The Eichmann Trial - Documentation at the ISA

ג.1 | The capture of Adolf Eichmann: Preparations for his detention and interrogation

Eichmann being examined by a doctor in Ramle jail. Photograph: John Milli, GPO

  1. Meeting of the Government of Israel; Jerusalem, 23 May 1960

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Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced that the security services had captured Adolf Eichmann. A discussion ensued regarding the circumstances of Eichmann’s capture, his willingness to stand trial in Israel and appointing defence counsel to represent him.

2. Yosef Nahmias, Inspector-General of the Israel Police, to the Head of the Organization Branch and the Superintendent of the Detention Camp; Tel Aviv, 25 May 1960

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Instructions for adapting the remand center at Yagur as a special detention camp (known as “Iyyar camp”) for the detention of Adolf Eichmann. Other prisoners were removed and special precautions were taken to protect Eichmann from any attack or attempt to harm himself, but also to prevent his escape.

3. Yosef Nahmias, Inspector-General of the Israel Police, to Commander Avraham Selinger; Tel Aviv, 25 May 1960

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Appointment of Selinger as head of the police interrogation team in the Adolf Eichmann case (Bureau 06). Issues to be focused on in the interrogation and issues to be avoided in order not to jeopardise the continuing activities of the General Security Services.

ג.2 | The effect of the Eichmann Affair on Israeli-Argentina relations

4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 7 June 1960

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Gives the text of the letter presented by the Israeli ambassador in Buenos Aires to the Argentinian government, containing information about the identification of Eichmann as a result of the activities of a “group of volunteers”, and his transfer to the Israeli government. Affirms that the government had no knowledge about Eichmann’s capture. The letter also contains a translation of Eichmann’s declaration of his agreement to be tried in Israel of his own free will.

 For further information about the capture of Adolf Eichmann and relations between Israel and Argentina, see Chapter 21, “Capture of War Criminal Adolf Eichmann and his Abduction to Israel”, in Documents on the Foreign Policy of Israel, Vol. 14, 1960, Israel State Archives,1997

5. Rehavam Amir, Israel Minister in Warsaw, to Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Warsaw, 9 June 1960

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Proposes to ask Germany and Poland to present demands for Eichmann’s extradition, in order to reduce the pressure of the Argentinian government on Israel to return Eichmann to its soil.

6. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Weekly Survey No. 44; Jerusalem, 10 June 1960

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A survey of relations between Israel and Argentina regarding the Eichmann affair. Gives the reasoning behind the text of the letter to the Argentinian foreign minister about the “volunteers” who captured Eichmann, mainly the desire to reduce the damage to Argentina’s sovereignty, and describes the Argentinian government’s reaction to the affair.

7. Two telegrams on the presence of Josef Mengele in Argentina: Moshe Dak, in charge of the Israel Embassy in Vienna, to Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Vienna, 10 June 1960

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Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Jerusalem, 11 June 1960

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Proposes to use the fact of Mengele’s presence in Argentina to prove that Argentina would not have extradited Eichmann through regular channels.

 8. Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Heads of the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 17 June 1960

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Gives instructions to put public pressure on the Argentinian government and to encourage Jewish and non-Jewish anti-Nazi organizations to act against its demand for Eichmann’s return and its appeal to the Security Council.

9. Exchange of Letters

Lothar Hermann to Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; Coronel Suarez, Argentina, 3 February 1961 (German);

Ministry of Justice to Lothar Hermann; Jerusalem, 31 March 1961 (English)

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Hermann, a Jewish Holocaust survivor living in Argentina, requests a monetary reward for his help in finding Eichmann, in accordance with the promise that he had received from Tuvia Friedman, head of the Documentation Institute. Threatens that if his request is not granted, he will reveal the truth about Eichmann’s abduction and those involved in it.

A representative of the Ministry of Justice replies that the state of Israel did not offer a reward for Eichmann’s capture and any promise in this regard is not binding on it.

ג.3 | World reaction to Eichmann's capture and the proposed trial in Israel: How the Foreign Ministry dealt with this issue

10. Review of letters received by the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the Eichmann Affair; June – August 1960

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A summary of the contents of 410 letters which arrived at the Prime Minister’s Office from Israel and around the world about the capture of Eichmann in June – August, 1960, which were dealt with by the Government Press Office. Reviews the geographical distribution of the writers; distribution of the letters by type and contents; expressions of sympathy or support for Israel’s position; criticism of Israel about the way in which Eichmann was captured, and opposition to the intention to try him in an Israeli court; concern over the dispute between Argentina and Israel; views for and against the possibility of executing Eichmann.

 11. Rehavam Amir, Israel Minister in Warsaw, to the East European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Warsaw, 10 June 1960

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Review of Polish public opinion, which is mainly supportive of Eichmann’s capture by Israel and recognises its right to bring him to trial on its soil.

For further information about the Eichmann trial and its influence on relations between Israel and Poland, see Documents on Israeli-Polish Relations 1945-1967 (in Hebrew and Polish), Israel State Archives, Head Office of the State Archives in Poland, 2009. The Polish-language volume (Stosunki polsko-izraelskie [1945-1967] Wybor dokumentow) was published in Warsaw by the Head Office of the State Archives. See their website http://www.archiwa.gov.pl

12. Yehuda Gideon, Acting Director of the East European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Commander Avraham Selinger, Head of Bureau 06; Jerusalem, 3 August 1960.

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A review of the difficulties in obtaining assistance from institutions in Eastern Europe in preparing the indictment in the Eichmann trial, due to their governments’ reservations.

13. Rehavam Amir, Israel Minister in Warsaw, to the East European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Warsaw, no date.

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Survey of the Eichmann affair and its influence on Israeli-Polish relations. It has been suggested that the Polish government’s anxiety on the eve of the trial is due to fear that Israel will not present a full picture of the Holocaust in its desire to avoid offending some West German political leaders, and the defence counsel will try to put the blame on others, such as the Poles. Poland may decide to avoid cooperating in the trial as a result, probably also in the hope of appeasing the Arabs.

14. Michael Arnon, Counsellor for Press and Information at the Israel Embassy in Washington, to Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Washington, 5 July 1960

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A summary of the consultation at the embassy to assess the state of public opinion in the United States with regard to the Eichmann affair, in light of the reservations heard about his capture and Israel’s right to put him on trial. Presents proposals to ensure a speedy and fair trial and to avoid the impression of a show trial, and suggests that if a death sentence for Eichmann can be avoided, it would make a great impression.

