Eichmann on the Air: Radio and the Making of an Historic Trial

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1. Gideon Hausner, Justice in Jerusalem (New York, 1966), 309. 2. In 1961, 79.6% of Israeli families and 82.6% of Jewish families owned at least one radio set. This is in a time when only 50.2% owned an electric refrigerator and 15.5% had an electric gramophone. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Statistical Abstract of Israel 1963, 202–203. 3. Tamar Liebes, ‘Acoustic space: the role of radio in Israeli collective history’, Jewish History, 20 (2006), 60–90; Derek Jonathan Pensler, ‘Transmitting culture: radio in Israel’, Jewish Social Studies, 10(1) (2003), 1–29. Several media scholars have noted the role of radio in the formation of nationhood, see for example: Elihu Katz and George Weddell, Broadcasting in the Third World (Cambridge, 1977); Daniel J. Czitrom, Media and the American Mind (Chappell Hill, 1982); Andrew Crisell, Understanding Radio (London, 1986); David Cardiff and Paddy Scannell, ‘Broadcasting and national unity’ in J. Curran, A. Smith and P. Wingate (eds) Impacts and Influences (London, 1987); Paddy Scannell, A Social History of British Broadcasting, 1922–1939: serving the nation (Oxford, 1991); Paddy Scannell, Radio, Television & Modern Life (Oxford, 1996); Susan Douglas, Listening In: radio and the American imagination (Minneapolis, 1999). 4. Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil (New York, 1965). 5. See Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: the Israelis and the Holocaust (New York, 2000), 350–351; Idith Zertal, Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood (Cambridge, 2005), 92; Shoshana Felman, The Judicial Unconscious: trials and traumas in the twentieth century (New Haven, 2002), 127; Omer Bartov, Mirrors of Destruction: war, genocide and modern identity (Oxford, 2002), 281; Hanna Yablonka, The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann (New York, 2004), 60–61, 196; Dalia Ofer, ‘The strength of remembrance: commemorating the Holocaust during the first decade of Israel’, Jewish Social Studies, 2(2) (2000), 49; Judith Stern, ‘The Eichmann trial and its influence on psychiatry and psychology’, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, 1(2) (2000), 31; Gulie Ne’eman Arad, ‘Israel and the Shoah: a tale of multifarious taboos’, New German Critique 90 (2003), 12–13; Anita Shapira, ‘The Eichmann trial: changing perspectives’, The Journal of Israeli History, 23(1) (2004), 20. 6. Internal briefing to Israeli consulates April 16, 1961, p. 7, Israel State Archive (hereafter ISA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3352/9. Consulates were instructed that the briefing was off the record and its content was not to be publicized in any way. Participants included: David Landor, Director of the Government Press Office, Haim Yachil, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gideon Hausner, Attorney General and chief prosecutor in the Eichmann trial. 7. Arendt, 4. 8. Ibid., 5. For an early critique of Arendt's views, see Jacob Robinson, And the Crooked Shall be Made Straight: the Eichmann trial, the Jewish catastrophe, and Hannah Arendt's narrative (New York, 1965). 9. Hausner, Justice in Jerusalem, 291 10. Ibid., 292. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 13. Internal briefing to Israeli consulates, p. 13 14. Transcript of Lecturers Conference, May 18, 1961, Information Center at the Prime Minister's Office, ISA GL/1638/907/3. 15. The trial which came to be known as the ‘Kasztner Trial’ had originated in Kasztner's lawsuit against Malkiel Grunwald, a Jerusalem journalist who published a pamphlet accusing him of being a Nazi collaborator. According to Grunwald, Kasztner had negotiated the release of Hungarian Jews while favoring his own relatives and friends, and in addition alleged him of testifying for SS officer Kurt Becher during the Nuremberg Trials, thereby saving him from accusation of war crimes. Kasztner's libel action quickly developed into political allegation against the Mapai ruling party, of which he was a member. Judge Halevi delivered his verdict on June 22, 1955, finding Grunwald's accusations against Kasztner justified. In 1958, the Supreme Court rejected Halevi's verdict. However, vindication came too late for Kasztner: on March 3, 1957 he was shot by three former members of the Lechi (radical right-wing) underground. 16. Yechiam Weitz, ‘The Holocaust on trial: the impact of the Kasztner and Eichmann trials on Israeli society’, Israel Studies, 1(2) (1996), 20. 17. Yablonka, The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann, 86–87. 18. Ben Gurion to Hausner, March 28, 1961, quoted in Yablonka, 86 19. Hausner, Justice in Jerusalem, 289. 20. Recently declassified CIA records show that the U.S. was aware that West Germany had information on Eichmann's whereabouts as early as 1958 but chose to keep it secret, fearing that his capture might lead to embracing revelations about Hans Globke, an ex-Nazi who was Adenauer's security adviser and main contact person with American intelligence. