Hannah Arendt (2012, English, German, Hebrew)Yes, this is story of the chain smoking Jewish-American philosopher who at the height of her career would be sent to Israel in 1962 for observation and coverage of the Adolf Eichmann trial in Israel for atrocities against the Jews in Nazi Germany during WW2.
She was thought to be the best candidate to cover the event as she herself, a Jewess, was a victim of Nazi imprisonment in France during WW2.
What she was saw during her trial changed her life and her reputation forever. She could not understand why such an unimpressive servant who is just an ordinary man without any epitome of evil could do something so horrendous without an iota of guilt. He was just doing his job of transporting as if it was the most important thing in the world without thinking. He was more interested in completing his job (of transporting Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz concentration camp) than thinking on the consequences of his work.She reiterate that the worst kind of evil is the one done by nobodys with no motives and purpose. This, she described as 'the banality of evil'.
In her article later, she upset many fellow Holocaust survivors and peers for downplaying the evils of Eichmann and the Israeli courts for their wishy-washy steamrolling and witch-hunting of the trial. Unlike the Nuremberg trial, Eichmann was no leader but just a spoke in the wheel of the machinery. She also blamed the Jewish leaders partially for the Jewish predicament.
Arendt was cast as a pariah and labelled a Jewish hater and a Nazi collaborator even though she was a Jew herself.
What she was saw during her trial changed her life and her reputation forever. She could not understand why such an unimpressive servant who is just an ordinary man without any epitome of evil could do something so horrendous without an iota of guilt. He was just doing his job of transporting as if it was the most important thing in the world without thinking. He was more interested in completing his job (of transporting Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz concentration camp) than thinking on the consequences of his work.She reiterate that the worst kind of evil is the one done by nobodys with no motives and purpose. This, she described as 'the banality of evil'.
In her article later, she upset many fellow Holocaust survivors and peers for downplaying the evils of Eichmann and the Israeli courts for their wishy-washy steamrolling and witch-hunting of the trial. Unlike the Nuremberg trial, Eichmann was no leader but just a spoke in the wheel of the machinery. She also blamed the Jewish leaders partially for the Jewish predicament.Arendt was cast as a pariah and labelled a Jewish hater and a Nazi collaborator even though she was a Jew herself.
Thinking is a silent dialogue between me and myself!
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