Eichmann in Jerusalem

MadArchitect · Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:24 pm Post subject: Eichmann in Jerusalem

If you've read the introduction or either of the first two chapters of the book, you're probably already aware that Arendt's most famous (perhaps infamous) book was/is Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Jerome Kohn, the editor of the present volume, is careful to give a quick summary of what that book was about, as well as to present its context, and while I doubt that familiarity with Eichmann will be necessary to understanding the essays in Responsibility and Judgment, given that both the writing and reception of Eichmann seem to have had a major effect on Arendt's career, it may be worthwhile having a small thread in which to talk about that book.

Obviously, I don't expect anyone to run out and read the copy as an adjunct to our discussion of Responsibility and Judgment. Eichmann is a very thorny book, both because it tackles a difficult subject and because Arendt's approach to that problem is uncompromising. It's definitely a book that I recommend to most anyone interested in either the Holocaust or the issues pertinent to the concept of human rights and so-called "crimes against humanity", but it stands just a little outside our perview for the moment. For a brief but fairly competant survey of the book's contents and reception, check out the wiki on the book.

If references to the book cause any confusion while you're reading the essays in Responsibility and Judgment, feel free to use this thread to ask about it. Unfortunately, I've loaned my copy out (I never seem to have my favorite books in house), but my notes are still around here somewhere, and if I'm not mistaken, a few other BookTalk contributors have read Eichmann as well -- I'm sure they won't mind taking a few moments to address any questions that crop up.

Dissident Heart · Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:12 pm Post subject:

CU Professor Ward Churchill experienced a maelstrom of criticism when he said in his deeply critical book Roosting Chickens that the "technocrats of empire" working in the World Trade Center were the equivalent of "little Eichmanns." Churchill argued that Adolf Eichmann was not charged with direct killing but with ensuring the smooth running of the infrastructure that enabled the Nazi genocide. Similarly, German industrialists were legitimately targeted by the Allies. Thus, per Churchill, the US equvalency of Germany's Eichman.

Roger Gottlieb in his book, A Spirituality of Resistance, makes similar claims as he compares the typical US Consumer to the typical German Officer: but instead of incinerating Jews in Germany, we are incinerating our ecosystem and biosphere. The German Officer was simply doing his job, hungry for approval, looking for promotion and generally detatched from the product of his labor: Gottlieb makes the case that much of the same can be said for the US Consumer.


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