Hannah Arendt Page #3

"I feel like a rump steak

that's being grilled..."

Incredible!

Waiter!

I assume you don't want a steak now.

Trying to cheer me up?

"One notices the intention

and is displeased."

"One feels the intention

and is displeased."

"What pleases you is permitted..."

Also from Tasso.

"What behooves you is permitted..."

"If you would like to learn

what behooves one,

you have only to ask a noble lady..."

My father was a tailor in Berlin.

He always quoted Faust as he shaved.

Mephistopheles was his favorite.

"Blood is a very special juice."

Eichmann.

Eichmann is no Mephistopheles.

My father was 58.

My mother-she was 43.

My brother, who was 22.

I was 21.

My sister was 19.

My brother was 16.

My other brother was 14.

Sister was eight.

And the little brother was five.

We trying to keep together

and go along on the road,

what have been told by this brave SS.

And who remains

of your family members?

Only myself.

When we were counted later on,

200 or 210 of us remained

of the 1200 who'd been transported.

The next ones were all gassed.

Those who arrived just after us,

they were all gassed.

It was...

Excuse me...

Please try...

Please try...

And this was power-

the unnatural power above nature,

which sustained me.

So that after the period of Auschwitz-

two years in Auschwitz-

when I was a Muslim,

to withstand-

Mr. De-Nur. Please. Please listen to Mr. Hausner.

Be calm, please.

Please remain where you are.

Everyone remain where they are.

Madam, your phone call to

America has gone through.

Oh, thank you.

If you could see how

they try to stay calm while testifying...

Most of the stories have nothing to do

with Eichmann as an individual.

But we both knew from the start

that the trial would be more about history

than the deeds of one man.

But it's still dreadful.

Oh, my little girl from far away.

Three minutes are over.

Three minutes already.

This is costing a fortune!

I've got to go.

Yes. See you soon.

Oh, they wanted a

central organization,

which would be the spokesman

of Hungarian Jewry.

Well, it doesn't matter

at what meeting this was,

but did they say how many members

such a committee should have,

which would be responsible

to the Germans?

They told us...

that about four or five persons should

constitute that representative body.

They didn't call it Judenrat.

And, uh, this also calmed us down,

because we knew already...

what was the purpose

of the Judenrat.

To what extent...

did you report about the situation to

the communities and the provinces,

those who were deported?

There was no such possibility,

because by the time I obtained

this information,

and by the time we realized

what Auschwitz was,

uh, the eastern part of Hungary...

and the northeastern part-

this comprised these 300, 000 people-

they had received news from us.

They had known the fate,

but what could we have done?

What could we have done?

Remove him

from the courtroom. Quickly!

You are a cowardly dog. A dog!

Remain seated if you want to stay here.

An officer swears an oath of allegiance.

If he breaks this oath,

then he is a rogue.

I still hold this view.

I have taken an oath here

to tell the truth.

That was how I viewed things then, too:

An oath is an oath.

Do you believe that anyone

who swore allegiance would,

after Hitler's death,

be released

from his oath of allegiance?

After Hitler's death?

Of course. Everyone would

automatically be released.

When interrogated by the police you said

that if the Fhrer had told you

your father was a traitor,

you would have shot him yourself.

- If he had been a traitor, yes...

- No, if the Fhrer had told you so.

Would you have shot your own father?

Assuming he had proven this.

Had he proven it,

I'd have been obliged by my oath.

Was it proven to you

that the Jews had to be exterminated?

I didn't exterminate them.

Did you never feel any conflict

between your duty and your conscience?

One could call it

a state of being split.

Split?

Yes...

A conscious split state

where one could flee

from one side to the other.

- One's conscience was to be abandoned?

- Sorry?

One's personal conscience

was to be abandoned?

You could say that.

If there had been more civil courage,

things could have been different.

Am I right? Answer...

If civil courage...

had been hierarchically organized,

then yes, absolutely.

So this was not destiny.

It was not inevitable.

It was a question of human behavior.

A question of human behavior.

And of course it was...

It was wartime, upheaval...

Everyone thought,

"It's useless to resist..."

Yes.

A drop on a hot stone that evaporates

without purpose or success or...

or failure or anything.

It was connected

to the times, I think.

To the times,

how children were raised,

with ideological education,

rigid discipline, that sort of thing.

Eichmann not an anti-Semite?

That's nonsense!

You heard him.

He was obeying the law.

He'd have obeyed any law.

Oh, please! Anyone in the Party,

let alone the SS,

was a committed and vicious anti-Semite.

He swears

he never personally harmed a Jew.

So he claims!

Isn't it interesting

that a man who did everything

a murderous system asked of him,

who even seems eager

to give precise details

of his fine work,

that this man insists

he personally

has nothing against Jews?

He's lying!

False. He is not.

You're falling for this?

He claims he didn't know

where the trains were going.

- You believe that too?

- Knowing that was irrelevant for him.

He transported people to their deaths,

but didn't feel responsible for it.

Once the trains were in motion

his work was done.

So he can say he's free of guilt

despite what happened

to the people he transported?

Yes. That's how he sees it.

He's a bureaucrat.

Your quest for truth is admirable,

but this time you've gone too far!

But Kurt,

you can't deny the huge difference

between

the unspeakable horror of the deeds

and the mediocrity of the man.

Don't worry, Rahel.

Hannah and I always argued like this.

I'm just afraid

she'll make a lot of people angry.

That's her nature.

But after finishing our bloody duels...

We always found a way to make up.

Hey. Kurt, no!

Think of your heart.

I know. I'm not getting any younger.

That's why I wish you wouldn't

leave me so quickly.

I'm never very far from you.

Never.

What's in there?

Transcripts of the trial.

Six tapes of Eichmann's questioning.

I could have them

shipped to New York.

I have to start reading at once.

Bring Heinrich along next time.

You're home!

Oh!

What about your classes?

Canceled!

I said it's an emergency.

Thank you, Freddy.

Thank you.

How good to be home.

Four pounds.

Can't you see it?

I starved myself for you.

Look at my homework over there.

You're taking a few days off.

Stups, I have 2000 pages to read

before the semester starts.

Don't exaggerate, Frau Professor.

From Mary?

No.

From me.

Stups! That's the wrong pile.

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