UK Jewish Film Festival: The Devil's Confession - The Lost Eichmann Tapes CTBA

At his trial in Jerusalem in 1961, Adolf Eichmann, known as the architect of the Holocaust, tried to cut a petty-minded, bureaucratic figure. His intention was to come across as an uncharismatic clerk who merely followed orders, and to downplay his role in managing the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and killing centres.

But only four year earlier, feeling increasingly secure in his adoptive country of Argentina, Eichmann spoke freely and boastfully – in a series of taped conversations with Dutch Nazi journalist Willem Sassen – of the idealistic fervour that made him excel at his job, and his deep regret about not sending many more millions of Jews to their deaths.

The transcripts of the recordings played a crucial part in Eichmann’s trial but the whereabouts of the tapes remained unknown for many years. This fascinating and important documentary, directed by Israeli filmmaker Yariv Mozer (Ben-Gurion, Epilogue), unearth the recordings and sheds light on the realpolitik considerations that may have contributed to their disappearance.

You can see another film from the UK Jewish Film Festival, Matchmaking.