ABSTRACT

Hannah Arendt is one of the great outsiders of twentieth-century political philosophy. After reporting on the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, Arendt embarked on a series of reflections about how to make judgments and exercise responsibility without recourse to existing law, especially when existing law is judged as immoral. This book uses Hannah Arendt’s text Eichmann in Jerusalem to examine major themes in legal theory, including the nature of law, legal authority, the duty of citizens, the nexus between morality and law and political action.

chapter 1|12 pages

Introduction

The Eichmann fires

chapter 2|9 pages

The House of Judgment

chapter 3|12 pages

The gray zone

Kapo trials

chapter 4|11 pages

The accused

chapter 5|13 pages

From expulsion to extermination

chapter 6|10 pages

Wannsee

The enabling conference

chapter 7|10 pages

Duties of a law-abiding citizen

chapter 8|9 pages

The deportation chapters

chapter 9|11 pages

Did Eichmann receive a fair trial?

chapter 10|11 pages

Judgment

chapter 11|11 pages

Reading Eichmann today

chapter 12|12 pages

The last Nazi trials and forgiveness