"Eichman and the Holocaust"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses "Eichman and the Holocaust," written by Hannah Arendt, in which she grapples with the role that Nazis, especially Eichman, played in carrying out this human nightmare. The paper examines Arendt's arguments as to why individual Nazi perpetrators should not be blamed for the Holocaust and focuses on her claims of the innocence of Adolf Eichman.

From the Paper:

"Arendt was actually present at Eichmann's trial held in Jerusalem. According to her account of the trial and Eichmann's testimony, it is her conclusion that Eichmann in fact is not a murderer but, more appropriately, an innocent bystander and thus not guilty of the Nazi crimes against humanity. Arendt's thinking is that Eichmann, at heart, was not a Nazi and thus did not really know of Hitler's program when he joined the Nazi party. Further, she argues that he had nothing to do with the death camps, which in fact grew out of Hitler's euthanasia program and that, all in all, Eichmann was a modest and innocent bystander."

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