Eichmann trial judge and former Supreme Court President dies at 99
Moshe Landau passed away on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, and just weeks after Yad Vashem launched an online video archive, marking 50 years since the Eichamann trial.
Former President of the Supreme Court of Israel and Eichamnn trial judge Moshe
Landau died on Sunday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the age of 99 in his Jerusalem home.
Landau, who was born in Danzig, Germany in 1912, studied law in the University of London, before coming to Israel in 1933.
He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1953 and presided over the trial of Aolf Eichmann in 1961. He was later appointed Supreme Court President, a role which he filled until retiring in 1982.
He is also the recipient of the Israel Prize for law, which he received in 1991.
Landau's death comes as only earlier this month. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, has opened two new YouTube channels showing the video documentation of the Eichmann trial to mark its 50th anniversary, one with a simultaneous English-language translation.
In addition to the English and Hebrew videos, information and descriptions of the trial and meetings in both languages was put on the internet. The channels are a cooperative effort between Yad Vashem, government archives, and Google.
Fifty years after the landmark trial of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann began, Israel on Monday marked the event that ushered in a new era of openness toward the Holocaust and its survivors with an exhibition that highlights the man and his murderous legacy.
Known as the architect of the Holocaust for his role in coordinating the Nazi genocide policy, Eichmann fled Germany after the war, was captured in Argentina by Israel's Mossad and hanged after his 1961 trial in Jerusalem.
The gripping public testimony of more than 100 Jews who survived extreme torture and deprivation captured world attention and vividly brought to life the horrors of the Nazi final solution to rid Europe of its Jews.
The hearings also marked a watershed moment for the young state of Israel, where Holocaust survivors were often disparaged as weak victims in a nation that saw itself as heroic.
The trial brought out stories of Jewish bravery and resistance that shattered the myth of Jews meekly walking to their deaths. As a result, more survivors went public with their lingering pain, which greatly helped research and commemoration efforts.