Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Ruth Starkman (University of San Francisco)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Domains

Moral Philosophy and Ethics

Dates

First circulation or publication 1963

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Essays/ Lectures (any)

Resources

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German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt began her book,

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

(1963)

as a journalistic venture for

The New Yorker

in 1963. Little did she suspect her reports of the trial of Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962), the notorious and self-described “architect of the Final Solution”, were quickly to become a highly controversial book, and to remain indeed her most famous, but not her best understood work. The book's title alone produced mountains of literature. Critics took issue with the phrase “the banality of evil”, and demanded clarification whether Arendt meant the Holocaust was banal, or that Eichmann himself lacked depth or whether she simply thought the whole trial was too pedestrian. Also controversial was Arendt's style. Both critics…

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1680 words

Citation: Starkman, Ruth. "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5427, accessed 23 November 2024.]