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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker prioritizes obedience above all else, suggesting this trait is inherent to their identity or nationality.
In plain terms
Following orders mattered more than anything to me, maybe because it is who I am.
What can you take from it?
Blind obedience can override personal morality.

Where it applies

  • military contexts
  • totalitarian regimes
  • bureaucracy

Putting it to work

  • questioning orders
  • ethical training
  • leadership oversight

Questions to consider

  • When does obedience become complicity?
  • Can duty ever justify harm?

Another view

This view ignores individual responsibility for actions taken under orders.

More from Adolf Eichmann

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  2. From my childhood, obedience was something I could not get out of my system. When I entered the armed services at the age of 27, I found being obedient not a b…

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  3. The war with the Soviet Union began in June 1941, I think. And I believe it was two months later, or maybe three, that Heydrich sent for me. I reported. He sai…

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