Paediatric Department, Mater Dei Hospital, Malta.
Early Hum Dev. 2020 Jun;145:105016. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105016. Epub 2020 Mar 16.
Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele were high-ranking Nazis, two among many who were tasked with implementing the Final Solution. Eichmann's eventual trial evidenced a dull ordinariness that was famously defined as the banality of evil by the political theorist Hannah Arendt who covered the proceedings. Star Trek's Deep Space 9 commences with the Cardassian relinquishment of Bajor. One particular episode ("Duet") focuses on a presumed high-ranking Cardassian labour camp commander who turns out to have been a filing clerk seeking atonement and closure for the deeds he witnessed, on behalf of his race. Yet another episode ("Nothing Human") in Star Trek Voyager highlights the ethical dilemmas that arise when accessing trials and treatments that were obtained immorally by unethical medical experimentation, and this is reminiscent of callous experimentation by Josef Mengele in the Auschwitz death camp. This paper will explore these subjects and will compare the fictional concentration camp commander and the fictional doctor with Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele respectively. Both episodes serve as reminders, cautionary tales lest we allow history to repeat itself and such atrocities to be relived.
阿道夫·艾希曼和约瑟夫·门格勒是纳粹高官，他们是负责实施最终解决方案的众多纳粹分子中的两位。艾希曼最终的审判证明了一种沉闷的平凡，政治理论家汉娜·阿伦特（Hannah Arendt）曾在报道审判时将这种平凡定义为“恶的平庸性”。《星际旅行：深空九号》（Star Trek: Deep Space Nine）以卡达西人放弃巴乔开始。其中一个特别的情节（“二重奏”）聚焦于一位被认为是高级卡达西劳改营指挥官的人，他实际上是一名文件管理员，他代表自己的种族，为自己所目睹的行为寻求救赎和了结。《星际旅行：航海家号》（Star Trek: Voyager）中的另一个情节突出了在获取通过不道德的医学实验获得的审判和治疗时所产生的道德困境，这让人想起约瑟夫·门格勒在奥斯威辛死亡营的残忍实验。本文将探讨这些主题，并将虚构的集中营指挥官和虚构的医生分别与阿道夫·艾希曼和约瑟夫·门格勒进行比较。这两个情节都提醒我们，要警惕历史重演，以免重蹈覆辙。
