ABSTRACT

The memory of the tragedy revived by the Jerusalem trial has faded in the mind of the nations. Violence, terror and wars are devastating the world, and behind the actual storms, there lurks in dumb silence the menace of a mechanical, impersonal destruction of humanity. In the history of humanity man was never m need of images for personification or representation of human evil. This chapter attempts to reconstruct the way in which Eichmann succeeded to live and function, with the murderous drives, what were his defenses and where did they fail. Eichmann developed a peculiar kind of trivial fatalism which released him from every responsibility. The sine qua non of sadism is empathy, and this in dramatic opposition to Eichmannism. Sadism in its present meaning is only one of de Sade's imaginative preoccupations. Sadism and drama both are playful experimentations with emotions.