Tamar Hausner-Raveh
Gideon Hausner’s daughter
Israel
English, Hebrew
It has been 59 years since the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, but memories have not faded. Tamar Hausner-Raveh, lawyer and daughter of Gideon Hausner, the trial’s chief prosecutor, remembered when she was 14 years old, the day her father was appointed to the case and Eichmann entered her life.
“My father shared with us his doubts about whether he could represent the victims without being a survivor himself,” she said. But he found the inner strength to do so, as reflected in his opening remarks of the trial: “As I stand here before you, judges of Israel, to lead the prosecution of Adolf Eichmann, I do not stand alone. With me, in this place and at this hour, stand six million accusers.”
“With Me Here Are Six Million Accusers: The Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem”
Gideon Hausner was an Israeli jurist and politician. Between 1960 and 1963, he served as Attorney General and was later elected to the Knesset and served in the cabinet. Hausner is most widely known for heading the team of prosecutors at the war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961. Hausner is generally credited with exposing the Holocaust to the world in bold cross-examinations of Eichmann, but was criticized for showmanship. His judicial skill also set the precedent that the defense "I was only following orders" is not valid if such orders are wholly criminal and illegal. The prosecution succeeded in proving Eichmann's guilt.