While it might sound odd until the year 1961 there was no public discussion about the holocaust. Although monuments were built; remembrance days were set, museums such as Yad V’Shem were opened, Poets were writing about the holocaust, and the memory of the holocaust was set in the national memory of Israel. The private memory of the holocaust on the other hand, was mostly ignored, the survivors did not tell their stories and they were mainly asked, “Why didn’t you riot?” they were treated as guilty for their conditions.

In 1961 it all changed when Adolf Eichmann Was caught in Argentina by the Mossad where he lived under false identity and put to trial for his crimes during the holocaust in Jerusalem.

The first session of the District Court on criminal case 40/61 was held on April 11, 1961, at Jerusalem’s “Bet Ha’am.” The trial terminated on December 15, 1961 with the reading of the verdict, whereby Eichmann found guilty on most of the articles of the indictment, was sentenced to death. The commencement of the trial was preceded by long months of punctilious preparation. The Israeli police set up a special unit, “Bureau 06,” for the purpose of assembling the relevant documents; selecting witnesses and preparing them for their testimony; setting out the prosecution line; and discussing various legal issues. 1,600 documents were selected, most of them bearing Eichmann’s signature.  Likewise, a list of 108 survivor witnesses was prepared, as well as another of expert witnesses – historians and other scholars.

In the annals of public awareness of the Holocaust period, nothing rivals the Eichmann trial as a milestone and turning point, whose impact is evident to this day. The trial introduced the Holocaust into the historical, educational, legal and cultural discourse, not merely in Israel and the Jewish world, but on the consciousness of all peoples of the world. Sixteen years after the end of the Holocaust, it focused attention upon the account of the suffering and torment of the Jewish people, as recounted to the judges. It’s powerful, and one could claim, revolutionary, consequences continue right up to the present day.

The trial set the first milestone of a years’ long process, an ongoing turnabout in shaping an awareness of the Holocaust in Israeli and world public opinion. The trial broke down the reluctance of many Israelis and Jews to approach the Holocaust, due to the powerful impression left by the personal testimonies of over a hundred witnesses who were called upon to recount their experiences during the Holocaust. Echoes of the trial finally attracted attention and awareness to the Holocaust survivors living among us, who had hesitated prior to the trial, to tell their personal stories, owing to a reluctance and an absence of openness among many native-born Israelis.

The trial brought about a significant change among Israeli youth in their attitude to the Holocaust. For them and other young Jews, the Holocaust was a remote and abstract issue. The trial was a significant step in conveying the Holocaust to Israeli and Jewish students, a process that reached fruition in the eighties and nineties, in the form of school delegations to Poland; to the sites of the former ghettoes and camps; and with youngsters writing essays about their own roots. As a result of the trial, the Holocaust is now perceived as an integral part of their identity as Israelis and as Jews.

Today, during the Holocaust Remembrance Day Israel stands still, not only there is a 2 minutes memorial siren that sounds through the country, but also TV channels change their daily routine and show personal testimonies, movies and documentaries about the Holocaust. Schools have memorial ceremonies and talk about the Holocaust with the students of all ages. There is a new movement that became a tradition in Israel is to go to the Holocaust survivors houses and hear their stories, the tradition is called “Living room Memory”. 24 hours that are dedicated to remembering, the ones that didn’t make it, the ones that did, and the horrors of the Holocaust.

If you want to know more about Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, email me at or.hmdetroit@gmail.com.

Until next time…

Or