Behind the scenes: women in the Eichmann trial

ABSTRACT

The trial of the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann (1961), a significant event in the Holocaust commemoration history, was organised and managed by men. The three judges, the prosecutors, and the defence were all men, as were most of the witnesses and the chief court administrators. All the heads and investigators of the Israeli Police special Eichmann unit were men. Yet, a broader look reveals that outside the legal arena, women filled formal duties in all of the trial's aspects. The article focuses on these women whose role in the trial remained in the shadows or was concealed. Among them was the only woman on the Mossad task force that captured Eichmann in Argentina as well as policewomen, court interpreters and stenographers, and the secretary of the defence team. From a gender perspective, their stories reveal that their duties in the trial reflected the division of roles between men and women in a patriarchal society, and their work further confirmed the accepted norms and stereotypes. This division of roles explains their marginalisation in the Eichmann trial and exclusion from its history. It also highlights the need to expose their stories and secure them a centerstage position.

KEYWORDS:

• Holocaust
• Eichmann trial
• Israel
• Jewish women
• women in Israel

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Hanna Yablonka, The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann (New York: Schocken, 2004); Deborah E. Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial (New York: Nextbook/Schocken, 2011).

2 Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust (New York: Hill and Wang, 1993), 323-66; Idith Zertal, The Nation and Death: History, Memory, and Politics (Or Yehuda, 2002) (Hebrew).

3 Boaz Cohen, Israeli Holocaust Research: Birth and Evolution (London: Routledge, 2013); Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial, 190-1; Yablonka, The State of Israel.

4 Haim Gouri, Facing the Glass Booth: the Jerusalem Trial of Adolf Eichmann (Detroit: Wayne State University, 2004); Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (New York, 1963). For a comparative discussion of Gouri and Arendt see: Anita Shapira, ‘The Eichmann Trial: Changing Perspectives’, Journal of Israeli History 23, no. 1 (2004): 18-39.

5 Anita Shapira, ‘The Holocaust: Private Memories, Public Memory’, Jewish Social Studies 4, no. 2 (1998): 40-58; Dalia Ofer, 'The Past That Does Not Pass: Israelis and Holocaust Memory', Israel Studies 14, no. 1 (2009): 1-35.

6 ‘Declaration of Independence’, Provisional Government of Israel Official Gazette 1, Tel Aviv, May 14, 1948, 1.

7 Hanna Herzog, Gendering Politics: Women in Israel (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 199); Pnina Lahav, The Only Women in the Room: Golda Meir and Her Path to Power (United States: Princeton University Press, 2022).

8 Eyal Katvan, ‘“Women in a Male Toga”: Women’s Integration into the Legal Profession in the Yishuv and Israel’, Margalit Shilo and Gideon Katz, eds., Gender in Israel: New Studies on Gender in the Yishuv and State (Ben-Gurion Research Institute, 2011) 263–305 (Hebrew); Dafna N. Izraeli, ‘Israel Defense Forces’, Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Jewish Women's Archive website (2009) https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/israel-defense-forces; Ayelet Harel and Shir Daphna-Tekoah, Breaking the Binaries in Security Studies: A Gendered Analysis of Women in Combat (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020).

9 Rachel Elior, The Unknown History of Jewish Women Through the Ages: On Learning and Illiteracy: On Slavery and Liberty (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023).

10 Deborah S. Bernstein, Pioneers and Homemakers: Jewish Women in Pre-state Israel (Albany: State University of New York, 1992); Marilyn P. Safir, and Swirski Barbara, eds., Calling the Equality Bluff: Women in Israel (New York: Pergamon Press, 1991); Margalit Shilo, Girls of Liberty: The Struggle for Suffrage in Mandatory Palestine. Waltham (Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, 2016); Meir Chazan, Jewish Women and the Defense of Palestine: The Modest Revolution, 1907–1945 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2022). Unearthing the stories of women in Israel's Zionist history and exposing this discrimination could be a basis for reviewing the history of Israeli society and the place of women in its gender-biased reality. Billie Melman, ‘On the Margins and at the Center: Women’s History and Histories of Gender in Israel’, Zion 74 (2009): 245–66 (Hebrew).

11 Joan Ringelheim, ‘Women and the Holocaust: A Reconsideration of Research’, Signs 10, no. 4, (1985): 741-61; Carol Rittner and John K. Roth, eds., Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust, (New York: Paragon House, 1993); Dalia Ofer and Lenore J. Weitzman, eds., Women in the Holocaust (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998); Nechama Tec, Resilience and Courage: Women, Men, and the Holocaust (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003).

