The Holocaust and the Press: Nazi War Crimes Trials in Germany and Israel

Examines depiction of the Holocaust and the Nazi era in German and Israeli newspaper reports on four war crimes trials: the Nuremberg trial of 1945-46, the Eichmann trial of 1961, the Auschwitz trial of 1963-65, and the Demjanjuk trial of 1987-88. Presents a quantitative content analysis of the coverage of these trials by six German and six Israeli newspapers, representing a broad political spectrum in both countries. Shows that differences in the press coverage were generally greater between the two countries than between the various newspapers in each country; e.g. the German press revealed more interest in the defendants and less empathy for the victims. Concludes that although the perception of and attitude toward the Holocaust in each country underwent a certain transformation in 1945-88, the content analysis does not support the thesis that the memory of the Holocaust was suppressed at any stage either in Germany or in Israel.