The banality of evil
Political theorist Hannah Arendt coined the phrase “the banality of evil” during Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann’s trial for his role in the Holocaust. Arendt was struck by Eichmann’s demeanor during the trial: He wasn’t a psychopath, a rabid anti-Semite or a lunatic. He seemed an ordinary, not particularly bright, little man who claimed he was only following orders and doing his job when he committed genocide, in much the same way that an accountant might add a row of numbers or a barber might trim a little off the top. It was just another day at the office when Jews were gassed and beaten by kapos in concentration camps.
Eichmann provided the most banal of excuses for his role in the systematic murder of millions of Jews, Poles, Russians, Romany, Jevohah’s Witnesses, homosexuals–the list of the Third Reich’s victims is long and not very selective–but Arendt could see beyond his blind reasoning.
While there were “good Germans” who insisted their war crimes were just a case of following orders, there were other nations that didn’t support the Nazi regime. She points to Denmark as an example of non-cooperation with Hitler’s murderous intent:
One is tempted to recommend the [Danish] story as required reading in political science for all students who wish to learn something about the enormous power potential inherent in non-violent action and in resistance to an opponent possessing vastly superior means of violence.
The Danes refused to allow the Nazi regime to implement the Final Solution where other nations became collaborators. In fact, their efforts to save Jews are the stuff of legends. Vichy France and the people of the Anschluss certainly bought into Hitler’s plan with enthusiasm or an eye toward being on what they thought would be the winning side.
Nonviolent action and resistance to an enemy that resorts to violence is much more difficult than fighting back or merely “doing one’s job,” as in Eichmann’s case. When the Nazis murdered conscientous objector Franz Jagersttater for refusing to serve, when they beheaded Hans and Sophie Scholl for urging resistance, when they killed St. Maximilian Kolbe and Blessed Titus Brandsma by lethal injection for standing up for Christ against Hitler and when they gassed St. Edith Stein for being born a Jew, they came up against the superior, immovable, nonviolent force of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Banal little men like Eichmann and the petty tyrants that have come before and after him can always claim they were doing their jobs by cooperating with evil. We remember them with disdain or forget about them entirely, but we celebrate the heroes whose revolution and resistance coupled with their love of Christ allowed them to see the difference between doing one’s job and taking the hard road to what is good and right.
Evil may sometimes be banal, but nonviolent resistance is always heroic.
