The State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann
Hanna Yablonka2004

Hailed as a landmark upon its publication in Israel, THE STATE OF ISRAEL V. ADOLF EICHMANN, CRIMINAL CASE NO. 40/61 is the first book to examine--with some forty years of historical perspective--the impact of the historic Eichmann trail on the Israeli psyche. Written by Holocaust scholar Hanna Yablonka, this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking book looks at how the Eichmann trial marked a turning point in Israeli's national consciousness. Moving from the dramatic capture of Eichmann to the emotionally wrought trial itself, in which Eichmann sat in silence ensconced in a bulletproof glass case, Yablonka skillfully shows how veteran Israelis came to see, in a new light, not only their new neighbors--Holocaust Survivors with whom they'd been living side-by-side for over a decade--but also their place in the world as an independent state. Whether she's examining the impact of the Eichmann trial on school children or Sephardic Jews, reassessing the role of the trial's key architects or the heartfelt testimonies of the witnesses, Yablonka shows how this trial, like the major events that mark Israel's existence--the Six Day War, the October 1973 war--is a seminal event after which the country was never the same.