Justice Gavriel Bach relives his prosecution of Adolf Eichmann
It was May of 1960, and Prime Minister David Ben Gurion has just made the shocking announcement that Nazi arch-criminal Adolf Eichmann had been captured by the Mossad and brought to Israel for trial. Days later, a young jurist named Gavriel Bach was given an assignment that would forever change his life.
Bach was a lawyer in the State Prosecutor’s office when the chief architect of Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution” to exterminate Europe’s Jews was seized by Israeli secret agents in Argentina. And a year later 60 years ago this month as the Eichmann trial got underway and Israelis finally confronted the enormity of the atrocities buried deep in survivors’ souls for over 15 years, it was Gavriel Bach who took center stage.
Yosef Kleinman testifies at Adolf Eichmann s 1961 trial in Jerusalem in archival footage broadcast in a documentary on Israel s Channel 13 in 2019. (Screenshot)
JTA Yosef Kleinman, the youngest Holocaust survivor to testify at the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann, has died at 91.
Kleinman, who lived in Jerusalem, died Tuesday, according to the Kan public broadcaster. The cause of death was not immediately released.
Kleinman was one of fewer than 180,000 remaining Holocaust survivors in Israel.
Kleinman was one of 110 witnesses at the 1961 trial of Eichmann, the most senior German official in charge of the extermination of the Jews, and at 31 was the youngest. His testimony, delivered just after another witness fainted, was about the fate of Jewish youths at Auschwitz.
The Repository
CANTON Temple Israel is collecting new clothing and financial contributions to assist victims of landslides caused by recent hurricanes that have devastated villages in Guatemala.
This campaign is coordinated with contacts in Dover, who have long-standing relationships with the villages and know exactly what is needed.
Needed are new jackets, coats, sweatshirts and rain gear for girls and boys ages 5 to 14.
.Drop off the items at Beit Ha’am at 432 30th St. NW from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday.
Need a pick-up? Contact Joan Ortman at Jmort39@aol.com or 330- 418-4163 to make arrangements.
Send contributions via check payable to Temple Israel (432 30th St. NW, Canton, OH, 44709) with “100 Coats” in the memo, or make an online donation at https://form.jotform.com/203514594171150