Eichman and the Holocaust, Hannah Term Paper

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Likewise, the heroes are those who took actions to prevent the amassing of victims. Clearly, the individual Nazis do not fit into this category. (Arendt, 2006: p. 74).

Thus, Arendt leaves the question as to whether the individual Nazis were bystanders or murderers. To be a bystander, Arendt argues that the Nazi soldiers would have to be completely free of any act that perpetuated the actions. However, because the Nazis made numerous choices, from joining the party, from giving up their individuality and morals, and for following the theory of the final solution, it would seem that one would conclude that they are not innocent bystanders, as would be community members who did nothing in the face of their neighbors being taken away to their deaths. (Arendt, 2006: p. 57).

Based on this thinking, one would think that Arendt would conclude that all Nazis were guilty of crimes against humanity due to their direct role in carrying out the final solution and murder of the one and only victims of the Holocaust- the Jews and others persecuted by the Nazi regime. However, this in fact is not the conclusion reached by Arendt, at least as to the Nazi leader Eichmann.

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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 murder 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. (Arendt, 2006; et. al.)

In conclusion, Arendt essentially argrees with the Nazi arguments for their innocence, that in fact they had no choice due to the political pressures of the era and that, regardless of their actual actions, they did not agree with the goal internally. Unless they were internally in agreement with their actions, according to Arendt, Nazis such as Eichmann are….....

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