Summary

To the Germans, the “East” where most Jews were sent to their death was a vast area that encompassed Poland, the Baltic States and the occupied Russian territory. The countries within that region were the first about which testimony was presented at Eichmann’s trial and the last to be dealt with in the judgment phase. The East was the center of Jewish suffering and had a large concentration of Jewish people prior to the war. The prosecution had a problem because there was little evidence relating to Eichmann’s actions there. Most of the long line of witnesses provided “background” about the events but nothing specific about Eichmann’s involvement. Most mentions of his name during this phase of the trail were hearsay. Weeks were wasted on this testimony that basically proved nothing.

Had the judges cleared Eichmann from all...