15. Yohanan Cohen, Deputy Director, Information Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jerusalem, 12 July 1960

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Analysis of the reactions in the world press as a reflection of public opinion on Eichmann’s abduction and transfer to Israel. Presents proposals for a public relations campaign to deal with problems in this regard.

16. Netanel Lorch, Director of the African Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Bureau of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Information Division; Jerusalem, 14 August 1960

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Proposes to take advantage of the Eichmann trial to improve attitudes towards Israel in Africa, by presenting Jews and Africans as victims of racism who share the same fate.

17. Menachem Daniv, Chargé d’Affaires, Israel Legation in Budapest to the East European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Budapest, 14 September 1960

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Review of the reactions in the Hungarian press to the Eichmann affair. The articles emphasize the West German leaders’ apprehensions about the trial and its implications for politicians and industrial firms in Germany.

18. Eliahu K. Livneh, Chargé d’Affaires, Israel Legation in Prague, to  Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the East European Division; Prague, 1 February 1961

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Review of positions presented in the press in Czechoslovakia and the position of the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry on the Eichmann affair. One article emphasized the link between Eichmann and the murder of the children deported from the destroyed Czech village of Lidice. It also demanded to bring to trial Eichmann’s accomplices, who are walking around scot free in West Germany.

19. Shimshon Arad, Israel Consul-General in New York, to the United States Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; New York, 11 May 1961

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Review of the positive change in reactions to the Eichmann trial in the United States since the opening of the trial.

20. Aviezer Chelouche, Israel Minister in Belgrade to the East European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Belgrade, 26 May 1961

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Reports on discussions with the ambassadors of East European countries on the Eichmann trial, among them a scathing attack by the Soviet ambassador on the way in which the trial is being conducted and on Israel’s failure to expose people in high places with a Nazi past in West Germany.

ג.4 | Reaction in Germany to Eichmann's capture and the trial

Page from a booklet attacking the government’s policy of friendship with West Germany printed during the trial, ISA, File K592/2

21. Israel Mission in Cologne to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Mission (Jerusalem) and the West European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cologne, 25 May 1960ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/293/13

First reactions of the press and the government in West Germany to the capture of Eichmann and his transfer to Israel. Their attitude to possible involvement of Germany in the trial.

22. Exchange of Letters

   Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem to the Israel Mission in Cologne; 14 June 1960

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Asks for confirmation of press reports that the German news magazine “Der Spiegel” published an article claiming that the Eichmann trial is a show trial whose goal is to squeeze additional economic aid from West Germany after the reparations payments end.

Israel Mission in Cologne to the West European Division; Jerusalem, 15 June 1960

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An analysis of “Der Spiegel”‘s position against the background of the fears in certain circles in West Germany of reopening investigations following Eichmann’s arrest.

23. Pinhas Rodan, Head of Consular Section in Cologne, to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Cologne, 16 November 1960

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Investigations are being made by official elements in West Germany as to how the Vatican granted Eichmann a laisser passer to Argentina and how Eichmann’s family reached Argentina.

24. (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne, to Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cologne, 18 November 1960

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The West German foreign ministry is concerned about a world-wide wave of hate against it following Eichmann’s capture, and the possibility that the  Democratic Republic (East Germany) will exploit his trial to incite against West Germany and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. West German leaders hope that Israel will not support such a line, in view of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion’s position on the “new Germany” and the reparations paid to Israel for material damage during the Holocaust. They are also anxious about the agreement to film the trial, which is arousing fears that it will be turned into a “show trial”

25. Exchange of Letters

Professor Dr. Friedrich Kaul to Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; Dan Hotel, Tel Aviv, 19 February 1961 

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A demand by Adv. Kaul from East Germany to represent four Jewish citizens of the DDR in a civil suit against Eichmann in Israel. Kaul notes that he holds vital documents proving Eichmann’s guilt.

Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice to Professor Dr. Friedrich Kaul; Jerusalem, 21 February 1961

Rosen repeats the reply given to Kaul in a meeting on the previous day, that it is impossible to add a civil suit to the case against Eichmann.

26. Moshe Hess, Deputy to the Official in Charge of the Information Section, Israel Mission in Cologne, to Leo Savir, Deputy Head of the Mission; Cologne, 20 February 1960

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Talk with a German leader about plans by the Eastern bloc to exploit the Eichmann trial for propaganda against Israel and West Germany, and about Adv. Kaul’s trip to Israel. Passes on information about Eichmann’s statement that he did not know Hans Globke, the director of Chancellor Adenauer’s bureau, before 1946.

27. Leo Savir, Deputy Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne, to the West European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cologne, 2 March 1961

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Eugen Gerstenmaier, the president of the Bundestag, and Chancellor Adenauer intend to make a declaration in the Bundestag on the significance of the Eichmann trial for the German people. They will express agreement with the intention to use the trial to reflect the extent of the Holocaust. Adenauer hopes thus to neutralize public opinion around the world and East German propaganda.

28. Leo Savir, Deputy Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne, to the Prime Minister’s Bureau; Cologne, 14 March 1961

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A translated summary of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s comments at a press conference on the link between the Eichmann trial and West German-Israel relations. His response to claims regarding the Nazi past of his bureau chief Hans Globke.

29. Leo Savir, Deputy Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne, to Arye Levavi, Acting Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cologne, 15 March 1961

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Meeting with Felix von Eckhardt, the West German state secretary and director of the press bureau, in which he expressed Germany’s identification with the goals of the Eichmann trial on the one hand, and its concerns about exploitation of the trial for incitement against Germany on the other.

30. Zvi Brosh, Head of the Information Section at the Israel Mission in Cologne, to the Director-General’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the West European Division; Cologne, 11 April 1961

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Text of Chancellor Adenauer’s speech on television on the eve of the opening of the Eichmann trial regarding the German government’s position on the trial. Mentions the purification from Nazism that the German people have undergone, the reparations paid to Israel and Ben-Gurion’s statements on the difference between  Germany today and Nazi Germany.

