I witnessed the gruesome workings of the machinery of death; gear meshed with gear, like clockwork. It was the biggest and most enormous dance of death of all times.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The quote describes the industrialized killing of the Holocaust as a systematic, mechanical process.
- In plain terms
- Death was carried out like a machine with many parts working together.
- What can you take from it?
- Systems can make mass murder feel routine and efficient.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do systems enable individuals to commit atrocities?
- Can efficiency ever justify moral harm?
Another view
The metaphor may oversimplify individual agency in favor of systemic explanation.
More from Adolf Eichmann
I am certain, however, that those responsible for the murder of millions of Germans will never be brought to justice.
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Permalink to quote #12
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