Eichmann in Jeruzalem

In 1960, former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was kidnapped in Argentina by the Secret Service.He had led an anonymous life since World War II, but now he was to stand trial for "crimes against humanity."Commissioned by The New Yorker magazine, Hannah Arendt attended the trial.Her reportage offers insight into the daily proceedings, but also into the major issues underlying them: the nature of justice, the attitude of the Jewish leadership under the Nazi regime, and the most controversial topic of all: the nature of evil.While the prosecutor portrays Eichmann as evil incarnate, Arendt describes him as an average person, a small but ambitious bureaucrat seduced by a totalitarian state.A compelling analysis of one of the greatest show trials of the twentieth century.