World War II, before Jerusalem) convey. He contemplated and dismissed the philosophy of Kant. He participated in weekly book clubs and laid groundwork for Holocaust deniers. He spoke of his genocidal role as a "duty to our blood". This is not the talk of a man who was just following orders.