After reading the memoir The Cowshed and chapter 3 of Eichmann in Jerusalem there are clear similarities between them regarding totalitarian ideals, especially in relation to Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” in which these acts become normalized in totalitarian culture. In particular, the scene from The Cowshed that stood out as a theme of totalitarianism was when Ji felt obligated to hold the airplane position in order to do better during struggle sessions (pg. 65). This scene was especially devastating that Ji felt he needed to partake in this “physical exercise” in order to become more fit to withstand the physical pressure those sessions put on his body. He was forced to practice this stance in order to prevent being beaten even more if he had fallen over from the inability to hold the position. It speaks to his character however, in that he was willing to do whatever it took to survive through the terrible struggle sessions that were inflicted upon him. In comparison to Arendt’s comment regarding normalization within the culture, it truly was. Ji constantly heard struggle sessions occurring around him, often they were his colleagues from the university that were struggled against. It became a common practice that was expected if you were in the intellectual class in China.
Comparing this scene from Ji Xianlin’s memoir to Eichmann in Jerusalem when Eichmann was given the role of expediting the expulsion of Jews back to the Holy Land without remorse. Opposite from Ji, Eichmann was the instigator of this upheaval within the Jewish community, creating the new normal for them. He organized this expulsion of the Jews and saw it as a “satisfaction” on his conscience. He writes:
“I will jump into my grave laughing, because the fact that I have the death of five million Jews [or “enemies of the Reich,” as he always claimed to have said] on my conscience gives me extraordinary satisfaction.” ”
Excerpt From: Eichmann in Jerusalem – A Report on the Banality of Evil. “Arendt, Hannah.” Chapter 3 pg. 129
This sort of vernacular was considered “normal” and “valid” when speaking about the Jewish people. Later on in the chapter, there is a passage that states the Jewish people who refused to leave would be sent immediately to concentration camps. This coercion into leaving otherwise you would be sentenced to death is in itself a similar tactic to the struggle sessions the Chinese people were subject to.
In all, The Cowshed and Eichmann in Jerusalem, acted in the same sense to pressure the victims of each totalitarian state to surrender and cow-tow to the powers that be in order to survive and live another day. The normalcies of the totalitarian states were to oppress the victims, whether that was the intellectuals in China or the Jewish people in Germany. Oppression and fear were their tactics to get people to obey their orders.