In Arendt’s “Report on the Banality of Evil”, she illustrates the frightening reality that it is possible, perhaps even human nature, for ordinary people to perform extraordinary acts of violence and cruelty given the right social or political circumstances. It is easy to be convinced that all members of the Nazi party

After all, given the social and political setting of Nazi Germany, it was easier for two normal men to “simply follow orders”, despite the fact that those orders led directly to the murder of millions of innocent people. While Eichmann, largely due to his stupidity, was able to completely ignore his conscience, however, Stangl seems to have struggled with certain decisions. Through his talks with Sereny, Stangl was able to progress from feeling obligatory guilt, to actually reaching and confronting the inner most part of his soul, and admitting responsibility for his horrific actions. After this catharsis, Stangl was able to pass away with a certain level of peace. Probably every member of the Nazi party would have a different justification for his or her actions during that incomprehensible period in history, but Stangl and Eichmann, with their many differences and the occasional commonality, proved to be two very telling characters in a sea of banality. Both Gitta Sereny and Hannah Arendt, in their own unique way, examine the role of conscience in Nazi Germany, and both women present an enlightening account of two very mysterious men.

An ideal example presents itself in the story told by Eichmann about the “unlucky Kommerzialmrat Storfer of Vienna”, in which he explains how he made a trip to Auschwitz to try to help this representative of the Jewish community. Since “...neither Dr. Ebner nor I nor anybody else could do anything about it...” Eichmann managed to reduce the amount of labor that Storfer had to do. Eichmann stated, “It was of great inner joy to me that I could at least see the man with whom I had worked for so many long years, and that we could speak with each other” (Arendt 51). Needless to say, Eichmann mentions nothing of the fact that Storfer was shot dead just six weeks later. Hannah Arendt states it beautifully in asking, “Is this a textbook case of bad faith, of lying self-deception combined with outrageous stupidity? Or is it simply the case of the eternally unrepentant criminal who canno

Some topics in this essay:
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