31. Meshulam Varon, West European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Jerusalem, 27 April 1961

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Report on a discussion with Dr. Kronk, a member of the West German delegation to the Eichmann trial in Israel. Kronk noted that the trial and the way it is being conducted are dispelling his government’s apprehensions about Israel’s attitude. However, he expressed concerns about incitement by East Germany and the Communist Bloc. He raised the possibility of the delegation remaining in Israel and serving as a kind of official representative of Germany

32. Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Leo Savir, Deputy Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Jerusalem, 5 May 1961

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On the Eichmann trial’s educational role for the Jewish people and other nations, especially the Germans. Kaul’s attack on West Germany has failed. However, Yahil notes that it is impossible to prevent the negative comments directed at Hans Globke by the Israeli press.

33. Zvi Brosh, Head of the Information Section at the Israel Mission in Cologne, to the West European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cologne, 4 July 1961

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Survey of reports in the German press since the opening of the trial. Brosh especially notes the disappointment with the appearance of Eichmann himself, and Israelis’ reservations regarding the court’s ‘gentle handling’ of him; the contradiction between Eichmann’s claim that he was a “small cog” in the machine, and his attempts to present himself as an influential person. In addition, Brosh reviews the public response in Germany, which avoids discussing the trial for fear of being confronted with uncomfortable questions by the younger generation.

A diagram prepared by Eichmann to show his role in the SS bureaucracy, Israel State Archives

34. Shabtai Rosenne, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Judge Yehoshua Eisenberg, Director of the Courts; Jerusalem, 3 August 1961

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Discusses the requests received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the West German authorities to interrogate Eichmann regarding the Nazi trials conducted in Germany, and the refusal by the legal authorities in Israel to deal with them till the conclusion of his cross examination and the stage prior to handing down the verdict. Rosenne wants to facilitate the Germans’ efforts with regard to their requests to interrogate Eichmann, as they had dealt efficiently with equivalent Israeli requests.

35. Zvi Brosh, Head of the Information Section at the Israel Mission in Cologne, to the West European and Information Divisions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Mission; Cologne, 27 December 1961

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A review of reaction in West Germany to the death sentence handed down on Eichmann. Opinions on the issue whether to carry out the sentence or to commute it to life imprisonment. Positions in the press regarding the conclusions Germans should draw from the trial, regarding the nation’s conscience and facing up to its past.

36. Zvi Brosh, Head of the Information Section at the Israel Mission in Cologne, to the West European and Information Divisions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cologne, 3 June 1962

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A review of reactions in the German press to Eichmann’s execution: requests for a pardon, justification of the sentence and reports of signs of antisemitic reactions in Argentina and East Europe. Some expressed the opinion that the German people have no right to view the Eichmann trial as atonement for their guilt.

ג.5 | Collecting the evidence and preparing for the trial

Police Commander Avraham Selinger, the Head of Bureau 06. Photograph: GPO

37. Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 27 June 1960

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A request to the diplomatic representatives of Israel to probe the willingness of foreign governments to assist in gathering evidence and preparing for the trial.

38. Assistant Commander Ephraim Hofstadter, Deputy Head of Bureau 06, to Chaim Yahil,  Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; [Iyyar Camp], 19 September 1960

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A request for assistance in collecting evidence in Hungary about Eichmann’s role in organizing the Final Solution there, including  copies of the testimony given in trials in Hungary against people accused of Nazi crimes and documents collected by a Hungarian historian.

39. Commander Avraham Selinger, Head of Bureau 06, to Yosef Nahmias, Inspector-General of the Israel Police; [Iyyar Camp], 25 November 1960

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The attorney-general has informed them that Foreign Minister Golda Meir considers it desirable to include in the trial connections between the Nazis in general, and Eichmann in particular, and the Arab countries and the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini. Surveys the testimonies and documents on the subject.

40. Summary of a meeting held at Yad Va’Shem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, on selecting witnesses to appear in the Eichmann trial; Jerusalem, 23 November 1960

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A discussion among representatives of the police, the prosecution and Yad Va’Shem, about which witnesses should be called and the issues that should be emphasized in their testimony; cooperation among the various bodies.

41. Commander Avraham Selinger, Head of Bureau 06, to Yosef Nahmias, Inspector-General of the Israel Police; [Iyyar camp], 11 December 1960

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Opposes the opinion of the minister of justice, Pinhas Rosen, that Adolf Eichmann’s memoirs should not be used against him by the prosecution. These memoirs were recorded by the Dutch journalist Willem Sassen in 1956, and were published in part in ‘Life’, the American weekly.

A complete copy of the “Sassen Document” can be found in the Israel State Archives.

To view pages from the Sassen report

42. Michael Musmanno to Yitzhak Olshan, President of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem; Pittsburgh, 28 December 1960 (In English)

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Musmanno, a judge in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, who was invited by the government to serve as an observer at the Eichmann trial, proposes to appear as a witness based on his previous experience as a judge in the Nuremburg trials.

43. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Golda Meir, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Jerusalem, 18 January 1961

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Proposes to invite official observers from the governments of Argentina and West Germany to the trial. Representatives of the four powers that presided over the Nuremberg war crime trials should also be invited, in order to present the Eichmann trial as a continuation of that undertaking.

44. Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 25 January 1961

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Directives for dealing with the many requests of governments, private organizations and individuals for their representatives to be present at the Eichmann trial.

45. Commander Avraham Selinger, Head of Bureau 06, to Yosef Nahmias, Inspector-General of the Israel Police: Summary Report on the Bureau’s Activities; [Iyyar Camp], 14 February 1961

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Summarizes the action taken by the police for the detention and interrogation of Adolf Eichmann; collection of evidence in Israel and abroad for the trial, according to countries; summaries of the interrogation and collection of evidence, and the names of the unit commanders who composed the summaries. An introductory note mentions the enormous load on the police investigators and suggests ways to compensate them.

46. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion; Jerusalem, 1 March 1961

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Praise for the police officers of Bureau 06 on their work and on the high level of the summaries and evidence they presented to him on the eve of the trial.

ג.6 | The appointment of defence counsel

47. Theodor Meron, Legal Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the West European Division; Jerusalem, 7 July 1960

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A request has been made by Dr. Robert Servatius, a West German lawyer, to the minister of justice to be allowed to represent Eichmann at the trial. An additional request on this matter was received from a law professor named Carrington. Discusses the amendment to the law that would be needed to enable Eichmann to be represented by foreign counsel.

