Eichmann Trial -- Session 1 -- Answer to indictment reading of 15 counts
Creator(s)
- Leo Hurwitz (Director)
- J. Kalach (Camera Operator)
- Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation (Producer)
- J. Jonilowicz (Camera Operator)
- Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
- Emil Knebel (Camera Operator)
- F. Csaznik (Camera Operator)
- Rolf M. Kneller (Camera Operator)
- Milton Fruchtman (Producer)
Biographical History
Emil Knebel was a cinematographer known for Andante (2010), Adam (1973), and Wild Is My Love (1963). He was one of the cameramen who recorded daily coverage of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem (produced by Capital Cities Broadcasting Corp and later held academic positions in Israel and New York teaching filmmaking at universities. Refer to CV in file.
Scope and Content
Session 1. The end of Film ID 2001 is repeated here with Defense Attorney Dr. Robert Servatius requesting permission to voice two objections to the court before his client enters a plea. Judge Moshe Landau agrees, and Servatius asks for a change of venue and/or a case dismissal on the basis that the panel of Judges lack sufficient objectivity. Secondly, the defense suggests that the court is incompetent because it ignored international law by allowing and justifying the seizure of Adolf Eichmann. Furthermore, Servatius accuses the court of proceeding with trial despite Israel's lack of political sovereignty (i.e. Nazi crimes were committed in European states, not in Israel). There is a blip in the film at 00:03:06 and again at 00:24:00 where the story skips from Dr. Servatius expressing his concerns of the courts' level of objectivity to the end of the Defense's opening statement, in which Servatius discusses the importance of Witness #2 (Jack Shimoni), a participant in the Eichmann kidnapping. The tape ends as Attorney General, Gideon Hausner, begins his brief by countering the accusations of the Defense.
Note(s)
See official transcripts, published in "The Trial of Adolf Eichmann", Vol. I-V, State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem, 1994. Also available online at the Nizkor Project http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/Sessions/. The dialogue is in three languages: German, Hebrew, and English. Adolf Eichmann and Defense Counsel Robert Servatius speak in German, which is translated into Hebrew. The Judges and Attorney General Gideon Hausner speak Hebrew. An English translation of the proceedings is dubbed over all of the dialogue by translators. The presiding Judges are Moshe Landau, Benjamin Halevi, and Yitzchak Raveh. Also present are Assistant State Attorneys Gabriel Bach and Ya'akov Bar-Or. There are periodic breaks in the footage.
Subjects
- TRIALS
- EICHMANN TRIAL
- EICHMANN, ADOLF
- WAR CRIMINALS/WAR CRIMES TRIALS
Places
- Jerusalem, Israel
Genre
- Unedited.
- Film