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,1792065,00.html; http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=723756&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1. According to Yablonka, Israeli Mossad had concrete information on Eichmann in 1959; this is after a period of reluctance on the part of the Israeli authorities to pursue the issue further (ibid., 15–16). 21. Segev, The Seventh Million: the Israelis and the Holocaust, 343. 22. Yablonka, The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann, 56; Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: a report on the banality of evil, 4. 23. Landor to Kollek, June 2, 1960, ISA, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. 24. Zinder to Landor, June 15, 1960, ISA, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. This is following an earlier memo sent by Zinder to Minister of Justice Pinchas Rosen on May 25, asking to permit Kol Yisrael to record the entire trial for the benefit of ‘commemorating the trial on tapes that will be kept for generations to come’. 25. Givton to Keren, November 8, 1960, ISA, Broadcasting Authority, Eichmann File 405. 26. ‘Though I fail to see the benefit that will come from this recording, I agree to your request’, Keren to Kollek, February 13, 1961, ISA, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. This was probably linked to a bureaucratic tug-of-war between Keren and Givton: the former had requested that the latter release two of his employees, Gad Levi and Rafi Sidor, for conducting simultaneous translation of the proceedings; the latter had refused for lack of manpower (Keren to Shapira, November 2, 1960; Keren to Kollek, November 10, ISA, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657). Following Keren's consent, Levi and Sidor were allowed to participate in the trial. 27. This fact is revealed in a letter sent by Kollek to Keren, February 10, 1961, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. 28. Landor to Kollek, June 2, 1960, ISA Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. 29. Landor to Arnon, October 26, 1960, ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/4. 30. Yablonka, The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann, 56. 31. Rosen to Yachil, October 26, 1960, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ISA, HZ/3351/4. 32. Yablonka, 56. 33. Hausner, Justice in Jerusalem, 307. 34. Quoted in Yablonka, 57. 35. Details revealed in an investigative report on the coverage of the trial published in Yediot Ahronot, May 19, 1961, 9. 36. Hagen to Meir, October 26, 1960, ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/4. 37. Ibid. 38. Givton to Gillieron, November 14, 1960, ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/4. 39. Yediot Ahronot, 9. 40. Givton to Gillieron, ibid. 41. Proposal as presented in a letter from Frank to Comay, November 30, 1960 ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/43. 42. Ibid. 43. Telegram to Landor (date not specified) signed jointly by James A. Hagerty Vice President ABC News, John Day Vice President CBS News and Julian Goodman Vice President NBC News, ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/4. 44. Arnon to Yachil, December 6, 1960, ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/4. 45. Zinder to Gerald Adler NBC International, January 3, 1961, ISA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, HZ/3351/4 804/13/3. 46. Ibid. 47. Resolutions of a meeting at the Ministry of Justice, January 27, 1961, ISA, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. Among the participants were Minister of Justice Pinchas Rosen, chief prosecutor Gideon Hausner, Prime Minister's bureau chief Teddy Kollek, Director General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Haim Yachil, Head of Central Information Office Zvi (Harry) Zinder, and Director of Government Press Office, David Landor. 48. Haaretz, April 24, 1961, 1; Yediot Ahronot, August 27, 1961, 5. 49. Herut, April 25, 1961, 2; Haaretz, June 27, 1961, 2. 50. Itzchak Agadati, manager of Geva Studios, to Teddy Kollek, February 2, 1961, ISA, Prime Minister's Office, G/6384 I/3657. Four major Israeli studios went as far as appealing to the Supreme Court in order to contest the government's decision, but their motion was dismissed (information as revealed in a letter of studios managers to Abba Eben, April 3, 1961, ISA, Ministry of Education, GL/3/907). 51. Radio 22, March 31, 1961, 7. 52. On a more anecdotal note, it is indicated that 1000 magnetic tapes were purchased for the documentation of the trial, 5600 meters of tape were to be used every day, and 13,000 US Dollars was the price of the equipment ordered especially for trial broadcasting. 53. Ibid., 8. 54. Ibid., 9. 55. Kol Yisrael memorandum ‘Facilities for Sound-Radio Correspondents’ (no date indicated), ISA, Broadcasting Service, File 405. 56. Radio, 7. 57. Ibid., 9. 