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A dossier d’histoire du temps présent presented by
version française
The IHTP is putting a special dossier about Adolf Eichmann the accused on line to mark the release of the catalogue of the Eichmann trial exhibition, which the Shoah Memorial is hosting in partnership with it until 28 September 2011. The trial that opened in Jerusalem on 11 April 1961 has spawned countless historical, philosophical and psychological debates and analyses for half a century. Except for the essential works by Tom Segev, David Cesarani and Hannah Yablonka mentioned in the following articles, the literature on the topic wavers between an obsessive quest for the nature of the Evil lurking within Eichmann, in the wake of the analyses Hannah Arendt produced in the heat of the moment, and the repetitive insistence on the role of the Shoah victims who testified during the trial — granted, an essential point but one that is today largely covered by the historiography. Those divergent views reflecting the Shoah historiography’s dilemma between whether to focus on the executioner or the victim ended up masking how much the trial’s procedural and judicial dimension was key to understanding its underpinnings.
The research for the Paris exhibition, as well as a major work on Eichmann before Jerusalem that philosopher Bettina Stangneth has just published in Germany (which is discussed here), open up new perspectives. It is now easier to understand who Eichmann the defendant was, in other words the posture, motives and behavior of a man who had long been preparing for a possible trial in his Argentine refuge. Between 1956 and his 1962 execution, Eichmann wrote nearly 10,000 pages: reports, annotations to transcripts of voluntary interviews and an autobiographical novel in Argentina, and, in prison, revisions and corrections to his police examination transcripts, notes he took during the trial and several versions of memoirs. His many writings and oral statements make him, contrary to popular belief, an unusual defendant whose active participation in his own defense deeply influenced the course of the trial — an aspect overlooked in the historiography — and partly accounts for its success. This was the trial of the victims who testified, but it was also the trial of a criminal caught in a dilemma who would be involuntarily productive for posterity by masking his exact role in the genocide to downplay his responsibility while trying to take credit for "doing a good job".
The dossier includes exhibition commissioner Henry Rousso’s catalogue introduction and two unpublished texts by Fabien Théofilakis, who did research in Germany: one on the unpublished notes Eichmann took during his trial, the other on Bettina Stangneth’s book.
Vincent Auzas (a Ph.D. candidate associated with the IHTP) and Nicolas Schmidt (responsible of the publications at the IHTP) put this dossier on line. The authors wish to thank the Shoah Memorial for its help, in particular its director, Jacques Fredj, and Sophie Nagiscarde, Marie-Edith Agostini and Olga Karaskova.
Contents
Henry Rousso, "Thoughts on a Historic Trial", introduction by H. Rousso (ed.), Judging Eichmann, Jerusalem, 1961, Paris, Shoah Memorial, 2011.
Fabien Théofilakis, "Eichmann’s Writings in Argentina (1956-1960). Testimonials for a National Socialist History", report on Bettina Stangneth’s book Eichmann vor Jerusalem, 2011.
Fabien Théofilakis, "Eichmann’s writings in Israel (1960-1962). Leads for a different history of the trial"
Web links
To download or read the file in pdf format click here
Web links
The Shoah Memorial exhibition in Paris: :
http://juger-eichmann.memorialdelas...
The trial transcripts in their entirety :
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e...
Documents and the filmed trial :
http://www.archives.gov.il/ArchiveG...
A conversation with Senior Prosecutor Gabriel Bach (2006) :
http://www.eichmannprosecutorinterv...
INA archives :
http://www.ina.fr/recherche/recherc...
Declassified CIA files :
http://www.gwu.edu/ nsarchiv/NSAEBB...
Adolf Eichmann, a succinct biography :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldw...
The dossier Eichmann: no ordinary defendant was produced in partnership with the Shoah Memorial.
To access to the Memorial bookshop click here
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