Eichmann před Jeruzalémem - Neprobádaný život masového vraha – Stangneth Bettina (2024)

Significant German historian Bettina Stangneth reconstructs the life and 'work' of Adolf Eichmann, one of the greatest criminals of the twentieth century, based on newly discovered documents that had been inaccessible for decades. Eichmann was responsible for the 'logistics' of the Holocaust within the state apparatus of the Third Reich, coordinating the transport of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps, while simultaneously definitively debunking the myth of Eichmann as a bureaucrat of average intellect who merely followed orders from above and, as a mere 'cog in the wheel of the Nazi totalitarian machinery,' obediently and conscientiously carried out assigned tasks. Although Eichmann was (co)responsible for the deaths of millions, he allegedly felt no animosity towards his victims: he was just doing his job. This myth was famously brought to life by German thinker Hannah Arendt in her renowned book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil – a book she wrote under the impression of the Eichmann trial that took place in 1961 in Jerusalem, which fundamentally influenced the thinking of several generations of intellectuals and academics. However, as Bettina Stangneth convincingly demonstrates, the thesis of the 'banality of evil,' which is itself very valuable and essential for understanding the nature of totalitarianism...