48. Gabriel Bach, Legal Adviser of Bureau 06, to Shlomo Cohen, the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad); Jerusalem, 19 July 1960

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A opinion prepared by the Israel delegation in Cologne regarding Adv. Robert Servatius following his request to defend Eichmann. Includes discussion of whether he was a member of the Nazi party, his army service, his political leanings, his legal standing and an assessment of his abilities as a lawyer.

49. Exchange of Letters

  Adv. Robert Servatius, to Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice;  Cologne, 27 June 1960 (German, translated into Hebrew);

Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice, to Adv. Robert Servatius; Jerusalem, 20 July 1960 (In English)

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 Adv. Robert Servatius writes that he is prepared to fulfill the Eichmann family’s request to undertake Adolf Eichmann’s defence. He wishes to inquire whether a German lawyer can represent the accused in Israel. Servatius notes that he is familiar with the issue due to his professional experience in the Nuremberg trials and other trials in which he represented defendants with a Nazi past.

Rosen confirms the receipt of Servatius’ letter and notes that a change of law that would enable a non-Israeli lawyer to represent a defendant in Israel under special circumstances is currently being discussed.

50. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion; Jerusalem, 2 August 1960

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A request to speed up the passage of the amendment to the law to enable a foreign lawyer to represent a defendant in an Israeli trial, in order not to delay Eichmann’s meeting with his defence lawyer. Delay may lead to complaints by Eichmann and the legal profession that his rights have been violated.

51. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion; Jerusalem, 22 August 1960 (with an attachment in German and its Hebrew translation)

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A report on Adv. Servatius’ letter, in which he declares – as the law requires – that he had never been a member of the Nazi party, and attaches confirmation from the president of the Bar Association in Cologne.

52. Memorandum on the Security Arrangements for Robert Servatius, Eichmann’s Defence Counsel; Tel Aviv, 19 September 1960

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In a meeting on this issue between police and GSS (General Security Service) personnel, it was decided that the GSS would be responsible for Servatius’ safety, and the security procedures were reviewed.

53. Summary of a meeting between Assistant Commander Ephraim Hofstadter, Deputy Head of Bureau 06, and Simon Wiesenthal; 22 October 1960

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Describes information which Simon Wiesenthal obtained from the office of Eichmann’s brother, Adv. Robert Eichmann, regarding the Eichmann family’s plans to finance his defence, and the line of defence Servatius will use. Wiesenthal reported that since Eichmann’s arrest, there has been a great increase in the number of clients at his brother’s office in Linz, Austria. They also discussed information on Eichmann’s connections with the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj  Amin El-Husseini and the aid to be provided by Wiesenthal in obtaining documents to help in preparing the indictment.

54. Zeev Argaman, Deputy Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Shabtai Rosenne, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jerusalem, 7 November, 1960

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A report on a visit to Israel by Servatius, Eichmann’s defence counsel, his meetings with Attorney-General Hausner regarding the trial proceedings and appointment of an Israeli lawyer to assist him. He also met with Eichmann and received Eichmann’s power of attorney to represent him and to publish his memoirs to finance his defence.

55. Simon Wiesenthal to Deputy Commander Ephraim Hofstadter, Deputy Head of Bureau 06; Linz, 7 December 1960 (German, translated into Hebrew)

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Passes on information that Servatius considered withdrawing his agreement to represent Eichmann following the publication of Eichmann’s memoirs in the weekly magazine ‘Life’. Also describes the efforts made by Robert Eichmann to defend his brother, among others, by revealing testimony that raises serious accusations against Hans Globke.

56. Leo Savir, Deputy Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne, to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Cologne, 13 December 1960

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Savir’s conversation at the West German Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the constitutional and political considerations of the German government in relation to the appointment of Servatius as Eichmann’s defence counsel. The government prefers that the Israeli government pay his legal fees, and thus save it from political embarrassment.

57. Record of meetings between Adv. Robert Servatius and Adolf Eichmann; 20-22 December 1960

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Three meetings in which Servatius and Eichmann discussed a variety of issues: Eichmann’s conditions of detention and the attitude towards him; contact with his family; financing his legal expenses; the circumstances under which his memoirs were recorded (the Sassen document) and their publication in ‘Life’ ; the inclusion of Kurt Becher and Rudolph Kastzner’s names in the trial; the defence strategy; Eichmann’s visits to Auschwitz and viewing of the gas chambers; Eichmann’s beliefs today compared with those he held when he was a Nazi officer; his opinion of Adolf Hitler; his opinion regarding the circumstances of his capture and his captors’ actions; the publishing rights of his memoirs.

58. Adv. Robert Servatius to Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; Jerusalem, 22 December 1960 (in German)

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Requests that the Israeli government finance the defence expenses and fees, in view of the Eichmann family’s inability to do so.  Servatius notes that Eichmann agreed to stand trial in Israel on the understanding that he would have a defence counsel appointed for him.

59. Tuvia Friedman, Head of the Documentation Institute, to Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; Haifa, 23 December 1960

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Expresses his own opposition and that of Holocaust survivors in general to the covering of the expenses of Eichmann’s defence counsel by the Israeli government, since the Eichmann family has the financial resources to pay for his defence (see also Document No. 67).

60. Chief Superintendent L. Koppel,  Assistant to Head of the Organisation Branch on Operation Iyyar, Israel Police, to Yosef Nahmias, Inspector-General of the Israel Police; 24 January 1961

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Summary of a meeting with Servatius, Eichmann’s lawyer, in Jerusalem. Servatius requested an immediate meeting with Eichmann, and expressed his apprehensions at the delay in the final confirmation by the government of his appointment as defence counsel and arrangements for his payment. He asked that his meetings with Eichmann to be ‘not as they say, eye to eye, but rather ear to ear’, that is, without any eavesdropping. The issue of calling defence witnesses.

61. Commander Aharon Sela, Head of the Organisation Branch, Israel Police, to the Superintendant  of Iyyar Camp; Standing Orders: Dr. Servatius’ Meetings with Eichmann; Tel Aviv, 1 February 1961

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Procedures for the meetings and the presence of police guards during them at the detention camp where Eichmann was held prior to his trial.

