Published: 24 August 2007
Air & Space Power Journal-Fall 2007
Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, and Trial of a “Desk Murderer” by David Cesarani. Da Capo Press (http://www.perseusbooksgroup .com/dacapo/home.jsp), Eleven Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, 2006, 368 pages, $27.50 (hardcover), $18.00 (softcover).
Asked to recall some of the more notorious evildoers from the Second World War, many people would likely think of Adolph Eichmann. Even today, he evokes an unforgettable image of a brutal leader and one of the top Nazi officials at the center of the genocide surrounding the Holocaust’s “Final Solution” in Europe. From the late 1930s to the end of the war in 1945, he directed the logistical apparatus of mass human deportation and extinction within vast areas of the Third Reich. As such, he had direct responsibility for transporting two million Jews to their deaths. Obviously, Eichmann fits into the category of an anti-Semitic mass murderer who blindly followed orders, no matter how terrible they were.
But was he really like the rest of the Nazis, and why did he do it? Noted British historian David Cesarani advances these two major inquiries in his insightful biography Becoming Eichmann. In conducting the first serious analysis of Eichmann in almost 40 years, the author uses an extensive list of sources (many of them unavailable in the 1950s and 1960s) and research to examine his theories. Cesarani makes a thorough and complex assessment of Eichmann that goes to great lengths in exploring a fundamental question: was this “desk murderer” as bad as history now shows, or was he really just a competent administrator and technocrat who did not realize the magnitude of his genocidal actions?
Tracing his life from its solid beginnings up through the prewar and conflict years, the author paints a complete picture of a fairly normal man caught up in the times and very proficient at carry ng out his responsibilities. Eichmann never rose to high levels in the Nazi military hierarchy and was serving only as the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel when the war concluded. But one needs to put this fact into perspective. For example, he participated in the infamous Wahnsee Conference in early 1942 when the Nazi leadership decided to set in motion its Final Solution. However, Eichmann’s role there was mostly that of a staff officer helping plan the conference and drawing up the minutes—hardly the activities of a key mover and shaker, as portrayed by some. After the conference, it is true that he assumed management of certain related activities having more significance than his later description suggested: “All the work was paperwork.” He still managed to fly beneath the radar in many instances, mainly due to his field-grade rank and administrative status.
After the war, Eichmann also escaped prosecution, in part because the victorious Allies did not even know who he was. The Nuremberg trials came and went with little attention paid to him. Eichmann successfully avoided the authorities in Germany for several years and in 1950 went to Argentina, where his family joined him soon after. For the next decade, he blended into the surroundings, living a very modest but secure life in a South American country known for harboring many Nazi fugitives. During this time, Jewish authorities investigating the Holocaust started to uncover the significant role Eichmann had played in transporting victims of the Final Solution. Consequently, these Nazi hunters laid out an elaborate plan to find, capture, and bring him to justice in the state of Israel so he could pay for his actions.
That’s exactly what happened in 1961. Eichmann became an unwilling center of world attention when Israeli operatives secretly nabbed him and then flew him back to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity. The first “live” global media event, the trial attracted a large audience, many of whom followed it right up to Eichmann’s execution by hanging in 1962—considered proper justice for a supposedly ordinary man who became the “genocidaire” of millions of Jews and others before and during the war.
Is the author convincing with his assessment? That remains to be determined, but he presents a powerful argument that will probably cause serious scholars to reassess Eichmann’s role during those tumultuous times. Certainly, Becoming Eichmann reinforces the idea that one need not be abnormal to become a practitioner of genocide. Stated another way, if an ordinary man such as Eichmann could do what he did, it is conceivable—depending on numerous factors and influences—that others in any given society might be capable of committing the same crimes. Although nothing will appreciably elevate or diminish Eichmann’s final standing, it will be interesting to see if a shift in opinion occurs regarding his ranking in the Nazi gallery of despots.
Although not easy to read, Cesarani’s study is logically presented, thoroughly documented, exceptionally researched, and enlightening. Dedicated scholars and students of the Second World War and Holocaust will consider Becoming Eichmann an important new work.
Dr. Frank P. Donnini, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, Retired
Newport News, Virginia
Disclaimer
Book Reviews | Home Page | Feedback? Email the Editor