Knesset archives go digital

What did first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion say in the Knesset in 1952 on the issue of reparations from Germany? How surprised was the Knesset when it was announced that Adolf Eichmann was captured? What exact words did late Prime Minister Levi Eshkol use when he requested confirmation for the appointment of Moshe Dayan as defense minister on the eve of the Six-Day War? How did late Prime Minister Menachem Begin ensure that the Israel Defense Forces did not surpass the 440-kilometer range in the First Lebanon War-

All of these speeches and many more, which rocked the country in their time and constitute major historical episodes can be found in the thick volumes of the public library. But in recent years, the Knesset has also invested in scanning and storing them in the Knesset databases.

Dr. Rebecca Marcus, the Knesset archive manager, sits in a small room on the fifth floor of the Knesset. She enthusiastically explains how it is possible to almost immediately extract and locate Knesset speeches or plenary hearings from 30 or 40 years ago.

This reporter asked to see former Prime Minister Golda Meir's speech in the Knesset just after the start of the Yom Kippur War. Within just an hour, I received an email with the complete protocol of the Knesset session from Oct. 16, 1973. The Knesset had convened a special recess session ten days after the outbreak of hostilities. Ministers and MKs stood for a moment of silence in memory of the fallen soldiers. Meir then read from a written speech: "We are 11 days into a brutal war, one that was imposed upon us on two fronts simultaneously. Fierce fighting has raged on both of them and the IDF has had its full force and power revealed. The enemy chose to attack on Yom Kippur, out of both ignorance and malice. It chose this day knowing full well that most of Israel would be in the synagogues praying."

According to Marcus, the speech most asked for by the public is the dramatic and moving speech Ben-Gurion made to the Knesset on May 23, 1960, two days after the Mossad succeeded in capturing Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. "I must inform this Knesset that a short time ago, Israeli security services captured one of the greatest Nazi criminals, Adolf Eichmann, who is responsible, along with the Nazi leadership, for carrying out what they called 'the final solution to the Jewish problem,' namely the extermination of six million Jews in Europe. Adolf Eichmann is already in custody in Israel, and he will soon be brought to trial in accordance with the law to be judged with the Nazis and their collaborators."

Marcus began working in the Knesset in 1972, as a parliamentary archivist. That was the same year that all of the protocols were concentrated into files filled with pages from a typewriter. Nobody dreamed of computers at that time, nor the Internet and scanned documents. "The computer era began only in 1980. In those years, stenographers recorded the committees' discussions and would usually type out the minutes in their homes, each with a different program. We received help from an external company and now all of the archives, from 1980 onward, have been scanned and put in our databases, about 700,000 documents."

Currently, archive employees are engaged in gathering all of the photographs that have accumulated in the Knesset since its inception. Photos include images of heads of state who visited Israel and ministers and MKs having heated debates in the cafeteria and hallways. All of these photographs will be transferred to a digital system.

In the past, the public rarely consulted the archive, but in recent years, this has changed. This year, more than 300 requests were received from researchers, students, professors, lawyers, interns and journalists seeking speeches or plenary transcripts. Requests also come from former MKs and their families. For example, former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, aged 90, recently requested a copy of all the speeches he delivered during the second and third Knessets. The daughter of former MK Yisrael Yeshayahu asked for his speeches to set up a website in his memory. Former Minister Mordechai Ben-Porat, aged 90, asked to share his memoirs to help the archive. The Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem requested all of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin's speeches.

"They say that the happiest person is one whose work is also his hobby," Marcus said. "I was attracted to work in the Knesset not because of the politics, but because the Knesset is part of shaping this country's history; it is part of our roots."

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