April 11th
1961 - Israel began the trial of Adolf Eichmann, accused of World War II war
crimes.
I could claim to
remember it well, because the whole country (then a very young one thirteen
years old) listened to nothing else every weekday on the Voice of Israel, the national
radio channel.
But I was even
younger, and although the child of a Holocaust survivor who always knew something
terrible had left my father without a single birth family member, I knew little
of the details and don’t recall hearing the revelations of the trial.
To this day,
Adolph Eichmann is the only person ever executed in the state of Israel. The
death penalty is still legal there, but only for Crimes Against Humanity. The
state used the gallows left from British Mandate years (1918-1948) and had
to have a mock-execution to make sure the hanging apparatus still functioned.
One of my first memories
was related to this. I was standing by the yard of our apartment building when
two girls (they seemed like young women to little me then, but they were likely
highschoolers) were discussing whether Eichmann should be put to death. I didn’t
absorb the details of their positions, only that they differed on the matter.
I was too young
to know any of the details of survivors’ testimony, or Eichmann’s retort that
he was “just following orders.” Oddly, my only memory was of a civil and cogent
discussion between two young people about the rightness or wrongness of the death
penalty.
It’s a good memory,
which serves me to this day. It’s the only way to address matters of importance—
soberly, respectfully, and with a sense that another person who understands
things differently is also trying their best, and that we might be wrong.
6 comments:
I have no specific recollections of that day, but I imagine my Holocaust survivor parents kept track of what was happening at the trial. I probably did too, in a way, but I was also a young teenager, undoubtedly preoccupied with other things as well, the way adolescents usually are.
What an interesting memory, Mirka. I didn't even learn about the Holocaust until I was 10 and it was such a shock to learn of such terrible evil. As for civil discourse? It seems like such a thing from long ago. Despite the gadgetry to be more connected, we are sadly more isolated in the modern world. I'm glad for the people who are still taking the time to break bread together and take a genuine interest in others.
Thank you for sharing this, Mirka. I really do wish our culture had more such civil and cogent discourse. No, we're never going to agree on everything, even important things, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to discuss them respectfully with each other. Who knows, we might even learn something worth knowing from each other.
Thank you for sharing your memory. I've seen a movie and a documentary about the capture of Eichmann and the trial. It's been many, many years since that event. What do you think now about the execution? Was it the correct course of action? I am opposed to the death penalty, in general, but in a case such as this, I'm not sure of myself. I think criminals suffer more if they spend their lives locked up and experiencing deprivation, but the thought of any possibility that he might have been released to live a happy old age disturbs me.
Love,
Janie
"...What do you think now about the execution?"
Janie, my views on the death penalty are graded, as to not make me fit with any tribe. (Very much my way on many matters.) I believe there are actions individuals take in this world that make them unfit to live. In principle, this makes the death penalty both just and right. However, I am convinced that our worldly system of justice is flawed, as in VERY flawed, and thus the administering of such a final solution (intended) should not be part of it. So in practice I don't support it.
That said, I'm not sorry for Eichmann, who lived in decent conditions with his loved ones in Argentina.
Quite the memory! Thanks for sharing.
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