An accessible Israeli legend

October 26, 2011 - 9:41 AM by David

Former Supreme Court Justice Gavriel Bach speaks about the Eichmann trial (Photo: Brian Negrin)

One of the magical aspects of living in Israel is the ability to brush up with the country’s historical figures without much effort.

Case in point was an informal, modestly priced lecture this week by the legendary former Supreme Court Justice Gavriel Bach at a local Jerusalem synagogue. Bach, as a young assistant in the State Attorney’s office in 1960, was one of the chief prosecutors in the trial of Adolph Eichmann, the former Gestapo head during the Holocaust who was responsible for the murder of millions of Jews. Bach’s work and research was instrumental in leading to Eichmann’s execution for war crimes, the only time that Israel has invoked its capital punishment law.

Although the German-born Bach is 84 years old today, he didn’t require a single sheet of notes or reminders when he got on the podium and for over an hour dazzled the 150 assembled with riveting recollections of his encounters with Eichmann.

With just the right touches of humor, insight and modesty, the former justice who retired in 1997 recalled in fluent English specific cases that came across his desk as one of the three main prosecutors in the trial which resulted in Eichmann’s execution, the only time Israel has implemented capital punishment. Various European government officials appealed to Eichmann in an attempt to stop the deportation to death camps of specific Jews, one the widow of an Italian war hero who by chance was visiting family in Poland when deportation orders came through, another who was a scientific expert in radar who one of Eichmann’s colleagues wanted to be saved in order to learn about the technology from him. In all the instances, Bach recalled, Eichmann’s decision had been no, there can be no exceptions.

Bach is one of those figures in Israeli history who helped the country develop from its infancy into the thriving democracy it is today. If you saw him on the street, you’d mistake him for just another good-looking, but elderly gentleman. But, it’s likely that each older person out there has a story, maybe not as riveting as Bach’s, that also connects them to Israeli history.

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