Minä olen Adolf EichmannI Am Adolf Eichmann
“In a moral sense I am guilty, of course...but in legal sense...”
Jari Juutinen’s play I Am Adolf Eichmann raises the question on guilt and innocence. Adolf Eichmann was one of the best-known leaders of Nazi Germany, although his role has been disputed. Eichmann himself claimed to have only done his job and followed orders. The burden of guilt, however, cannot be escaped. The play depicts a multidimensional view of the problematic relationship between guilt and innocence. When Eichmann’s trial becomes a cabaret-like television production, a question arises: does guilt even matter?
I Am Adolf Eichmann is a continuously relevant play. It poses the question: are we in the position to judge anyone? Our notions of Nazis as monsters makes us deem holocaust as an act committed by monsters. But what if it was an act committed by people? By people like us, our fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, our friends and loved ones. Would you have interfered or been able to interfere? In the end, who is innocent and can cast the first stone?
The play has been translated into English, French, German and Spanish.
