Starting from the trial that took place in 1961 against Adolf Eichmann, lieutenant colonel of the SS and one of the greatest criminals in history, Hannah Arendt studies in this essay the causes that led to the Holocaust, the equivocal role they played in such genocide by the Jewish councils - an issue that, at the time, was the cause of angry controversy - as well as the nature and function of justice, an aspect that leads her to raise the need to establish an international court capable of judging crimes against humanity. humanity. Little by little, Arendt's lucid and penetrating gaze unravels the personality of the accused; she analyzes his social and political context and his impeccable rigor when organizing the deportation and extermination of the Jewish communities. At the same time, the German philosopher studies collaboration or resistance in the application of the Final Solution by some occupied nations, exposes problems that have not yet been elucidated today – the relationship between legality and justice – and whose significance continues to determine the political scene of our days.