Eichmann, Bureaucracy and the Holocaust by Jonathan Stonehouse Page B
Authors: Jonathan Stonehouse
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gas used in the death camps, which he apparently recommended to Höss on the grounds that carbon monoxide could not possibly despatch Jews in the numbers required*. Another account, that of Gilbert (1979, pp.62-5), claims that Göring's July 1941 directive to Heydrich, which instructed Heydrich to set in motion the machinery of destruction, was in fact written by Eichmann. The same author (ibid.) has Eichmann "preparing the ground" for the Final Solution during August that year, and refers to the infamous Wannsee Conference of January 1942, at which Heydrich secured the complicity of key ministries, as "Eichmann's meeting".
* It seems that Eichmann, acting on instructions from Heydrich, visited Maidenek sometime in late 1941, where he witnessed Jews being gassed by carbon-monoxide fumes generated by a U-boat engine built inside a hermetically-sealed chamber. Later that same year, Heinrich Müller despatched him to the Litzmannstadt area of Poland to witness the operation of mobile gassing apparatus. Here, Jews were loaded onto a bus and gassed by carbon monoxide fumes from the vehicle's exhaust. Eichmann was informed that the process would take only three minutes, but observed that it took fifteen minutes or thereabouts. He was invited to look inside the van via a peep-hole, but refused. Müller chided him for his squeamishness on his return to Berlin. See Life Magazine (Vol. 49) articles November / December 1960.
Similarly, during his trial Eichmann was presented with any number of dubious accusations, the most salient of which include: being responsible for the notorious Krystal Nacht pogrom of 1938; measures for the removal of Jews from social and economic life; having total control of all Jewish life in the Reich; having the "decisive voice" on all Jewish affairs; having the power to order or halt the deportation process at will, and being a "special advisor" to Himmler by virtue of his unique position as "Reich-S.S. Leadership" - Reichsführung-S.S. (Eichmann trial transcripts, sessions 90-2; 90-3; 90-4; 93-1; 94-1; 97-3). Indeed, when one examines the charges made against him one gets the distinct impression that Eichmann was single-handedly responsible for the entire Final Solution, this being offset only by inclusion of the caveat "along with others". Perhaps, then, it is not too surprising that Landau (1992, pp.331-2) includes Eichmann in his "Principal Characters" section, whilst managing to exclude other, and arguably more culpable, figures such as Eichmann's immediate superior, Heinrich 'Gestapo' Müller, and WVHA* chief Oswald Pohl, who had overall responsibility for running the death camps.
* Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
Herein lies the myth of Eichmann, an individual regarded by his Israeli interrogator, Avner Less, as both "cold and sophisticated" yet "disappointingly normal", and by trial prosecutor Gideon Hausner as a gifted actor whose 'normal' persona was merely "a clever last attempt to portray himself as different than he really is" (Less in Von Lang & Sibyll, 1999, pp. xix-xx; Hausner cited in Rabinovich news article). It seems that we must indeed regard Eichmann's memoirs, interrogation, and trial performance as nothing but the mocking finale of "The Master"*, the monstrous 'evil genius' behind the Final Solution. And yet these accounts seem inconsistent with Eichmann's role and rank, not to mention his character and modest intellectual gifts. How can we square this view of Eichmann with his pre-trial psychological evaluation, which found his attitude toward friends and family "not only normal but most desirable"? How could this 'evil genius' be described as "a man with very positive ideals"? (Arendt, 1994, p.26). How are we to judge the actions of this self-described "man of average character, with good qualities and many faults" (Eichmann in Life Magazine article, 1960)? Who exactly is the 'real' Adolf Eichmann?
* In a Life Magazine article published in 1960, which was
* It seems that Eichmann, acting on instructions from Heydrich, visited Maidenek sometime in late 1941, where he witnessed Jews being gassed by carbon-monoxide fumes generated by a U-boat engine built inside a hermetically-sealed chamber. Later that same year, Heinrich Müller despatched him to the Litzmannstadt area of Poland to witness the operation of mobile gassing apparatus. Here, Jews were loaded onto a bus and gassed by carbon monoxide fumes from the vehicle's exhaust. Eichmann was informed that the process would take only three minutes, but observed that it took fifteen minutes or thereabouts. He was invited to look inside the van via a peep-hole, but refused. Müller chided him for his squeamishness on his return to Berlin. See Life Magazine (Vol. 49) articles November / December 1960.
Similarly, during his trial Eichmann was presented with any number of dubious accusations, the most salient of which include: being responsible for the notorious Krystal Nacht pogrom of 1938; measures for the removal of Jews from social and economic life; having total control of all Jewish life in the Reich; having the "decisive voice" on all Jewish affairs; having the power to order or halt the deportation process at will, and being a "special advisor" to Himmler by virtue of his unique position as "Reich-S.S. Leadership" - Reichsführung-S.S. (Eichmann trial transcripts, sessions 90-2; 90-3; 90-4; 93-1; 94-1; 97-3). Indeed, when one examines the charges made against him one gets the distinct impression that Eichmann was single-handedly responsible for the entire Final Solution, this being offset only by inclusion of the caveat "along with others". Perhaps, then, it is not too surprising that Landau (1992, pp.331-2) includes Eichmann in his "Principal Characters" section, whilst managing to exclude other, and arguably more culpable, figures such as Eichmann's immediate superior, Heinrich 'Gestapo' Müller, and WVHA* chief Oswald Pohl, who had overall responsibility for running the death camps.
* Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
Herein lies the myth of Eichmann, an individual regarded by his Israeli interrogator, Avner Less, as both "cold and sophisticated" yet "disappointingly normal", and by trial prosecutor Gideon Hausner as a gifted actor whose 'normal' persona was merely "a clever last attempt to portray himself as different than he really is" (Less in Von Lang & Sibyll, 1999, pp. xix-xx; Hausner cited in Rabinovich news article). It seems that we must indeed regard Eichmann's memoirs, interrogation, and trial performance as nothing but the mocking finale of "The Master"*, the monstrous 'evil genius' behind the Final Solution. And yet these accounts seem inconsistent with Eichmann's role and rank, not to mention his character and modest intellectual gifts. How can we square this view of Eichmann with his pre-trial psychological evaluation, which found his attitude toward friends and family "not only normal but most desirable"? How could this 'evil genius' be described as "a man with very positive ideals"? (Arendt, 1994, p.26). How are we to judge the actions of this self-described "man of average character, with good qualities and many faults" (Eichmann in Life Magazine article, 1960)? Who exactly is the 'real' Adolf Eichmann?
* In a Life Magazine article published in 1960, which was
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