58. Media events, according to Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, are historic occasions that are televised as they take place and transfix a nation or the world—the Olympic Games, Anwar el-Sadat's journey to Jerusalem, the funeral of J.F. Kennedy, the landing on the moon, the royal wedding of Charles and Diana, to name a few examples. Media events are usually about contest (sports and politics), conquest (moon landing), or coronation (a royal wedding). See Media Events: the live broadcasting of history (Cambridge, 1992). While media events often relate to television, it is possible to view the Eichmann trial as a radiocast event, which may be typified as a contest, as it involved a court battle, but may also be considered as a conquest, for displaying a groundbreaking achievement. 59. Radio, 10. 60. See, Idith Zertal, Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood, 111. 61. Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: the Israelis and the Holocaust, 350. 62. Shoshana Felman, The Judicial Unconscious: trials and traumas in the twentieth century, 127. 63. Idith Zertal, Israel's Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood, 92 64. Anita Shapira, ‘The Eichmann trial: changing perspectives’, 20. 65. Israel Broadcasting Service, ‘Operation Trial: Memo no. 1’, February 12, 1961, ISA, Ministry of Education GL/6863/7. 66. The decision not to hold sessions on Sunday (which is a normal weekday in Israel) was probably taken to accommodate non-Jewish personnel involved in the trial. The result was a court schedule that was somewhat foreign to the local custom but conducive to visitors and overseas observers, including worldwide media. 67. Minutes of Kol Yisrael meeting, ‘Eichmann Trial’, April 5, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405. 68. Radio, 9. Ari Avner, former Kol Yisrael correspondent to the U.N, was the executive producer of courtroom broadcasts. Producers of Yoman Ha’mishpat were Yoram Ronen and Hagay Pinsker. 69. ‘Eichmann Trial—Changes in Program Schedule’, February 5, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405. 70. Minutes of Kol Yisrael meeting: ‘Eichmann Trial’, April 5, 1961. ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405. 71. Kollek to Givton, April 10, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405. 72. Transcript of Lecturers Conference, May 18, 1961, ISA, Ministry of Education, GL/1638/907/3. Other participants included Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Haim Yachil, chief superintended Avraham Zelinger (head of Bureau 06, the police unit that investigated Eichmann) and chief prosecutor Gideon Hausner. Since the latter was appearing in court, participants were firmly instructed not to quote his address in their talks. 73. Ibid., 1. 74. Kol Yisrael press communiqué, April 10, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405. 75. Eichmann Trial Staff Meeting, April 30, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405. 76. Personal communication, Nakdimon Rogel, March 25, 2003. 77. ISA holds many letters from listeners complaining about the broadcasting of music immediately following live transmissions, denouncing such incidents as shameful. It is possible that such criticism ruled out any intention to utilize Ha’gal Ha’kal for live broadcasts. 78. In a letter to Kol Yisrael's Director General, Nakdimon Rogel reproves the lack of professionalism exhibited by some presenters who, according to him, failed to read updates, arrange music transitions and adequately monitor the transmission. Still worse was that reporters ignored broadcasting protocol by taking the liberty of adding their narration during court recesses. Rogel indicates that such misconduct was not sporadic (Rogel to Givton, May 30, 1961, ISA GL/6863/9). 79. Central Bureau of Statistics, ‘Listening Survey to the First Two Sessions of the Eichmann Trial’, April 25, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 405/0423. 80. All headlines are from the aforementioned newspapers, April 12, 1961. 81. Haaretz, April 12, 1961. 82. Ibid. 83. Listener Shifra Halstoch to Kol Yisrael, April 27, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 4051. 84. Listener Eliyahu Ferbstein to Hausner, April 30, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 4051. Emphasis in the original. 85. Listener Devora Bushinski to Kol Yisrael, April 14, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 4051. 86. ISA files hold 139 letters, 83 of which are from Israelis and the rest from listeners abroad. 87. From Hedva Rotem to Ruth Krumer, August 8, 1961, ISA, Israel Broadcasting Service, File 4051. The same number is repeated in another letter, sent August 1, 1961 to listener Shoshana Merd. Despite extensive search in ISA files, no transmission logs were found, nor any evidence of the existence of such logs. 88. Estimate includes the live broadcast of August 9, which is indicated in Hedva Rotem's letter of the previous day; as well as the broadcasting of at least one session on May 29, 1962, the day Eichmann's appeal was rejected by the High Court of Justice, as indicated in Rogel to Givton, May 30, 1961, ISA GL/6863/9.