REACH 6.3 ❍ We Are All Capable of Wrongdoing

Yehiel Dinur was a Holocaust survivor who was a witness during the trial of the infamous Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann.

Dinur entered the courtroom and stared at the man behind the bulletproof glass—the man who had presided over the slaughter of millions. Suddenly Dinur began to sob and collapsed to the floor. But not out of anger or bitterness.

As he explained later in an interview, what struck him was a terrifying realization. “I was afraid about myself,” Dinur said. “I saw that I am capable of doing this… Exactly like him.” In a moment of chilling clarity, Dinur saw the skull beneath the skin. “Eichmann,” he concluded, “is in all of us.”

• What is the point of this story? Do you agree with it? Why or why not?
• Did Yehiel Dinur think that he was similar to Adolf Eichmann before his realization?