"The Banality of Evil"

In 1961, The New Yorker sent German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt to report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer responsible for organizing the trains that transported Jews to extermination camps. Held in Israel 15 years after the Nuremberg Trials, his trial was broadcast on television worldwide. Eichmann maintained his innocence throughout, arguing that he was simply following his commanders’ orders. In her sprawling five-part piece, Arendt captured the pervasive and destructive nature of Eichmann’s logic: “Evil comes from a failure to think….That is the banality of evil.”