The Eichmann Trial

SESSION 25 of the trial of Adolf Eichmann took place in the morning of Wednesday, May 3, 1961. The session begins with a decision by the judges regarding the taking of evidence from witnesses abroad who are unwilling to come to Israel for fear of arrest. This decision follows arguments made in the preceding sessions. Zivia Lubetkin-Zuckerman then testifies about the ghettoization of the Jews of Warsaw, speaking at length about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Her husband, Yitzhak Zuckerman, then testifies regarding life in the Kampinos labor camp, the establishment of the Jewish underground resistance and its operations. German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt, who went on to write 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' about her impressions of the trial, was in attendance and is visible at 20:07 at bottom-left.

About an hour-and-a-half of footage from SESSION 25 survives, including much of Yitzhak Zuckerman’s testimony. However, the first several minutes of the footage suffer from severely-degraded audio, which is nearly inaudible. Nonetheless, dialogue can be followed using the subtitles. Similarly, the beginning of Zuckerman’s testimony from 22:45 to 23:37 is nearly inaudible, but can be followed via subtitles.

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One portion of SESSION 25 shows the courtroom not in session, in almost complete darkness, during an apparent power outage. It is not clear at what point in the session this outage occurred. That footage is presented here at the end.