ג.7 | The Ben-Gurion government and the Eichmann affair

Isser Harel, GPO

62. Meeting of the Government of Israel; Jerusalem, 29 May 1960

  ISA/RG 77/G/12968/10

Report by Isser Harel, the head of the Mossad, the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, on the circumstances of Adolf Eichmann’s capture. Prime Minister  Ben-Gurion and other ministers emphasize that the trial should reveal the full picture of the Holocaust in order to remind the public in Israel and abroad of the Nazi crimes towards the Jews. The trial should be public, but it must be a fair one, not a ‘”show trial”.  Preparations for the trial.

63. Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, to Isser Harel, Head of the Mossad, the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations; Jerusalem, 2 November 1960

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/4

Reports on a meeting of Prime Minister Ben-Gurion with the journalist Moshe (Moish) Pearlman, who had previously served as his adviser and head of the Information Services in the Prime Minister’s Office, about his book “The Capture of Adolf Eichmann”. Comments by the prime minister and Harel on sections of the book about the abduction of Eichmann and his transfer to Israel. Pearlman will not mention the Israeli government’s role in the process. Kollek notes that it is important that the book appear before the trial, to assist in shaping public opinion.

Appendix: Moshe Pearlman to Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office; [Jerusalem], 8 November 1960 (In English)

ISA/RG43.4 /G7275/5

Pearlman’s reaction to the demand for changes in his book.

64. Record of a Meeting between Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, and Commander  Avraham Selinger, Head of Bureau 06; 22 November 1960

ISA/RG 79/A/3062/1

Subjects discussed included preparations for the trial and cooperation between the police and the prosecution, the use of Eichmann’s memoirs as published in “Life” magazine and Bonn’s apprehensions about reports that the trial may become a ‘show trial’. Hausner reported on his meeting with the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of justice, and their request to focus on certain points, such as emphasizing Nazi racism, downplaying the role of the Allies and emphasizing the connection between Eichmann and the mufti of Jerusalem. (See also Document No. 39.)

65. Meeting of the Government of Israel; Jerusalem, 4 December 1960

ISA/RG 77/G/12969/6

Pinhas Rosen, the minister of justice, asks whether to allow Adv. Servatius to meet with Adolf Eichmann in private, without a policeman listening to their conversations. Rosen and Attorney-General Hausner support this request in order to prevent criticism of Israel abroad and to preserve the rules of a fair trial. Isser Harel objects, due to information on Servatius’ links with neo-Nazi groups and Harel’s fears that he will forward messages from them to Eichmann that will jeopardize the possibility of learning from him about other Nazi criminals or direct him to commit suicide. Most of the ministers support Harel’s position, arguing that this is a special case, and as Ben-Gurion had said, they should not fear “what the Gentiles will say”. The government decides by a majority not to allow Eichmann’s lawyer to meet with him privately, and to continue stationing a policeman to listen to their conversations (see Document No. 57). Also includes discussion of State financing for the defence (see Document No. 67).

66. Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice, to Binyamin Eliav, Consul-General in New York; Jerusalem, 26 December 1960

ISA/RG 74/3145/1

After consultation with the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs and others, it was decided to contact Professor Salo Baron and request that he testify as a historical expert on East European Jewry before the Holocaust. Eliav is requested to specify the topics of his testimony and the questions that he will be asked.

67. Meeting of the Government of Israel; Jerusalem, 1 January 1961

ISA/RG 77/G/12969/8

A discussion on several issues related to the Eichmann trial. It was decided that the government will bear the costs of Eichmann’s lawyer in the amount of $20,000. Preparations for passing a law regarding the death sentence, due to the claim that the present legal situation does not allow carrying out the death sentence in Israel.

68. Moshe Sharett, Chairman of ‘Am Oved’ Publishing House, to Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office; Jerusalem, 14 January 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/4

Request for confirmation in writing that the prime minister has read the manuscript of Moshe (Moish) Pearlman’s book about the capture of Eichmann and inserted corrections, so that it can be published by ‘Am Oved’.

69. Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, to Golda Meir, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Jerusalem, 15 February 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/4

In response to Meir’s request not to mention Argentina in Moshe Pearlman’s book about the capture of Eichmann, explains that this is not realistic. Describes the steps taken to ensure that the government is not linked with the capture. The book will help to explain the background to the affair and to influence public opinion.

70. Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Jerusalem, 14 March 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/5

Talks conducted among government leaders, with Prime Minister Ben-Gurion among them, on the sensitivity of West Germany regarding the Eichmann trial, in the light of Chancellor Adenauer’s forthcoming visit to the United States, and on the possibility that the government will publish a statement that will emphasize the difference between Adenauer’s Germany and the Germany of Eichmann.

71. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General and Prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial; Jerusalem, 28 March 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/1

Ben-Gurion’s comments on the draft of Hausner’s opening address at the trial, which he has read. He emphasizes that it is important to use the term “Nazi Germany”, rather than “Germany”, in order to distinguish between Germany in the past and that of the present.

72. Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, to Gideon Hausner, Attorney-General and Prosecutor in the Eichmann Trial; Jerusalem, 21 April 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/5

Congratulates Hausner on his opening address at the trial and notes the great response to it around the world. Notes that the conduct of the proceedings proves that it is genuine and not a ‘show trial’.

73. Meeting of the Government of Israel; Jerusalem, 7 May 1961

ISA/RG 77/G/12969/11

Hausner, the prosecutor in the Eichmann trial, participated in the meeting. Hausner presents the difficulties of including issues that are not directly connected to Eichmann, such as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, in the trial, due to the judges’ opposition. However his view is that it is impossible to tell the story of the Holocaust without referring to them. Discussion on the proposal to give two defence witnesses from Germany with a Nazi past immunity from prosecution, according to the law for prosecuting the Nazis and their collaborators. The government voted by a narrow majority (6:5) to approve the immunity. (In the event they were heard in Germany).

74. Shabtai Rosenne, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 26 May 1961

ISA/RG 130.23/MFA/3352/9

It has been decided at the highest levels that during the testimony on the destruction of Hungarian Jewry in the Eichmann trial, the Jewish Agency’s reaction to the Holocaust, Chaim Weizmann’s efforts to save the Hungarian Jews and the British refusal to take the appropriate military and political action would be revealed for the first time. After this Eichmann’s links to the mufti of Jerusalem would be exposed.

