Category: Sandbox

Eichmann: Arendt, cinema, power

On By Martin Kramer

Mosaic now has published all three responses to my essay on the capture of Adolf Eichmann in film, and how it’s distorted our image of him. Yaacov Lozowick (former director of archives at Yad Vashem) revisits Hannah Arendt, and finds in my essay some reason to rethink his past approach to Eichmann’s “banality.” Walter Reich (former director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) reminds us not to expect too much of Holocaust cinema, but underlines the enduring significance of the Eichmann trial itself. Jonathan S. Tobin (editor-in-chief of JNS.org) argues that attempts to balance portrayals of Eichmann reflect “the discomfort Jews themselves have with the use of power,” especially by Israel.

All of these responses are thought-provoking, and I’ll have something to say about each in my final word, next week. In the meantime, read them all.

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What would Bernard Lewis say?

On By Martin Kramer

Bernard Lewis passed away two years ago, and the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) put together a panel to mark the occasion. Here are my remarks. No one has filled the stage vacated by Lewis, and I explain why. I also dwell on his interesting definition of antisemitism (it might surprise you), and his critique of Middle Eastern studies (it diverges from the usual one). Twelve minutes of your time. Click here.

Starring Adolf Eichmann

On By Martin Kramer

Sixty years ago, on May 23, Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion stood before the Knesset and announced that Adolf Eichmann had been brought to Israel to stand trial. It was an electrifying moment in the history of Israel, Jewry, and the world. Eichmann was executed fifty-eight years ago today, on June 1, 1962.

Where does our image of Eichmann come from? Years ago, it would have been the trial itself, for those who watched it, and Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem, for those who read it. But for many younger people, it emerges from the mass-market television movies and films about Eichmann’s capture, and what he purportedly said during his nine days in Argentine captivity. This reached its apex a couple of years ago in the MGM production Operation Finale, starring Sir Ben Kingsley as Eichmann.

Kingsley is an irresistible star. Did he make Eichmann into one too? In a new monthly essay for Mosaic, I argue that he did. But this was only the latest stage in an evolution, traceable to a supposed dialogue between Eichmann and one of his Israeli captors. All the major dramatic treatments have based themselves on this secret ping-pong between captor and captive. But it’s most likely a fiction—full of drama, empty of truth.

Read my argument here at Mosaic. There will be responses posted on the site by other authorities all through June, and a last word by me. I’ll keep you posted as the exchange unfolds. Update: or read it below.