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About the Author
—
Steven Heller is the cofounder and the cochair of the MFA Designer as
Author program at the School of Visual Arts. He writes the Visuals
column for the New York Times Book Review and the Graphic Content
blog for T-Style; is editor of AIGA Voice; and is a contributor to Design Observer. He is the author, coauthor, and/or editor of more
than 120 books on design and popular culture, including the forthcoming
New Ornamental Type (Thames and Hudson). More information can be found at his homepage.
See all Daily Heller posts here.
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Banality of Evil
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by Steven Heller
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Hannah Arendt coined the term " banality of evil" in the 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, to characterize the bureaucrats and "ordinary people" who carried out the Holocaust. I recently came across a collection of mug shots of members of the infamous German SS Einsatzgruppen killing squads. These pictures were taken by U.S. Army photographers on behalf of the Office
of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes (OCCWC) during Nuremberg Trial IX
(Einsatzgruppen Trial / Einsatzgruppen-Prozess). Look at these faces closely: Each a mass murderer who was just following orders.
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Reader Comments
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Two thoughts came immediately to mind:
Having witnessed a family constellation process of a woman whose family members were murdered in concentration camps during WWII, the words of one of the facilitators is chillingly applicable here. The gist being that human beings have an overriding need to belong - our survival as a social species at points in our evolution depended on it - yet in our need to belong it is surprisingly easy to suspend conscience toward that end (consider more recently Abu Ghraib, for instance). An interview with the facilitator on the subject can be read here where this issue is addressed at the end in conclusion:
http://www.sbgi.edu/news/benz.html
Conversely, we also have the ability to "overwrite" and prevail over the banality of evil (itself a symptom of the human need to belong) - a prime example being embodied within the bounds of this exhibit:
http://www.thecjm.org/index.php?option=com_ccevents&scope=exbt&task=detail&oid=45
Powerful - visceral - moving - in inverse proportion to the banality of evil, the exhibit attests to the human potential to endure, abide and transform, overcoming the worst in our kind with the best of our abilities.
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By
leah_e
April 15, 2010
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There is a wonderful book about the 'common' folk who were as guilty (IMO) of what occurred as those who were active...
Hitler's Willing Executioners (1996) by Daniel Goldhagen is an in-depth account of the general public, and their investment in the Banality of Evil.
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QuinBrowne
April 15, 2010
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I was thinking about this in the context of Luc Tuymans show in SF recently. He sort of ran with Arendt's idea.. What if evil is...ordinary?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/arts/design/07tuymans.html?pagewanted=all
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By
PJacobson
April 15, 2010
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Fascinating stuff. These men were often not merely mass murderers just following orders, but were also citizens, family men, etc. One of the most chilling experiences for me when I worked at Buchenwald Kz (which is now a public memorial, museum, and archive) was discovering the children's zoo built directly facing the prisoners barracks. The zoo was built for the SS families stationed at the camp, and were positioned so the officers could bring their children to see the animals, which were of course housed in far better conditions than the camp's prisoners directly across the path.
There is an incredible archive of photos available for online viewing at the Buchenwald Memorial website:
http://www.buchenwald.de/english/
It's not for the faint of heart, but it's critical that current generations continue to bear witness. Genocide continues, after all. Thanks for posting this, Steve.
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By
Jess
April 15, 2010
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