The reason given by Adolf Eichmann for arranging the transportation of Jews, and others, to the concentration camps--death camps-- like Auschwitz.

This inspired, if that is the word, Hannah Arendt to coin the phrase, banality of evil.

In the brave new world ushered in by the Nazis, evil is done not in any personal, clean way, if such is ever possible, with unquestioned responsibility; now it is carried out in a bureaucratic manner--nameless functionaries following meaningless orders, just more cogs in a machine of evil.

Evil grown so pervasive, so ordinary, no one notices it anymore.

The Nuremberg Trials of German war criminals after World war II determined that this is no defense, and that some orders are illegal and must not be followed.

This is not much help when the whole machinery of state is geared in this direction--when there are few apparent distinctions to assist in making such a decision.