News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R. by ToucanLoucan on Monday May 18, 2026 @10:50AM (#48180701)
Unfortunately she had the wool pulled over her eyes by her primary subject. Eichmann was absolutely every bit the monster you'd assume for the Architect of the Holocaust. He played up being "just a functionary" incredibly well during Nuremberg, but if you look into his history, perhaps he wasn't as flamboyant as some of his contemporaries like Himmler or of course, Hitler, but he very much held similar views.

This is not to say she got it wrong, I think the banality of evil absolutely holds up in a number of readings of historical events. I just don't think Eichmann was a good example.

Re:Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R. by enriquto on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:25AM (#48181141)
I don't know how accurate is what you explain, but the fact that Eichmann was not tried at Nuremberg certainly does not help your credibility.
Re:Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R. by dcrazy on Monday May 18, 2026 @11:45AM (#48181398)
Eichmann escaped from custody in 1945 and successfully hid until Mossad tracked him down in Argentina in 1960.
Re:Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R. by gertlex on Monday May 18, 2026 @12:09PM (#48181683)
Looks like it was the Israelis who put him on trial:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichmann_trial

> When he took the stand in his own defense, he portrayed himself as a mid-level functionary following orders.[32] He repeatedly claimed he was "merely a little cog in the machinery" of genocide, not a policymaker.

Re:Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R. by inglor_cz on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @02:48AM (#48190071)
You are mixing up Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust, with Albert Speer, who was an architect in the original sense of the word.

Speer was tried in Nuremberg. He indeed played a "I was just an emotional artist and I never knew anything about the Holocaust" game during that trial. Given that they weren't able to disprove his assertion that he left the Posen Speech early (that was a speech in 1943 where Himmler openly discussed the Holocaust), he got away with his life, though not with his freedom. He got a 20 year sentence and served it in the Spandau Prison.

(Also, he was present at the Posen Speech, which he later acknowledged in a letter.)

Eichman, on the other hand, was only caught in Argentina a long time after the war, and everyone who came into contact with him described him as a pathetic mediocre personality with a strong tendency to suck up to everyone stronger, including the very Israeli commandos and jailers who held him in custody.