Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
The Opening Address of Gideon Hausner at the Eichmann Trial - Copy which Served the Prosecution Team during the Trial and was given to one of the Policemen who Guarded Eichmann
Opening: $5,000
Unsold
The Attorney General of the Government of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann, opening address by Attorney General Gideon Hausner. Criminal file 40/61, Disctrict court in Jerusalem, [1961].
First and "internal" version of Gideon Hausner's famous address (stenciled), prepared for use by the prosecution team in the Eichmann Trial.
The "Eichmann Trial" was the trial of a senior "S.S." officer Adolf Eichmann, one of the key figures in the execution of the "Final Solution" to exterminate European Jews. The trial was held in the State of Israel in 1961. The trial, conducted in the presence of hundreds of reporters, was partly broadcasted by "Kol Israel", and it generated international interest. For the first time testimonies by hundreds of victims were heard, and the trial is considered a milestone in shaping the commemoration of the holocaust.
Attorney General Gideon Hausner (1915-1990) was appointed as prosecutor in the Eichmann trial and became the figure most identified with the Israeli prosecution. Mainly remembered is the opening address which Hausner delivered in the Eichmann trial, in which he talked about the extermination process of European Jewry in general, by citing an endless number of documents and testimonies, figures, names of German officers and officials, demolished congregations and even poems composed by victims. About the opening speech which lasted about seven hours, Hausner reported in his book "Mishpat Yerushalayim" ("Jerusalem trial", published by Beit Lochame HaGetaot and HaKibutz HaMeuchad, 1980): "I heard silent crying in the crowd, I was quiet and could not continue. I was lucky since it was almost six o'clock in the afternoon, when the discussion stopped. The presiding judge apparently observed what happened and asked if it was the right time to stop. I shook my head in consent and with gratitude".
Most probably, this copy served the prosecution team during the preparations for the trial. It contains tens of corrections written by hand (most of them proofreading corrections). In the last chapter of the bill of indictment (indictment and evidences, p. 102), appears a comment, written by hand, at the end of a paragraph about the evidence: "this way documents were kept by different people and many of them were handed to us"; on the same page appear two more corrections which are very interesting: in the sentence "Adolf Eichmann's guilt lies in planning, initiating and executing the crimes detailed in the bill of indictment", the word "initiating" was moved forward and preceded the word "planning". In addition, on the same page, with reference to states that published through their official institutions reports and documents about Nazi crimes - Poland, Holland, Denmark and Belgium - the name of France was added in handwriting.
In the video films documenting the Eichmann trial, uploaded to the internet by the State Archive and by "Yad Vashem" in 2011, Hausner is seen delivering his opening address from a booklet identical to the one offered here (see YouTube, in "Eichmann Trial" films - session 06, session 07, session 08, and session 09).
This copy of the opening speech was handed to the policeman Eliyahu Va'anunu, one of the policemen who guarded Eichmann in his shielded glass booth and during the trial, by one of the prosecution team members (Va'anunu served as a policeman in the "unit for peripheral security", a unit set for guarding Eichmann until the verdict and the execution, for fear of revenge against him).
The booklet is bound in a Bristol cover (with a metal filing mechanism), prepared by Va'anunu. On the cover appears the title printed on the title page (in his handwriting), with the words "Beit HaAm" (present day Gerard Behar Center, where Eichmann Trial was held) and the name "Karl"added to Eichmann's name.
[1], 103 pp, 33 cm. Fair-good condition. Slight stains, creases and tears, mainly at margins of first and last leaves. Open tears and stains to Bristol cover.
Rare edition. One copy only appears in OCLC, from the collection of the National Library in Jerusalem.
First and "internal" version of Gideon Hausner's famous address (stenciled), prepared for use by the prosecution team in the Eichmann Trial.
The "Eichmann Trial" was the trial of a senior "S.S." officer Adolf Eichmann, one of the key figures in the execution of the "Final Solution" to exterminate European Jews. The trial was held in the State of Israel in 1961. The trial, conducted in the presence of hundreds of reporters, was partly broadcasted by "Kol Israel", and it generated international interest. For the first time testimonies by hundreds of victims were heard, and the trial is considered a milestone in shaping the commemoration of the holocaust.
Attorney General Gideon Hausner (1915-1990) was appointed as prosecutor in the Eichmann trial and became the figure most identified with the Israeli prosecution. Mainly remembered is the opening address which Hausner delivered in the Eichmann trial, in which he talked about the extermination process of European Jewry in general, by citing an endless number of documents and testimonies, figures, names of German officers and officials, demolished congregations and even poems composed by victims. About the opening speech which lasted about seven hours, Hausner reported in his book "Mishpat Yerushalayim" ("Jerusalem trial", published by Beit Lochame HaGetaot and HaKibutz HaMeuchad, 1980): "I heard silent crying in the crowd, I was quiet and could not continue. I was lucky since it was almost six o'clock in the afternoon, when the discussion stopped. The presiding judge apparently observed what happened and asked if it was the right time to stop. I shook my head in consent and with gratitude".
Most probably, this copy served the prosecution team during the preparations for the trial. It contains tens of corrections written by hand (most of them proofreading corrections). In the last chapter of the bill of indictment (indictment and evidences, p. 102), appears a comment, written by hand, at the end of a paragraph about the evidence: "this way documents were kept by different people and many of them were handed to us"; on the same page appear two more corrections which are very interesting: in the sentence "Adolf Eichmann's guilt lies in planning, initiating and executing the crimes detailed in the bill of indictment", the word "initiating" was moved forward and preceded the word "planning". In addition, on the same page, with reference to states that published through their official institutions reports and documents about Nazi crimes - Poland, Holland, Denmark and Belgium - the name of France was added in handwriting.
In the video films documenting the Eichmann trial, uploaded to the internet by the State Archive and by "Yad Vashem" in 2011, Hausner is seen delivering his opening address from a booklet identical to the one offered here (see YouTube, in "Eichmann Trial" films - session 06, session 07, session 08, and session 09).
This copy of the opening speech was handed to the policeman Eliyahu Va'anunu, one of the policemen who guarded Eichmann in his shielded glass booth and during the trial, by one of the prosecution team members (Va'anunu served as a policeman in the "unit for peripheral security", a unit set for guarding Eichmann until the verdict and the execution, for fear of revenge against him).
The booklet is bound in a Bristol cover (with a metal filing mechanism), prepared by Va'anunu. On the cover appears the title printed on the title page (in his handwriting), with the words "Beit HaAm" (present day Gerard Behar Center, where Eichmann Trial was held) and the name "Karl"added to Eichmann's name.
[1], 103 pp, 33 cm. Fair-good condition. Slight stains, creases and tears, mainly at margins of first and last leaves. Open tears and stains to Bristol cover.
Rare edition. One copy only appears in OCLC, from the collection of the National Library in Jerusalem.