Eichmann Judge Underrated During Trial

This essay analyzes the decisive role of the 1961 Eichmann trial and the
pivotal judicial perspective of its presiding judge, Supreme Court Justice
(later Chief Justice) Moshe Landau. Justice Landau’s part in the trial has
been neglected in previous studies, and his own perspective on the trial has
been—until now—utterly unknown. The article considers new historical
materials—Landau’s private memoir—in the context of the “objective”
legal facts as established in the trial transcripts and videotapes. The analysis
focuses on Landau’s leadership in an extraordinary courtroom situation, as
well as on the path-breaking decisions he made during the proceedings. The
trial became the landmark that it was because of the presiding judge’s meticulous professionalism and his deep understanding of its potential significance for the state of Israel.1
One day in early 1961, Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court Yitzhak Olshan informed fellow justice Moshe Landau that he (Landau) was to be moved down to the
Jerusalem District Court. When Landau voiced his surprise, Olshan—who was not
known for his sense of humor—added solemnly: “Of course, with your consent.” In
this way, Landau learned of his appointment as the presiding judge in Israel’s historic
trial of Adolf Eichmann,2 or “Criminal Case 40/61: The Attorney General v. Adolf
Eichmann.”

Moshe Landau was forty-nine years old at the time. One of nine Israeli Supreme
Court justices, he was respected, but neither senior nor patently distinguished. Ahead
of him in these terms one could count the learned Shimon Agranat, the brilliant Yoel
Zussman, or Moshe Zilberg, who was widely considered a genius. The judicial activist
Zvi Berenson was Landau’s equal in seniority and renown, and another leading light,
Haim Cohen, had been appointed to the Supreme Court in 1960.