75. Meeting of the Government of Israel; Jerusalem, 29 May 1962

ISA/RG 77/A/8182/1

Discussion on the government’s position regarding a recommendation to President Ben-Zvi on the issue of granting Eichmann a pardon or commuting his sentence. Gideon Hausner, the attorney-general and the prosecutor in the trial, participated in the discussion. Ben-Gurion reports on his meeting with Martin Buber and on letters he had received on the subject. Ministers Levi Eshkol and Yosef Burg express their reservations on carrying out the death sentence, but the government decides in the end unanimously not to recommend to the president commuting Eichmann’s sentence.

ג.8 | Press coverage and the media

76. David Landor, Director, Government Press Office, to Michael Arnon, Counsellor for Press and Information at the Israel Embassy in Washington; Jerusalem, 5 February 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/4

Disagreements over the issue of the television filming of the Eichmann trial, the grant of exclusivity to the “Capital Cities” firm, and the claims of the major  networks in the United States. Arnon’s demand to give special consideration to “Life” magazine in photographing the trial for the press has caused problems.

77. Mordechai Navon and Yitzhak Agadati, Geva Films, to Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office; Tel Aviv, 6 February 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/4

Protests against the decision by the Government Press Office to grant exclusive television filming rights of the Eichmann trial to the American firm “Capital Cities”, instead of to a deserving local firm.

78. David Landor, Director, Government Press Office, to (Felix) Eliezer Shinnar, Head of the Israel Mission in Cologne; Jerusalem, 7 February 1961

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/293/16

Arrangements for special attention to the German journalists coming to cover the trial.

79. Meeting of the Council for Distributing Tickets to the Eichmann Trial; Jerusalem, 12 February 1961

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/293/16

In view of the huge demand (417 journalists from 35 different countries will be covering the trial), a discussion was held on allocating the tickets to the trial to institutions and individuals, and on the order of seating in the courtroom.

For more information on the filming of the trial for television and live radio broadcasts, see Amit Pinchevski, Tamar Liebes and Ora Herman, Eichmann on the Air: Radio and the Making of a Historic Trial.

ג.9 | Implications of the trial: Possible reopening of the Kasztner Trial and bringing other Nazi criminals to justice

80. Correspondence between Shmuel Tamir, the lawyer of Malkiel Gruenwald, the defendent in the Kasztner trial, and Attorney-General Gideon Hausner

Adv. Shmuel Tamir to Gideon Hausner; Tel Aviv, 13 January 1961; Hausner to Tamir; Jerusalem, 18 January 1961; Tamir to Hausner, Tel Aviv, 23 January 1961; Hausner to Tamir; Jerusalem, 2 February 1961

ISA/RG 74/A/3145/1

Tamir requests permission to question Eichmann on his connections with Rudolph Kasztner, in order to prepare a retrial in the case against Malkiel Gruenwald, allegedly in order to right a legal wrong and an historic injustice. In reply, Hausner refuses to interfere with the conduct of Adolf Eichmann’s interrogation by the police, and allow him to be questioned on other matters. After a protest by Tamir, Hausner does not object to Tamir’s request, but presents the difficulties in scheduling  a meeting with Eichmann.

81. Tuvia Friedman, Head of the Documentation Institute, to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion; Haifa, 1 December 1961

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6383/6

Requests the prime minister to order the Israel Police to take advantage of the great amount of documentary material collected for the Eichmann trial to continue investigating and collecting evidence against other Nazi criminals, in order to bring them to trial. The letter is also signed by several Knesset members and members of the ghetto underground resistance movements.

Appendix: David Ben-Gurion to Tuvia Friedman, 8 January 1962

RG74/3145/8

Ben-Gurion disagrees with Friedman’s request made in the name of the millions of Holocaust victims – no-one has the right to speak for them.

82. Tuvia Friedman, Head of the Documentation Institute, to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion; Jerusalem, 5 April 1962

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6383/6

Requests to be allowed to interrogate Adolf Eichmann after confirmation of the verdict. Friedman has already received replies from Eichmann in writing about a Nazi criminal (subsequently arrested), and his confirmation that the German people were well aware of the fate of the Jews during 1942-1945. Eichmann should be interrogated about other Nazi criminals, so that his testimony will assist in capturing them.

83. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Pinhas Rosen, Minister of Justice; Jerusalem, 10 July 1962

ISA/RG 74/A/3145/8

Request by Shmuel Tamir,to receive the Sassen document in order to look for material on Eichmann’s connections with Kasztner that will assist in conducting a retrial for his client (see Document Nos. 41 and 80).

ג.10 | Implications of the trial

84. Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 6 April 1961

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/584/8

On the eve of the trial, discusses expectations about its first stages: possible objections as to the authority of an Israeli court, the contents of the indictment, the issue of immunity for defence witnesses.

85. Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Bechor Shalom Shitreet, Minister of Police; Jerusalem, 11 April 1961

ISA/RG 79/A/3062/1

In answer to Shitrit’s request to see his opening address at the Eichmann trial, Hausner explains that he consulted about the contents with the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs – on the political aspect, and with the minister of justice – on the legal aspect. Hausner warns that the document must be kept confidential and declares his willingness to  consult with Commander Avraham Selinger, Head of Bureau 06 (see also Document No. 71).

86. Shabtai Rosenne, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 7 May 1961

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/293/15

Presents the difference of opinion between the president of the court at the Eichmann trial, Judge Landau, and the prosecutor, Hausner, regarding the range of the testimony and its contents, and the relevance of the uprisings in the ghettos.

87. Shabtai Rosenne, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; [Jerusalem], 9 May 1961

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/584/8

Explains the reasons for the government decision to allow the granting of immunity to two witnesses with a Nazi past, so that they could testify at the Eichmann trial (see Document No. 73).

88. Exchange of Letters

Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General,to Izik Ramba; Jerusalem, 9 May 1961;

ISA/RG 74/A/3145/2

In reply to a question addressed to him publicly by Ramba, a veteran journalist and editor of the right wing ‘Herut’ newspaper, about the considerations involved in choosing the prosecution witnesses in the Eichmann trial, Hausner presents the working procedures of Bureau 06 and rejects the implied claim that the witnesses were chosen according to their party affiliation.

Izik Ramba to Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General; Tel Aviv, 18 May 1961

ISA/RG 74/A/3146/10

Ramba replies that that was not his intention. He was outraged by the testimony given by Zvia Lubetkin and Abba Kovner, who minimized the part played by the fighting organizations belonging to the right wing ‘Betar’ movement.

