Behind the scenes

The trial of the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann (1961), a significant event in the Holocaust commemoration history, was organised and managed by men. The three judges, the prosecutors, and the defence were all men, as were most of the witnesses and the chief court administrators. All the heads and investigators of the Israeli Police special Eichmann unit were men. Yet, a broader look reveals that outside the legal arena, women filled formal duties in all of the trial's aspects. The article focuses on these women whose role in the trial remained in the shadows or was concealed. Among them was the only woman on the Mossad task force that captured Eichmann in Argentina as well as policewomen, court interpreters and stenographers, and the secretary of the defence team. From a gender perspective, their stories reveal that their duties in the trial reflected the division of roles between men and women in a patriarchal society, and their work further confirmed the accepted norms and stereotypes. This division of roles explains their marginalisation in the Eichmann trial and exclusion from its history. It also highlights the need to expose their stories and secure them a centerstage position

Art · Conviction · Criminal trial · Criminology · Interpreter · Nazism · Political science · Sociology · The Holocaust · European history and politics · Gender Studies · German History and Society · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Psychology