Hannah Arendt was quite an eloquent author and she ran away out of Nazi Germany. She travelled to Jerusalem to view the trial of Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann was a high ranking Nazi that assisted in the planning of disgusting atrocities that included the annihilation of millions of Jews.

When Arendt saw Eichmann in the court, she did not see anything extraordinary, but an ordinary man. He did not holler. He was a handsome, chilled out office worker who just did what he was told without considering how awful it was to be done that way

As Arendt wrote,

this was the banality of evil.

She was referring to the fact that not always evil are caused by mentally deranged or even hateful individuals. It is sometimes because normal people do bad things, and they do not stop to ask questions. They simply obey, no matter how much it hurts the others.

This shocked many people and particularly Jewish groups. They believed that Arendt was too generous to Eichmann. She also indicated that some Jewish leaders were made to collaborate with the Nazis in order to rescue other people. This is tough reality that many people did not want to hear.

Still, it was also clear that Arendt wanted to state that evil occurs when people cease to think and only act by orders. Ordinary humans are capable of doing evil in case they do not inquire as to what is right or wrong Her work and the lesson given by her help us realize how awful Things like the Holocaust can occur not only due to monsters but also due to people who can not always do what is right.

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