89. Exchange of Letters

Haika Grossman to Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General; Kibbutz Evron, 7 June 1961; Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, to Haika Grossman; Jerusalem, 11 August 1961

ISA/RG 74/A/3146/10

Haika Grossman, one of the leaders of the underground organization in the Bialystok ghetto, protests that she was not invited to testify at the Eichmann trial on the ghetto uprising, despite its important place in the story of the Holocaust. Claims that her rejection harmed the full presentation of the Holocaust and hints that it was the result of irrelevant considerations.

Hausner replies that the story of the revolts, including the Bialystock ghetto, had been given sufficient importance at the trial.

90. Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Rehavam Amir, Israel Minister in Warsaw; Jerusalem, 17 June 1961

ISA/RG 130.09/MFA/2307/9

Yahil writes that the Poles can be useful to the prosecution if they give them a copy of Eichmann’s interview with Sassen and reveal how the document reached them.

91. Nahum Astar, United States Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Chaim Yahil, Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Jerusalem, 17 August 1961

ISA/RG 130.23/MFA/3352/6

Summarizes the work of a group of Foreign Ministry personnel who were in charge of contact with the foreign journalists, national delegations, observers and other visitors who arrived for the Eichmann trial. They dealt with objections to Israel’s right to judge Eichmann; a crisis with the Yugoslavian delegation as a result of Prof. Baron’s remarks about the partisans in Yugoslavia and the struggle between East and West Germany, which found expression at the trial. Describes the impression made by the witnesses and the general impression that it was a fair trial.

ג.11 | Conviction and verdict: Public reaction to the death sentence and the execution of Eichmann

92. Letter to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion; 26 May 1960

ISA/RG55/G/3930/4

Citizens whose relatives were murdered in Poland express their satisfaction on hearing that Eichmann had been captured and offer to execute him with the            their own hands.

93. Sarah Shafir to the Members of the Knesset; Ashkelon, 19 June 1960

ISA/RG 60/K/592/2

Thanks the anonymous people responsible for Eichmann’s capture and supports the death penalty, because alive, Eichmann will encourage the rebirth of Hitlerism and serve as a symbol of heroism to the followers of Nazism.

94. Hannah Bernheim-Rosenzweig, Womens’ International League for Peace and Freedom, Israel Branch, to President Izhak Ben-Zvi; Jerusalem, 6 June 1961

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/2

The organization’s members oppose sentencing Eichmann to any punishment, due to the antisemitic feeling the trial has aroused and because there is no sentence appropriate to the severity of Eichmann’s deeds.

95. Michael Arnon, Counsellor for Press and Information at the Israel Embassy in Washington, to Shabtai Rosenne, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Washington, 7 June, 1961

ISA/RG 130.23/MFA/3352/7

Warns about the pressure that will arise if the death penalty is imposed in the Eichmann trial, and the Jewish personalities and organizations in the United States who have already requested not to sentence Eichmann to death because of their fears of antisemitic reactions, their liberal approach, their revulsion from the death penalty, etc. Arnon also discusses the significance of the Eichmann trial for increasing public awareness about the Holocaust and reviews the publications on this subject since the affair began.

96. Meshulam Varon, West European Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Zvi Brosh, Head of the Information Section at the Israel Delegation in Cologne; Jerusalem, 23 June 1961

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/584/9

A report on his talk with a German journalist in which he heard about opposition to sentencing Eichmann to the death penalty among Israelis he met, among whom were people who had suffered Nazi persecution. The journalist also met with Shmuel Hugo Bergmann, and heard about a possible public petition against the death penalty for Eichmann initiated by Martin Buber (see Document No. 105).

97. Exchange of Letters

Tamar Shoy to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of the State of Israel; Zürich, 29 June 1961; Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel, to Tamar Shoy; Jerusalem, 6 July 1961

ISA/RG 105/PRES/11/40

 Tamar Shoy, Ben-Zvi’s sister-in-law, proposes to transfer Eichmann to Poland for carrying out the death sentence, due to the fear that executing him in Israel will lead to acts of vengeance against Jews world-wide

Ben-Zvi notes that Israel has the right as a sovereign country to judge Eichmann and claims that only after his capture did other countries begin to bring other Nazi criminals to justice. In addition, there is no reason to fear carrying out the death sentence because of possible acts of vengeance.

98. Milton Gross to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Rochester, New York, 1 January 1962 (In English)

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/3

Supports hanging Eichmann in international waters, because his actions were against humanity in general, and not just against the Jewish people. Proposes scattering his ashes there, so that there will be no grave which might become a place of pilgrimage.

99. Max Kreines to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Paris, 2 January 1962

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/3

On behalf of his wife, who was murdered in Auschwitz, he requests the president not to spare Eichmann and not to pardon him, despite the intention of Martin Buber and Shmuel Hugo Bergmann to ask the president not to execute him.

100. Prof. Theo C. Panos to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Little Rock, Arkansas, 19 January 1962 (In English)

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/3

The writer, a professor of pediatrics, expresses his objection to pronouncing the death sentence on Eichmann. Notes that this is an opportunity for Israel to serve as an example and an inspiration to the world against capital punishment.

101. I. Kemp to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Johannesburg, 23 January 1962 (In English)

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/5

Objects to commuting Adolf Eichmann’s sentence because such a step will show weakness and make a mockery of the entire trial.

102. Prof. Isidore Farber to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Iowa City, 22 January 1962 (In English)

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/3

The writer, a professor at Iowa University, expresses his agreement with the psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West, who wrote to the president in December 1961, and opposed the death penalty as barbaric and inefficient, arguing that he should act according to the humanitarian principle of mercy towards all. Adds a further argument:  because the Jews are committed to the highest ethics.

103. Dr. Aapeli Saarisalo, to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Helsinki, 27 February 1962 (In English)

ISA/RG 105/PRES/205/5

In his own name, and in the name of other friends of Israel, he requests that Israel forgive Eichmann for his sins. It was right to judge him in Israel, but if Israel forgives him it will be a lesson for the whole world.

104. Nelly Sachs to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion; Stockholm, 27 March 1962 (In German)

ISA/RG 43/GL/11890/33

Despite the fact that she sees herself as a victim of Nazism, Sachs, a poetess and future Nobel Prize winner, requests that the prime minister not allow Eichmann to be sentenced to death. In her opinion, an emphasis should be put on the righteous who acted for all mankind even in those darkest of times, and not on the wicked such as Eichmann, “one of many who accepted orders to perform horrendous acts”. Attached is a poem she sent the prime minister in appreciation of his role as a “defender of the homeland”.

