Eichmann trial - A Forword to Volume I















The Trial of Adolf EichmannForword to Volume One







Some thirty years have passed since Adolf Eichmann was
put on trial before the District Court of Jerusalem and since the appeal
against his conviction before the Supreme Court of Israel. But it is only
now that it has become possible to publish in English the record of the
proceedings before the trial Court, the judgments of that Court and of the
appeal in the Supreme Court.
It is our belief that in spite of this long delay, the publication of
these proceedings has lost none of its importance. In fact, it acquires
special meaning at the present time when tendencies of so-called
"historical revisionism" have become rife in many countries, with their
denial of the very occurrence, or at least the extent, of the catastrophe
which the National Socialist regime in Germany brought upon the Jewish
people.
In an introductory passage to its judgment, the District Court pointed
out that the Holocaust of European Jewry had already been dealt with by
the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg in its judgment at the
trial of the Major War Criminals, and also in several subsequent trials.
However, in the trial of Adolf Eichmann the persecution and mass murder of
Jews in countries under German occupation were central to the proceedings.
The Court emphasized that in spite of the manifold grave questions raised
by the Holocaust, it remained its duty not to stray into areas outside its
criminal proceedure. Yet - the judges states - they did not lose sight of
the moral and educational value implicit in the conduct of the trial, both
for the citizens of Israel and for the world in general. Thus, "the
evidence at this trial of survivors of the Holocaust who poured out their
hearts on the witness stand, will certainly provide valuable material for
the research worker and the historian."
During the course of the trial the proceedings were recorded in Hebrew
in shorthand and also mechanically. Evidence given in other languages was
translated simultaneously. At the end of each day a transcript of the
proceedings was published in Hebrew, English, French and Yiddish. For the
present publication, the translation of the record of pro-


ceedings has been fully revised
and whenever necessary has been compared with the transcript in the
original language in which the evidence was given and also with the tape
recording. The translation of the judgments of the District Court and the
Supreme Court is based on the official version which was published
together with the original text of the judgments.
The entire project of publication has been co-ordinated by Dr. Daniel
Fraenkel of the Israel State Archives. The team of translators who took
part in this onerous task was led by Sam Levin, Ruth Morris, Hava Hareli
and Mordechai Shalev. The major part of the transcript was typed by Esther
Herskovics, who also read the proofs. A final comprehensive revision of
the manuscript was done by Shlomo Ketko, who was also responsible for the
production of the volumes in the press. All of them are to be highly
commended for their labours.
This first volume contains the record of the proceedings in the
District Court up to and including the thirtieth session. The following
volumes will complete the record of the trial and will contain the
testimonies taken outside Israel, the final addresses of the Prosecution
and Counsel for the Defence and the judgments in both instances. There
will also be a glossary of terms and an index. Further volumes will
contain the statement given by Adolf Eichmann to the Israel police, as
well as the main exhibits produced at the trial.
The publication of the proceedings of the Eichmann Trial has been
undertaken by the Board of Directors of a Civil Trust constituted under
Israeli law. The Directors of the Trust were Justice Moshe Landau, who
acted as Chairman, the late Mr. Gideon Hausner, in his capacity as
Chairman of the International Committee of Yad Vashem, Justice Gabriel
Bach, and State Archivist Paul A. Alsberg, who also acted as Honorary
Secretary. Dr. Josef Burg, the present Chairman of the International
Committee of Yad Vashem, joined the Board of Directors after the death of
Mr. Hausner.
Jerusalem, June 1992



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