The capture of SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann by Israeli agents in Argentina in May of 1960 and his subsequent trial in Tel Aviv by an Israeli court electrified the world. The public debate it sparked on where, how, and by whom Nazi war criminals should be brought to justice, and the international media coverage of the trial itself, is recognized as a watershed moment in how the civilized world in general and Holocaust survivors in particular found the means to deal with the legacy of genocide on a scale that had never been seen before. In The Eichmann Trial, award- winning historian Deborah Lipstadt gives us an overview of the trial and analyzes the dramatic effect that the testimony of survivors in a court of law— which was itself not without controversy— had on a world that had until then regularly commemorated the Holocaust but never fully understood the millions who died and the hundreds of thousands who managed to survive. As the world continues to confront the ongoing reality of genocide and ponder the fate of those who survive it, this "trial of the century" offers a legal, moral, and political framework for coming to terms with unfathomable evil and with those who perpetrate it. In The Eichmann Trial, Lipstadt infuses a gripping narrative with historical perspective and contemporary urgency.
Check out the reader's guide and additional resources on the Nextbook website.
Below you can find the Twitter discussion of The Eichmann Trial with author Deborah Lipstadt that took place July 20, 2011. Make sure to follow Jewish Book Council (@jewishbook) for more Twitter Book Club events!
erikadreifus: Very busy+very tired these days means only 62 percent through THE EICHMANN TRIAL, but about to embark on #JBCBooks chat anyway.
NextbookPress: Get your #JBCBooks hashtag ready to go, and your copy of the Eichmann Trial for @JewishBook's Twitter Book Club starting NOW!
deborahlipstadt: @nycbook I think the most important legacy was the centrality of the survivor. Listen to them. Also tremendous scope/sweep of Holocaust.
63sixthree: RT @NextbookPress: Get your #JBCBookshashtag ready to go, and your copy of the Eichmann Trial for @JewishBook's Twitter Book Club starting NOW!
elesscom: @deborahlipstadt #jbcbooks Followed the British court case closely. As US journo, was stunned that a denier had to be disproven!
elesscom: @deborahlipstadt #jbcbooks In current bk, thought media coverage (tv/print) was revealing re: popular mindset. Any surprising news articles?
63sixthree: #JBCBooks @deborahlipstadt great book! &TU 4your face off w/ #holocaust denial. Somewhat OT: RU amazed at amount of #Antisemitism & #BDS?
redthreadmag: #jbcbooks @deborahlipstadt someone asked what the most unexpected thing found during research for this book. What was the most interesting?
deborahlipstadt: Thanks to #JBCBooks for this opportunity. New experience for me.
elesscom: @JewishBook @deborahlipstadt another great convo or "twalk" as my twitterfriend @erikadreifus says!