Eichmann in Jerusalem Summary
Hannah Arendt

Eichmann in Jerusalem Overview

SS Officer Adolph Eichmann had been in charge of the forced emigration of Jews in the early part of World War II. Later, as the Final Solution was being developed and then implemented, Eichmann’s responsibility morphed into the implementation of forced evacuation. It wasn’t very long before everyone, including the Jews, understood that evacuation actually meant extermination. Eichmann had escaped from the Allies after the war and lived under an assumed identity for fourteen years. He was captured by Israeli agents in Argentina and brought to Jerusalem where he was tried, convicted and executed for war crimes that included the deaths of millions of Jews. His defense was that he was following orders.