12 For an extensive review of the research on women during the Holocaust and the Holocaust from a gender perspective, see: Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz and Dalia Ofer, eds., Her Story, My Story? Writing about Women and the Holocaust (Bern: Peter Lang, 2020).

13 Hanna Yablonka, Survivors of the Holocaust: Israel after the War (London: Macmillan, 1999), 9-11.

14 Sharon Geva, ‘“And now you are married and you have two children”: Female Witnesses at the Eichmann Trial’, Yad Vashem Studies 47, no. 2 (2019): 131-64.

15 On Lazar's columns see: Chaya Lazar, ‘The Eichmann Trial’, Publications of the Museum of the Combatants and Partisans 7, no. 1 (2004): 60-88. (Hebrew).

16 Gideon Hausner, Justice in Jerusalem: The Eichmann Trial (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 293.

17 Margalit Shilo, Women Build a Nation: Professional Women in the Land of Israel 1918–1948 (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2020): 277–94 (Hebrew); Eyal Katvan, ‘Women Entering the Professions in Mandatory Palestine’, Nashim 34 (2019): 55-8.

18 Tikva Weinshtok, ‘olam shel gvarim’, (Mens' world), Maariv, September 5, 1960.

19 Galia Eliahou, ‘Miriam Ben-Porat’, Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/ben-porat-miriam

20 Commander Ephraim Hofstaetter memoirs, Bureau 06, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r28k Israel State Archives. (Hebrew).

21 The first evidence of Eichmann's presence in Argentina came from a young woman – Sylvia Herman, daughter of Lothar Herman, a German of Jewish descent, who survived the Holocaust and lived in Buenos Aires. One of Eichmann's sons, who courted her, told her about his father. Isser Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1975): 21–3 (Hebrew); Yad Vashem, ‘Operation Eichmann’, https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/eichmann/operation-eichmann.asp

22 ‘A Memorial service to Judith Nessyahu’, Mabat Malam 34 (2003): 19 (Hebrew). Michal Pinkas, ‘haisha shehishtatfa behatifat Eichmann’ (The woman who participated in Eichmann's abduction), Yedioth Ahronoth, April 11, 1993 (Hebrew).

23 Nefesh Yehudit. Directed by Miri Perlman. Israel: Channel 1, 2017. (Hebrew). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh6yqETHlOo

24 Uri Blau, ‘Woman of Many Faces’, Haaretz, September 18, 2008.

25 Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street, 150-1, 168-9; Nefesh Yehudit.

26 Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street, 169.

27 Ibid., 175.

28 Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (London: Vintage, 2011).

29 Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street, 175.

30 Ibid.

31 Orit Rozin, The Rise of the Individual in 1950s Israel: A Challenge to Collectivism (Lebanon: Brandeis University Press, 2011), 3-38.

32 Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street, 175.

33 Ibid., 175-6.

34 Ibid., 185.

35 Sharon Geva, Women in the State of Israel: The Early Years (Jerusalem: Magnes, 2020), 187–96 (Hebrew).

36 Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street, 176.

37 Ibid.

38 Amira Lam, ‘Anu Mazhirim ba-zot’ (We hereby warn), Yedioth Ahronoth, March 30, 2018.

39 Harel, The House on Garibaldi Street, 176.

40 Avner Avrahami, ‘“Maybe” Was Not an Option’, Haaretz, May 6, 2010.

41 Nefesh Yehudit.

42 Pinkas, ‘haisha shehishtatfa’.

43 Avraham Selinger, ‘Establishment of Bureau 06’, Bureau 06 administration files, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r6ll Israel State Archives (Hebrew).

44 Avraham Selinger, ‘Bureau 06: The organization of the investigation towards the Eichmann trial’, Police Quarterly 13 (1962): 8–15 (Hebrew).

45 Ibid., 16.

46 Sharon Geva, ‘Case Closed: Women in the Israel Police, 1948–1958’. Israel Studies 24, no. 1 (2019): 100-25.

47 Tim Prenzler and Georgina Sinclair, ‘The Status of Women Police Officers: An International Review’, International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 41, no. 2 (2013): 115-7.

48 Zipora Shehory-Rubin, ‘Policing and Feminism – Women's Entry into the Israel Police 1948-1981’, Cathedra 164 (2017): 139–72 (Hebrew).

49 Selinger, 'Bureau 06'.

50 Hannah Yakobsohn, in discussion with the author, January 2019.

51 Israel Police, Annual Report: 1960 (Tel Aviv: Israel Police, 1961): 10 (Hebrew).

52 Superintendent Naftali Bar-Shalom, file on section I, Bureau 06, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r28k Israel State Archives (Hebrew).

53 Ruth Shai, in discussion with the author, January 2019.

54 Avraham Selinger, Standard orders, Bureau 06, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r2l Israel State Archives (Hebrew).

