Beyond Justice: The Auschwitz Trial. By Rebecca Wittmann. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2005. Pp. 336. $35. ISBN 0-691-03199-1.

Abstract

In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt used elements of Israeli interrogations and portions of the Jerusalem trial to reconstruct Eichmann's career, his role in the Final Solution, and, in sketchy strokes, the Final Solution itself. She did not cover the trial in detail: In his memoirs, Raul Hilberg even suggested that she did not personally attend Eichmann's testimony. A philosopher by training, she also did not conduct primary source research. She simply read deeply into Eichmann's own version of events, accepting much, questioning some, creating a plausible and readable story that included scenes from the trial.