The first cultural and historical examination of a problematic (legal) figure of the 20th and 21st centuries. The term "desk perpetrator" has had an astonishing career since the conviction of Adolf Eichmann. The organizer of the Holocaust exemplified the division of labor, bureaucratic annihilation, and shared responsibility in an almost ideal-typical manner. The authors systematically delineate the emergence, impact, and issues surrounding this category for the first time. They connect perspectives from literary, cultural, and contemporary history with those from social, political, and legal studies. The "desk perpetrator" emerges as a characteristic figure of modernity, associated with specific media. As an instigator or executor, he sees himself as a "cog" in a "gear" that challenges both jurists and cultural sociologists.