Recently, a three-part series involving the lost tapes of Eichmann came out in Israel. According to this article, MGM, one of the series' production companies, is looking to make it available world-wide. Right now it only has Hebrew subtitles, as far as I can tell. For Hebrew speakers, I highly recommend it. It can be viewed for free here.
What are "the lost tapes of Eichmann"? Adolf Eichmann was a high-ranking Nazi officer and considered to have been the architect of the Holocaust. He planned The Final Solution, he invented ways to make killing Jews quick and effective. After Germany lost WWII, many Nazis went into hiding for awhile. Some escaped to South America. Eichmann wandered around Germany for awhile, before heading down to Argentina and settling in a neighborhood where several Nazis lived, though he was the most prominent of them.
In the late 50's he met a Dutch Nazi journalist named Willem Sassen who was looking for proof that the Nazis hadn't actually committed the Holocaust. I.e., that they hadn't actually sent millions of innocents to their deaths. Many Nazis at the time believed that the Holocaust was an urban myth invented by the Jews. Sassen asked Eichmann if he would be willing to be interviewed. Eichmann agreed. It seems he agreed because of his vanity. He wanted recognition for his acts, which he believed were his finest moments. And so, Sassen and some Nazi friends sat down with Eichmann for a series of interviews. These interviews were recorded, and later transcriptions were made. Eichmann hoped Sassen would write a book about his exploits after he died.
In the tapes, Eichmann can be heard proudly describing his part in the Holocaust. The tapes changed hands for a number of years, until they eventually fell into the hands of a German governmental archive. Two years ago, the German government allowed the Israeli producers of the series to access the tapes.
The series documents the story of the tapes, their connection to the Eichmann trial of the early 60's and much of the behind-the-scenes of things that were going on during the trial and their ramifications on the trial itself. I found it to be very interesting, but also a bit disturbing (particularly because of all of the shadowy stuff).
Some particular points of interest/shock:
What are "the lost tapes of Eichmann"? Adolf Eichmann was a high-ranking Nazi officer and considered to have been the architect of the Holocaust. He planned The Final Solution, he invented ways to make killing Jews quick and effective. After Germany lost WWII, many Nazis went into hiding for awhile. Some escaped to South America. Eichmann wandered around Germany for awhile, before heading down to Argentina and settling in a neighborhood where several Nazis lived, though he was the most prominent of them.
In the late 50's he met a Dutch Nazi journalist named Willem Sassen who was looking for proof that the Nazis hadn't actually committed the Holocaust. I.e., that they hadn't actually sent millions of innocents to their deaths. Many Nazis at the time believed that the Holocaust was an urban myth invented by the Jews. Sassen asked Eichmann if he would be willing to be interviewed. Eichmann agreed. It seems he agreed because of his vanity. He wanted recognition for his acts, which he believed were his finest moments. And so, Sassen and some Nazi friends sat down with Eichmann for a series of interviews. These interviews were recorded, and later transcriptions were made. Eichmann hoped Sassen would write a book about his exploits after he died.
In the tapes, Eichmann can be heard proudly describing his part in the Holocaust. The tapes changed hands for a number of years, until they eventually fell into the hands of a German governmental archive. Two years ago, the German government allowed the Israeli producers of the series to access the tapes.
The series documents the story of the tapes, their connection to the Eichmann trial of the early 60's and much of the behind-the-scenes of things that were going on during the trial and their ramifications on the trial itself. I found it to be very interesting, but also a bit disturbing (particularly because of all of the shadowy stuff).
Some particular points of interest/shock:
- Eichmann mentioned that he looked into Eva Braun, Hitler's wife's background and discovered that she was 1/32 Jewish. I found that a bit disturbing.
- At one point in the trial, Gideon Hausner, the prosecutor, had pictures and video clips from the Holocaust showed in the court and it is pointed out that Eichmann, for the first time during the trial, sort of grinned when seeing the images (he was filmed while he watched the video).
- Sometimes it's explicitly stated and sometimes only hinted at that the Israeli government at the time had great interest in covering up some things that the progression of the trial may have come to reveal - things like who sent the assassins who killed Israel Kasztner and Israeli ties with the West German government which included many Nazi officials. According to one of the researchers who was interviewed for the series, the Mossad is still hiding and censoring certain documents related to the trial and to these connections with the German government because of the problematic information they contain.
- Later in his life, Sassen assisted the Mossad in their (failed) attempts to track down the crazed Nazi scientist Mengele.
