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44 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 443 (2011)
Fifty Years after: A Critical Look at the Eichmann Trial

handle is hein.journals/cwrint44 and id is 449 raw text is: FIFTY YEARS AFTER: A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE EICHMANN TRIAL Ruth Bettina Birn* The Prosecution in the Eichmann trial exaggerated Eichmann's role in the Holocaust, due to political considerations and ignorance. New information, including the reports of a trial observer, a German prosecutor experienced in Nazi crimes, helps to establish the level of knowledge avail- able in 1961. Placed into the context of investigation files dealing with the most important Holocaust related crimes up to1961, an in-depth assessment of the extent to which the prosecution's case against Eichmann reflected the historical facts is possible. Hannah Arendt and other commentators' asser- tion, that the Eichmann trial was instrumental in starting a wave of prose- cutions of Nazi crimes in Germany, can now be shown to be unfounded. A close look at the Prosecution's evidence demonstrates the problems associ- ated with the utilization of post-war affidavits of Nazi perpetrators and the selective use of survivor testimony. This makes the didactic significance doubtful, with recent commentators attributed to the case. I. A VIEW ON THE PAST FROM THE PRESENT ....................... 444 II. THE POLITICAL FACTOR. ............................... ....... 444 III. THE EICHMANN TRIAL IN THE NAZI PROSECUTION FRAMEWORK OF 1961 ....................... 447 A. Zeug's Reports.................. .................449 IV. WAS ZEUG'S CRITICISM JUSTIFIED? 450 V. THE CRIMES EICHMANN COMMITTED AND THOSE HE DID NOT COMMIT..................................453 A. Aktion Reinhardt...............................455 B. Sonderkommmando 1005 ................................. 457 C. Mobile Killing Units (Einsatzgruppen).......................... 458 V. CRITICISM AND APPLAUSE..................................... 461 A. Legal Considerations. ......................... ..... 461 B. Empowerment of Victims?.. ............ . ......... 465 C. On Show Trials and Narratives............. ............ 469 * Ph.D., 1991-2005 Chief Historian, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Section, Dept. of Justice, Canada. 443

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