Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Arendt’s first chapter opens with two different languages being spoken—Hebrew and English: “‘Beth Hamishpath’—the House of Justice” (3). Arendt immediately introduces readers to one of the central challenges facing the court: comprehension of what is being said:

[T]he translators […] are needed for direct exchanges between the defendant or his counsel and the court; otherwise, the German-speaking accused party, like almost everyone else in the audience, follows the Hebrew proceedings through the simultaneous radio transmission, which is excellent in French, bearable in English, and sheer comedy, [and] frequently incomprehensible, in German (3).

There are several languages and translations happening simultaneously and this provides a breeding ground for miscommunication and misunderstanding.

One of the main documents presented to the court as evidence by the prosecution is the German text of a taped police examination with Eichmann from May 29, 1960 to January 17, 1961. The text is corrected and approved by Eichmann, every page, but his mastery of the German language is lacking: “Some of the comedy cannot be conveyed in English, because it lies in Eichmann’s heroic fight with the German language, which invariably defeats him” (48). That Eichmann cannot speak or write or edit language successfully supports Arendt’s portrayal of Eichmann’s blind obedience.