On May 29 1962, Adolf Eichmann was convicted and sentenced to death for multiple charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish people.
“Individuals are a product of their time” through this statement Eichmann can be portrayed as having no individual responsibility for his actions as the cultural influences and social upbringings of early 1900’s Germany could have been ultimately created and his actions dictated for him and Eichmann can be shown to have only followed orders in his quote "There is a need to draw a line between the leaders responsible and the people like me forced to serve as mere instruments in the hands of the leaders". However, this statement is contradicted through evidence towards Eichmann enjoying and finding pleasure in carrying out his job for Hitler, Eichmann has been quoted to have described himself to "leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction." Indicating that Eichmann might not be a product of his time but rather his personal ethics and morals…show more content… Long live Argentina. Long live Austria. These are the three countries with which I have been most connected and which I will not forget. I greet my wife, my family and my friends. I am ready. We'll meet again soon, as is the fate of all men. I die believing in God” a powerful statement finally preaching about the devotion and love he held for his country and a vain attempt at humanizing himself and that these emotions were very much a part of him as were the consequences of his actions. In this statement he shows that he has accepted that he has been found guilty of the charges and maybe, in his heart, admitting guilt over the deaths of the Jewish people. As he ends with “I die believing in God” he is himself being contradictory to the sixth commandant ‘Thou shalt not
