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The Eichmann Trial
May 1, 2011 @ 12:00 am
Prof. Lipstadt will present her new book The Eichmann Trial .
Reviews
“Having covered the Eichmann trial myself, I can warmly recommend Deborah Lipstadt’s important analysis of its fascinating perspectives.”
–Elie Wiesel
“A penetrating and authoritative dissection of a landmark case and its after effects.”
–Publishers Weekly
“Just in time for its fiftieth anniversary, renowned historian Deborah Lipstadt has reworked the Eichmann trial. This book is a powerfully written testimony to our ongoing fascination with the proceedings, the resonance of survivor tales, and how both changed our understanding of justice after atrocity.”
–David Gergen, professor, Harvard Kennedy School
“An excellent work of historical and political analysis by an accomplished writer. Compellingly written, it grips the reader from its opening pages. With this book, Deborah Lipstadt consolidates her standing as one of the major figures in the Jewish world today.”
–Anthony Julius, author of Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England
Book Description
Award-winning historian Deborah Lipstadt gives us a compelling reassessment of the groundbreaking trial that has become a touchstone for judicial proceedings throughout the world in which victims of genocide confront its perpetrators.
The capture of SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann by Israeli agents in Argentina in May of 1960 and his subsequent trial in Tel Aviv by an Israeli court electrified the world. The public debate it sparked on where, how, and by whom Nazi war criminals should be brought to justice, and the international media coverage of the trial itself, is recognized as a watershed moment in how the civilized world in general and Holocaust survivors in particular found the means to deal with the legacy of genocide on a scale that had never been seen before.
In The Eichmann Trial, award-winning historian Deborah Lipstadt gives us an overview of the trial and analyzes the dramatic effect that the testimony of survivors in a court of law–which was itself not without controversy–had on a world that had until then regularly commemorated the Holocaust but never fully understood the millions who died and the hundreds of thousands who managed to survive.
As the world continues to confront the ongoing reality of genocide and ponder the fate of those who survive it, this “trial of the century” offers a legal, moral, and political framework for coming to terms with unfathomable evil and with those who perpetrate it. In The Eichmann Trial, Lipstadt infuses a gripping narrative with historical perspective and contemporary urgency.
Description:
Award-winning historian Deborah E. Lipstadt offers a compelling reassessment of the groundbreaking trial that has become a touchstone for judicial proceedings throughout the world in which victims of genocide confront its perpetrators.
The capture of SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann by Israeli agents in Argentina in May of 1960 and his subsequent trial in Tel Aviv by an Israeli court electrified the world. The public debate it sparked on where, how, and by whom Nazi war criminals should be brought to justice, and the international media coverage of the trial itself, is recognized as a watershed moment in how the civilized world in general and Holocaust survivors in particular found the means to deal with the legacy of genocide on a scale that had never been seen before.
In The Eichmann Trial, Lipstadt provides an overview of the trial and analyzes the dramatic effect that the testimony of survivors in a court of law– which was itself not without controversy– had on a world that had until then regularly commemorated the Holocaust but never fully understood the millions who died and the hundreds of thousands who managed to survive. As the world continues to confront the ongoing reality of genocide and ponder the fate of those who survive it, this “trial of the century” offers a legal, moral, and political framework for coming to terms with unfathomable evil and with those who perpetrate it. In The Eichmann Trial, Lipstadt infuses a gripping narrative with historical perspective and contemporary urgency.
Profile of Speaker:
Deborah E. Lipstadt is Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. Her book History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving (2005) is the story of her libel trial in London against David Irving, who sued her for calling him a Holocaust denier and right wing extremist. The book has been described as a “fascinating and meritorious work of legal–and moral–history” (Kirkus). It won the National Jewish Book Award and was a finalist for the Koret Book Award. It was ranked by the editors at Amazon.com as number four on its list of top ten history books of 2005.
The Daily Telegraph (London) declared that Lipstadt’s trial had “done for the new century what the Nuremberg tribunals or the Eichmann trial did for earlier generations.” The Times (London) described it as “history has had its day in court and scored a crushing victory.” The judge found David Irving to be a Holocaust denier, a falsifier of history, a racist, an antisemite, and a liar. Her legal battle with Irving lasted approximately six years. According to The New York Times, the trial “put an end to the pretense that Mr. Irving is anything but a self-promoting apologist for Hitler.” In July 2001 the Court of Appeal resoundingly rejected Irving’s attempt to appeal the judgment against him.
As an historical consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Lipstadt helped design the section of the Museum dedicated to the American Response to the Holocaust.
Lipstadt has been called upon by both President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to represent the United States in several capacities. President Bush asked her to represent the White House at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In June 2007 President Bush appointed her to the American delegation to the OSCE (the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) conference on combating intolerance and antisemitism. President Clinton appointed her to two consecutive terms on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. She accompanied President and Mrs. Clinton on an official visit to Warsaw. President Clinton also appointed her to the United States State Department Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. In this capacity she, together with a small group of leaders and scholars, advised Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on matters of religious persecution abroad.
Dr. Lipstadt has also written Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory (1993), the first full length study of those who deny the Holocaust. The book has been translated into German and Japanese. She has also written Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust (1986). The book, an examination of how the American press covered the news of the persecution of European Jewry between the years 1933 and 1945, addresses the question “what did the American public know and when did they know it?”
She has taught at University of Washington, UCLA and Occidental College in Los Angeles. In Spring 2006 she was a Visiting Professor at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome. She received her B.A. from City College of New York and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Brandeis University.
Lipstadt has appeared on BBC, CNN, CBS’s Sixty Minutes, NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, PBS’s Charlie Rose Show, and the O’Reilly Factor. She is a frequent contributor to and is widely quoted in a variety of newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, New York Times, and Chicago Tribune.
She has received numerous teaching awards including Emory’s student government association’s award for being the teacher most likely to motivate students to learn about new and unfamiliar topics and the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching award, for her courses on modern Jewish and Holocaust studies. Given to Emory’s outstanding teachers, the award is based on nominations by alumni of the professor who has had the greatest impact on them. She has received Honorary Doctorates from Yeshiva University, Bar Ilan University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Hebrew Union College.
Sponsors:
The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies at UC Santa Barbara,a program of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, is cosponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures, Department of Religious Studies, Congregation B’nai B’rith, Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Hillel. This event is also cosponsored by the Department of History at UCSB.
hm 1/25/11, 3/24