December 15, 1961

On Wednesday, I went to Jerusalem to hear the "psak din" at the trial. The hall filled slowly, the main actors took their places and the gruff loud voice shouted "Beth Hamishpat", The judge walked in and the last day of the trial started, I heard Hausner and felt that he was speaking too long since he had been making this summation all week long! It seemed to me like too much pulling at our wounds!
I had the feeling that perhaps Servatius would use this opportunity to explain his part in the trial . As the only German in the trial picture and in antithesis to the culprit, he could have, in some clever way, brought in the point of view of the "good German". In some way, I felt a bit of sympathy for him. Living all these weeks in a completely hostile atmosphere, Why? To save the culprit? Servatius' only function could have been to present some other side to the world. He didn't even try! He merely tried to justify the behavior because of the environment.
I had half formed the thought that I would walk out of the trial room when the culprit's turn to talk came but I didn't.
It would have been too awkward. I had to strain to hear him and I stopped straining and actually fell asleep. - call it psychological , if you like. The facts are, it was in German and it was hard to hear. The translation into Hebrew angered me. I suddenly felt what is meant by a "holy language". I didn't want to hear his words in Hebrew, I didn't listen and nodded off again but not completely, I kept wondering how Landau would answer him and how the sentence would be carried out. My image of his being dropped out of an airplane in the middle of the Atlantic seemed further from reality than ever.
The voice changed. The Hebrew became clearer. Landau was talking. The sentence would be given on Friday.
"Bet Hamishpat" Everybody stood up, the judges walked out and I went home in the teeming rain

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Friday morning, we listened to the radio. Landau knew how to create a new dramatic atmosphere. He started by saying that he did not agree with the prosecuting attorney in that the court had no discretion in the matter but had, by law, to bring back a penalty of death, For a moment, we thought maybe, who knows what kind of an idea would come now?
Landau did not say how the penalty would be carried out and there was still room for speculation until Sunday when the papers wrote about the preparation of the gallows. Shades of Haman!

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