Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Eichmann in Jerusalem, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Banality of Evil
Conscience, Authority, and Totalitarianism
Justice and Legal Responsibility
Zionism and Nazism
Storytelling and Resistance
Summary
Analysis
Arendt explains that the revised second edition of Eichmann in Jerusalem is slightly enlarged and revised from the original. All these changes are technical and do not affect the book as a whole; reliable data about the Nazis is hard to come by and new evidence continued to surface in the decades after World War Two.
Arendt received extensive criticism from Israeli and American Jews concerned about her depiction of Israel; she wants to confirm that she stands by her original critiques of the trial, Israel, and Zionist collaborators and has not tried to appease her critics in this edition.
Themes
