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

people. These together with putting the country in the hands of
one man with almost infinite power were the main reasons for the
catastrophe. This means that under similar conditions, says
Livneh, “this could happen anywhere else. We are not racists, we
are not saying that the German people from its race is capable of
such acts … I highly doubt if humanity, and I am not excluding us
as well, have learned the lesson.”
Professor Bergman begins by forewarning that what he has
to say be unpleasant to his fellow panelists and the audience,
adding: “I assure you that what hurts you hurts me, in my heart,
but I have to say the truth.” Bergman says he not concerned with
Germany but with the effect of the trial and its verdict on the
people in Israel:
There are two forces that for centuries have been fighting
each other within the people of Israel, the first might be
called as hatred to Amalek, and the second might be called
“love thy neighbor” and all that comes with it. Israel was
called to make a great decision … the decision was for the
former… this is for me the meaning, that this stream in
Judaism, the stream of revenge, the stream of Amalek, had
the upper hand with us…
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