“He and his men and the Jews were all pulling together, and whenever there were any difficulties the Jewish functionaries would come running to him to unburden their hearts, to tell him all their grief and sorrow, and to ask for his help. The Jews desired to emigrate, and he, Eichmann, was there to help them” (48).
I find this passage especially interesting. When I read it I come under the impression that Eichmann is looking at himself as a hero in this situation. He believes that he was there to help and alleviate the suffering of the Jews. However, if you look closer at the whole situation Eichmann is incredibly contradictory. Many of the Jews do not want to move, but they are being forced out of Germany. However, many of them end up returning to Germany because they realize that they are also not wanted in surrounding European countries and they feel living in their homeland would be more beneficial. They believed that if they kept to themselves they could live without being molested. Eichmann is viewing himself as a savior, transporting Jews out of the country in order so they won’t have to be sent to concentration camps. In reality, however, the Jews granted rights to emigrate were left “without any money, without any rights, with only a passport on which it says ‘You must leave the country within a fortnight. Otherwise you will go to a concentration camp” (46). The only money given to the Jews was a small amount of money that was necessary in order to obtain a visa to enter another country. It is true that the Jews who were able to emigrate had a better life than many of those who were not able to and sent to concentration and death camps. In that case Eichmann may truly be a savior. He had discovered during his new job in the SS that he could do two things well: organize and negotiate. In only eight months he had helped forty five thousand Jews leave Austria compared to only nineteen thousand from leaving Germany. In eighteen months he had helped “cleanse” Austria of roughly 60% of their Jewish population. This goes back to my first blog statement where I said Eichmann needs to be motivated by an outside force. In this instance that outside force is coming from his new job and his desire to succeed. He even claims that his time in Vienna was his “happiest and most successful period” (44).
