Israel Studies

Israel Studies 8.3 (2003) 1-24

The Development of Holocaust Consciousness in Israel:
The Nuremberg, Kapos, Kastner, and Eichmann Trials

Hanna Yablonka

Holocaust scholars have come to employ the concept of the "information, knowledge, and awareness," which derives from epistemological theory. They maintain that awareness gaps exist between information flow, its processing interpretation into general knowledge, and the crystallization of an awareness that culminates in action. This perception has been applied to enhancing our understanding of individuals and of society at large. ¹

In Holocaust research, the way information on mass murder was interpreted occurred slowly—too slowly, we should add—until people realized that mass murder was Germany's "Final Solution" to the "Jewish problem." The free world's interpretation and absorption of the information that eventually led to public awareness and rescue missions was also a slow process. Naturally, this problem increases the more the event is removed from known experience. The Holocaust was so aberrant and unprecedented an event that knowledge of it required the deconstruction of fixed cognitive patterns.

Cognitive processing of the Holocaust was not limited to the time of the events. In the postwar years, too, the absorption of Holocaust information into general awareness proceeded slowly in Israel. Perhaps it could not have been otherwise.

A formidable challenge awaits anyone attempting to trace the complex paths Holocaust consciousness took in Israeli society. Several thought-provoking studies have focused on an evolving society dealing with a major national trauma that was, at the same time, one of the most traumatic episodes in world history. [End Page 1]

This article examines a number of Holocaust court trials and their influence on Holocaust perception in Israel. I will illustrate how the trials mirrored the "spirit of the times" and contributed to Holocaust consciousness. Discussion will center on the following trials: the Nuremberg Trial; the trials of Jewish functionaries during the Holocaust [hereafter: the Kapo trials]; the Malkiel Gruenwald trial [hereafter: the Kastner trial]; and the Eichmann trial. Most received wide media coverage. The chronological arrangement allows an analysis of the dynamics of the Holocaust discourse in the first two decades of the state.

Two decisive factors contributed to the shaping of Holocaust awareness in Israel: the changing circumstances of the period, namely the historical context; and, the Holocaust survivors who transmitted the text. The combination of the two allows us to periodize the development of Holocaust discourse in Israel and analyze its link to the trials:

1. 1945-1947: The Nuremberg trials: These took place during the period immediately prior to the establishment of the state at a time marked by the intensive diplomatic and military struggle against the British for Jewish independence and the freedom of immigration.
2. 1948-1959: The "Kapo trials" and the Kastner trial: These occurred in the transition from a pre-state community (Yishuv) to a sovereign state; the War of Independence; mass immigration; and the building of Israel's legal, economic, and security infrastructure. At this time, Israel signed "Nazi and Nazi Collaborators Punishment Law" (1950) that was designed to bring Nazis and their proxies to justice.
3. 1960-1967: The Eichmann trial: This period marks the beginning of Israel's "Golden Age" with the strengthening of the economy, international relations, and security. The period ends with the Six-Day War that ushered in a new era in both domestic and regional arenas.

The Holocaust trials proceeded in each period according to the spirit and psychology of the times. Each trial had its hidden agenda. For example, the Nuremberg trials reflected the Allies' victory over Nazi Germany. The Kapo trials were an expression of postwar mass immigration that put its stamp on Israeli society. The political dimension of Holocaust awareness stood at the core of the Kastner trial; and, the Eichmann trial focused on the operative meaning of Jewish sovereignty, the privatization of the Holocaust, and the Holocaust's place in the wider context of World War II.

In December 1961, Adolph Eichmann was sentenced in Jerusalem. The three judges, Moshe Landau, Binyamin Halevy, and Yitzhak Raveh, chose an...