Eichmann on the Air: Radio and the Making of a Historic Trial

mercilessly and, something that he repeatedly stressed, that their
extermination had to be carried out as quickly as possible.”
The presenter then introduces another interviewee,
Ehud Avriel, at present a Mapay party official, who had met
<strong>Eichmann</strong> in 1938 in his capacity as the head of the Aliya
organization in Europe. Avriel recalls the first meeting in
<strong>Eichmann</strong>’s office at the Rothschild palace in Vienna. Upon
entering the office, Avriel heard the man shouting: “‘Don’t come
near me, Jewish pig’. That was the welcoming and the beginning
of my discussion with the person in charge of the immigration of
Jews.” As I approached a few steps, Avriel continues, “I realized
that the man was holding a whip, which he waved in the air,
probably to frighten me. He then ordered me to report about the
immigration actions, which I did as much as I could, but was
almost unable to get opportunity to speak, being interrupted every
time by screaming and the waving of the whip…"
Concluding the interview, the presenter’s asks Avriel to sum
up his impressions of <strong>Eichmann</strong>: "he made the impression of a
hysterical, unbalanced person, who vacillated between screaming
and sweet talk, perhaps trying to imitate his leader who was known
for that. But he did not strike me as someone who carried out his
job just to be done with it. Rather, from the thankfully few
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