Adolf Eichmann was at the center of the Nazi genocide against the Jews, yet he remained an obscure figure until his capture by the Israeli Secret Service in Argentina in 1960 and his trial in Jerusalem. From 1941 to 1945 Eichmann organized the mass deportation and extinction of Jews in Europe. This book, the first account of Eichmann's life to appear in over forty years, reveals a surprising portrait of the man once seen as epitomizing the "banality of evil." Drawing on recently unearthed documents, historian Cesarani explores Eichmann's early career when he learned how to become an administrator of genocide, and shows how Eichmann developed into the Reich's "expert" on Jewish matters, becoming ever more hateful and brutal. This sobering account deepens our understanding and challenges our preconceptions of Adolf Eichmann, and offers fresh insights into both the operation of the "Final Solution" and its most notorious perpetrator.--From publisher information.

A study of Adolf Eichmann - the man, his crimes, and his legacy, focusing on the turning points in his life and seeking to understand the social and political dynamics that account for the direction his life took. He was neither a psychopath nor a fanatical antisemite from his youth. His ideological racist antisemitism dates to ca. 1936-38 and his socialization in the SD. While he was responsible for atrocities connected with the deportation of Jews, this activity was not genocidal, nor was Nazi policy, until 1941-42. A turning point in his racism occurred when he was given responsibility for deporting Poles, as well as Jews, from German-occupied areas. Later, when he came to view the Jews as Germany's archenemy, he was ready to assist in their destruction. Asserts that it is not the man, but ideas, society, political systems, and circumstances that make genocidal acts acceptable. Not only totalitarian states, bureaucracies, and modern societies, but also democracies and unmodernized societies in the 20th and 21st centuries have engaged in ethnic cleansing spurred by racism and fanaticism. Ch. 8 (pp. 237-323), "Interrogation, Trial and Execution, 1960-62", discusses the Eichmann trial in Israel.