55 Menahem Zafir, Eichmann trial: police investigation, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r6ll Israel State Archives (Hebrew).

56 Yakobsohn, discussion.

57 Israel Police, Annual Report: 1957 (Tel Aviv: Israel Police, 1958) 16; Israel Police, Annual Report: 1958 (Tel Aviv: Israel Police, 1959) 12 (Hebrew).

58 ‘Machane Iyar’, Police administration files, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r1zq Israel State Archives. (Hebrew).

59 Selinger, Standard orders; Yakobsohn, discussion.

60 Selinger, ‘Bureau 06’, 12.

61 Dalia Shani memoirs, Bureau 06, Israel Police, ISA-IsraelPolice-EichmannTrial-000r28k Israel State Archives (Hebrew).

62 Shai, discussion.

63 Yakobsohn, discussion.

64 Moshe Vinitzky,’echad hevi oto lashofet – arba'a yahkeruhu’, [one brought him to the judge, four will question him], Maariv, May 26, 1960.

65 Ora Herman, The Furnace and the Reactor: Behind the Scenes of the Eichmann Trial (Tel Aviv: Hakibutz Hameuchad, 2017), 196–7 (Hebrew).

66 ‘Efraim Elrom Hopshtater’, Izkor (Israel: Ministry of Defence). www.izkor.gov.il

67 Yablonka, The State of Israel; Hanna Yablonka, ‘Preparing the Eichmann Trial’, Theoretical Inquiries in Law 14, no. 1 (2000): 392-6.

68 Ran Keidar, ‘The judicial unit for the Eichmann trial’, the Eichmann Trial: administration, ISA-justice-StateAttorney-000r21y Israel State Archives (Hebrew).

69 Y. Pinhas, ‘120 milim ledaka’, [120 words per minute], Davar, February 9, 1962.

70 Keidar, ‘The judicial unit’.

71 Nurit Halif, ‘Ha-nashim bemishpat Eichmann’, [women in the Eichmann trial] Laisha, February 12, 1961; Yehoshia Bitzur, ‘200 milim bedaka – be-4 safot’, (200 words per minute – in four languages), Maariv, March 31, 1961.

72 Keidar, ‘The judicial unit’.

73 Rina Ben-Neriya, ‘Madua shelo tilmedi katzranut?’ (Why don't you learn to be a stenographer?) Davar, June 14, 1962.

74 Gabriel Strassman, ‘ktav hartomim ma'assik et beit hamishpat’ (Unreadable handwriting keeps the court busy), Maariv, July 16, 1963.

75 ‘“mered katzraniot” bemishpat Eichmann’ (‘Stenographers' rebellion’ in the Eichmann trial), Herut, May 4, 1961.

76 Golda Mair, My Life (Tel Aviv: Maariv, 1957), 131 (Hebrew).

77 Halif, ‘Ha-nashim bemishpat Eichmann’.

78 Miriam Meir, ‘avodat hanashim bemishpat Eichmann’ (Women’s work in the Eichmann trial), HaTzofe, June 5, 1961.

79 Rina Mann, ‘hadugmanit leshe’avar “mitlabeshet” al tikim’, (The ex-model makes short work of files), Laisha, February 19, 1961.

80 Ibid.

81 Yechiam Weitz, ‘The Holocaust on Trial: The Impact of the Kasztner and Eichmann Trials on Israeli Society’, Israel Studies 1, no. 2 (1996): 1–26. For a comparison between the preparations and envisaged progress of the Eichmann and Demjanjuk trials, see: Lawrence Douglas, The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War-Crimes Trial (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 68-74.

82 Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003).

83 Blau, ‘Woman of Many Faces’.

84 Israel Police, Facebook, April 19, 2018 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1842807299074697

85 Yaron London, ‘ima shel matzhikonet’, (Funny Girl's Mom) Yediot Ahronot. November 23, 1990 (Hebrew).

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Sharon Geva

Dr. Sharon Geva is a historian, a senior lecturer at Kibbutzim College, Israel. Her research interests are the history of women in the Holocaust, Holocaust commemoration in gender perspective, the history of Israeli women and women survivors of the Holocaust. Her first book, To the Unknown Sister: Holocaust Heroine in Israeli Society (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2010) was awarded the 2011 Mordechai Ish Shalom Prize by the Yad Itzhak Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. Her book, Women in the State of Israel: The Early Years was published by The Hebrew University Magnes Press (2020). Her latest book, Zivia Lubetkin and Yitzhak (Antek) Zuckerman: A Double Biography, was published by Hakibbutz Hameuchad, Yad Tabenkin and the Ghetto Fighters’ House (2023).