A Special Screening of the "The Devil's Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes" with the Creators of the Series

The event took place at the Bar Shira Auditorium at Tel Aviv University, with participation of:

• The series’ creator Yariv Mozer, Alumnus of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at TAU’s David and Yolanda Katz Faculty of the Arts
• Gideon Tadmor, Executive Producer of the series, Chairman of Navitas Petroleum, Founder of Tadmor Entertainment, Alumnus of TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law
• Prof. Roni Stauber, Historian of the History of the Jewish People in modern times, Senior Faculty at TAU’s Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archeology, Director of the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, and Head of TAU’s Certificate Studies program in Archiving and Informatics, Member of the Scientific Committee of Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Alumnus of TAU’s Faculty of Humanities
• Adv. Tami Raveh Hausner, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of N12 News Israel and daughter of Gideon Hausner, who served as Attorney General and was the Prosecutor in the Eichmann trial, and her husband, Adv. Yehuda Raveh.
   

During the event, Prof. Roni Stauber, who served as the series’ Academic and Scientific Consultant, had a personal conversation with Yariv Mozer about the long and complex process of creating the series and its effect on the memory of the Holocaust against the background of global events.

Sigalit Ben Hayoun, Head of the TAU Alumni Organization, opened the event and stated that: "One of our greatest achievements as an alumni organization is the ability to put the spotlight on the multidisciplinary achievements of TAU alumni, who come together for groundbreaking work. The connection between alumni of various faculties is a common thread in the multitude of nuances within the Israeli industry, and the extraordinary creation of this global production, is a great testament to the added value TAU gives to our alumni. This is the core of the activities of the TAU Alumni Organization, and the many achievements won by the world changing community of TAU alumni shows that we are doing it right. We are proud that a connection between an alumnus of TAU’s Steve Tisch School of Film and Television in the Faculty of the Arts, and an alumnus of the Faculty of Law, led at the end of a long and complex process to this masterpiece that we are now about to watch for the first time."

Gideon Tadmor said in his opening speech: "The main part of my business activity in recent years has been centered on energy, the discoveries of natural gas in Israel and Cyprus and the establishment of the natural gas economy, and recently in the field of oil and gas production in the USA, but I have always had a passion for the world of cinema and television - and so I founded a studio for Indie films years ago in New York, and within this framework we produced several films.

As a result of this activity, I was exposed to talented Israeli creators, who were frustrated that they could not find their way to realize their work and bring it to the international audience, despite the fact that Israel was established in the world consciousness as an important source country for quality content. In light of this, I decided to get up and do something - to build a new and unique commercial studio, with the goal of building a bridge between the creators and their creation and the international television and film market, freed from the traditions of regulation in Israel. That's how Emilio and I set out two years ago on a new path. Happily, MGM's roaring lion joined us and became a first-rate financial and professional force multiplier.

I am particularly proud that the first project of this joint venture is the series "The Devil's Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes", a high-quality, significant and one-off documentary series with lasting historical value, which will have traction in the international market. The shocking series is a historical document, the main of which is a young and scarred country, which faced its challenges and decisive and critical decisions for its survival and success in its early years."

Adv. Tami Raveh Hausner, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of N12 News Israel and daughter of Gideon Hausner, who served as Attorney General and was the Prosecutor in the Eichmann trial: "My dad’s soul was burned in front of the glass cell... Two weeks before Eichmann was captured he was appointed as Attorney General. He had doubts about whether he could do a faithful job and represent the survivors of the Holocaust because he did not experience the Holocaust first hand. I remember how he gathered us in the small family kitchen and told us that he intended to be the prosecutor himself. This was one of the first decisions he made and the first and last time the Israeli Attorney General appeared every day as a prosecutor in a case being handled in court.

He decided that there would be witnesses who would come to testify, in addition to the documents, but when they started contacting survivors, many refused. He would bring them to our house, mother would serve them tea and cookies and he would convince them to testify. Father really wanted the Sassen recordings, which are presented in this documentary, but I have no doubt that even if he had the recordings in his hands he would not have given up any of the 110 witnesses. When the witnesses began to testify, suddenly there was a huge influx of people who wanted to testify and it was impossible to add them. It was only at that point in time that people began to tell their families about their experiences from the Holocaust, and that is the tremendous achievement. It is increasingly important to show this series all over the world, to show the world who Eichmann was, and also against the background of the rise of global anti-Semitism - who his successors are."

Yariv Mozer, the series’ creator, said: "Thank you very much to everyone - Kan 11, Gideon Tadmor and Tami Raveh, who accompanied me since the beginning of the project and gave me her father’s book, from which you can see what an effort was made to obtain the Sassen recordings. I am proud to say first and foremost as an alum of the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University, that a long list of TAU alumni accompanied the making of this project, including of course Executive Producer Gideon Tadmor, Emilio Shenkar, Kobi Sitt and many more.

I studied Film and Television between 2000-2004, close to the release of another documentary film, "The Specialist", based on Hannah Arendt's book. This tendentious film showed Eichmann as a small clerk who carried out orders. My Eichmann trial consciousness was based on this film. In our world, unfortunately, movies have more influence than books. The Sassen recordings provide a counterpoint to Arendt's theory, and that’s what provoked me to set out to make the series, with the mission to obtain them, and I am happy that I fulfilled the mission I undertook and am proud of the success of the series."

Prof. Roni Stauber, the Academic and Scientific Consultant of the series: "Historically, Hausner's decision to base the trial on a large number of witnesses showed his greatness. Hausner applied the line set by Ben-Gurion to explain the story of the Holocaust through Eichmann's trial. That is why Eichmann was brought to Israel and was not assassinated in Buenos Aires. Unlike the Nuremberg Trials, which did not deal with the Holocaust as a unique event and generally avoided basing indictments on testimonies, Hausner sought to make the voice of the victim heard. He had educational goals. He wanted to explain through the trial to the youth growing up in Israel the impossible situations the Jews in Europe faced in the face of the Nazi murder policy. He sought to shatter the image of Holocaust Survivors as those who went like sheep to the slaughter. Making the voice of the victim heard is the main legacy of the Eichmann trial to the international criminal law regarding genocide and crimes against humanity. This is Hausner's greatness, as historians of The Eichmann trial emphasize".

Among the alumni who attended the event:

• Prof. Eran Neuman, Dean of the David and Yolanda Katz Faculty of the Arts, Tel Aviv University
• Prof. Miriam Shefer Mossensohn, Head of TAU’s Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies
• Yael Blecher, judge of the Tel Aviv District Court
• Dana Yagur, Partner in the Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal Law Firm
• Yoram Bechler, Co-Founder and CEO of AIO
• Tamar Tunik Cohen, Foreign News Editor at Calcalist
• Ayellet Hashahar Bitton Perla, Judge of the Krayot Magistrate Court
• Adv. Avi Milikovski, Attorney at the State Attorney's Office, Ministry of Justice
• Michal Badhav, General Counsel and Company Secretary at Webpals Group
• Jonathan Justman, Head of Public Buildings Department at The Municipality of Raanana 
• Adv. Liora Weiss-Bansky, Attorney at the State Attorney's Office, Ministry of Justice
• Roey Gilad, Diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his wife Nitza, also a TAU alumna
• Dr. Have Newman, Assessment and Evaluation Director at the Center for Educational Technology
• Nathan Shuchami, Managing Partner at Hyperwise Ventures

 
View the photo album from the event on Facebook>