105. Martin Buber, Shmuel Hugo Bergman and others, to Izhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel; Jerusalem, 30 May 1962

National Library, Manuscripts and Archives, ARC.145.VAR.35088d

A petition in the name of a group of eminent intellectuals, artists and writers against the execution of Adolf Eichmann. They argue that for the good of the country and its moral image, and not for the sake of Eichmann, Israel should not carry out this act, which will provide an opportunity for its enemies to claim that a blood ransom has been paid for the Nazi crimes. Among the signatories: Avigdor Arikha, Yehuda Bacon, Leah Goldberg, Zwi Werblowsky, Helena Kagan, Nathan Rotenstreich, Gershom Sholem and others.

106. Director-General’s Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Israel Missions Abroad; Jerusalem, 7 June 1962

ISA/RG 93.43/MFA/584/9

The official announcement of the carrying out of the sentence and the execution of Adolf Eichmann on the night of 31 May-1 June 1962.

107. Exchange of Letters: Martha Gellhorn, to Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General, Prime Minister’s Office; Corfu, 6 June 1962 (In English);Teddy (Theodore) Kollek, Director-General, Prime Minister’s Office, to Martha Gellhorn; Jerusalem, 27 June 1962 (In English)

ISA/RG 43.5/GL/11887/84

The journalist Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway’s former wife, writes that the death sentence and cremation of Eichmann’s body were the right things to do, since alive, Eichmann might have turned into a symbol and his grave might have become a focus for pilgrimages. Gellhorn also claims that the trial served as a service to history. For the same reasons she rejects the publication of Eichmann’s memoirs.

Kollek agrees with her opinion regarding the non-publication of Eichmann’s memoirs, but assumes that they will be put at the disposal of historical research in the future.

ג.12 | Epilogue

108. Address by Gideon Hausner, the Attorney-General, at a National Conference of Lecturers on the Eichmann Trial; Jerusalem, 18 May 1961

Hausner discusses the preparation of the trial, choice of the witnesses, legal problems related to the trial and reactions to it in Israel. The conference was organized by the Central Office of Information in the Prime Minister’s Office.

109. Table presented to Golda Meir, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, showing legal proceedings against Nazi criminals in the period prior to Eichmann’s capture, at the beginning of the trial and after it, June 1958 – May 1961

ISA/RG 130.2/MFA/4316/9

The table points to a dramatic rise in the number of arrests of Nazi criminals, trials and imposition of the death penalty and other sentences on them in Germany and elsewhere since June 1960. In addition, it features a dramatic rise in suicides by Nazi war criminals, extradition proceedings, announcements of monetary rewards for discovering criminals and activities for eliminating Nazi ideology in West Germany.

110. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to Bechor Shalom Shitreet, Minister of Police; Jerusalem, 23 December 1962

ISA/RG 43.4/G/6384/1

The prime minister has decided to transfer the manuscripts written by Adolf Eichmann in his cell to the Israel State Archives for safekeeping. The manuscript will be closed to readers for the next five years; after this the government will decide.

The first version of Eichmann’s memoirs (Meine Memoiren) was written after his capture in the hope of raising money for his defence. See several pages of the original manuscript and the typed version.

A longer manuscript, entitled “Götzen” written while waiting for the verdict, included autobiographical material and his reactions to the material presented at the trial about his role in the Holocaust. It was completed in September 1961. See several pages of the original manuscript.

These manuscripts have been opened for study (but not for publication)

ג.13 | List of files used in the publication

Some of the files appearing in the publication have been scanned in full and already appear on our website; others include selected documents only. The full file can be ordered from the Israel State Archives.

Prime Minister’s Office, Bureau of the Prime Minister

G 6383/6

G6384/1

G6384/4

G6385/5

Prime Minister’s Office, Letters from the Public

GL11887/84

GL11890/33

Government Press  Office

G3930/4

G3931/1

Files of the President of the State, Izhak Ben-Zvi

PRES 11/40

PRES 205/3

PRES 205/4

PRES 205/5

Foreign Ministry

MFA293/13

MFA293/14

MFA293/15

MFA293/16

MFA450/8

MFA584/5

MFA584/8

MFA584/9

MFA2307/8

MFA2307/9

MFA2355/1

MFA3352/2

MFA3352/3

MFA3352/4

MFA3352/6

MFA3352/7

MFA3352/9

MFA3352/10

MFA4316/9

MFA7027/12

Israel Police – Bureau 06

A3056/38

A3062/1

A3062/4

A3062/9

A3062/14

State Attorney

A3145/1

A3145/3

A3145/8

A3146/2

A3146/10

Jerusalem District Court

A3071/2

Knesset

K592/2

Files from the ongoing project of the ISA to scan all of the files about Adolf Eichmann and the records of the trial can be seen on our Hebrew website. 2,400 files have already been scanned and catalogued and are fully searchable.

List of files in the collection.

ג.14 | Bibliography and acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following for their assistance in preparing the publication: Benny Eden for allowing us to use his drawings of the Eichmann trial; Eli Cohen who allowed us to use the photograph of the glass booth; Prof. Shimon Sandbank and the ACUM association for allowing us to use the translation of Nelly Sachs’ poem; Shosh Ornstein of Manpower Language Services who translated the original publication; former Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Bach, Prof. Hanna Yablonka and Prof. Yehiam Weitz and Lana Feldman of the Ben-Gurion Archives for their invaluable advice and assistance.

For further reading:

Gideon Hausner, Justice in Jerusalem, Harper and Row, 1966

Deborah Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial, Schocken, 2011

Raanan Rein, The Eichmann Kidnapping: Its Effects on Argentine-Israel Relationships and the Local Jewish Community, Jewish Social Studies, 7,1, (2001), pp. 101-130

Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust, Henry Holt, 1991

Tom Segev, Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends, Schocken, 2010

Yehiam Weitz, “The Holocaust on Trial: The Impact of the Kasztner and Eichmann Trials on Israeli Society”, Israel Studies, 1, 2 (1996), pp. 1-26

Hanna Yablonka, The State of Israel vs Adolf Eichmann, Schocken , 2004