224
LIONEL ABEl
III
I want now to turn from Miss Arendt's judgment of Eichmann,
which I think cannot be credited, and try to judge the man myseH
in the moral and political terms in which it is appropriate he be
judged. Once Eichmann is judged morally and politically, it should
be perfectly clear that the contention of Prosecutor Hausner that
Eichmann was a moral monster will be seen to be a valid and
intelligent one, while Miss Arendt's judgment of Eichmann as an
insignificant and commonplace official will be seen to be perverse
and arbitrary.
If
you judge Eichmann aesthetically, he may not seem
a monster, but this
is
no way to make such a judgment.
Watching Eichmann in the Jerusalem court, Miss Arendt did not
detect in the man's gestures or style of speech any indication that he
was more than a mediocre fellow. She writes: "Despite all the efforts
of the prosecution, everyone could see that this man was not a
'monster.' " Now I should like to know
if
Miss Arendt thinks moral
monstrousness is something exhibitable, like good looks, wit, a fine
voice. Are there not real talents- I am thinking of talents positively
good-for which there is no evidence whatever except the result of
their exercise? Who has not met an eminent artist or scientist and
not been disappointed because the great man did not exhibit on the
spot the talent that was his secret? Now as I see it, the moral forma–
tion of a person is the least evident or visible thing about him. Only
in a fantasy like
The Picture of Dorian Gray
can the real vices of a
person be visibly expressed, as Dorian Gray's successive sins appeared
on his portrait. To be sure, the writer who wishes to present a villain
in a novel or in a play will supply his character with words to
express the character's villainy. But now when Eichmann is quoted
as saying something which certainly expressed monstrosity of soul
as, for instance, the remark which, according to Miss Arendt herseH,
he kept repeating long after the war, "I will jump into my grave
laughing because the fact that I have the death of five million
Jews on my conscience gives me extraordinary satisfaction." Miss
Arendt counters that this remark of Eichmann was just "bragging,"
and bragging is, after all, a "common vice." But in noting the
