State Attorney Bach: 1320-1321.

And now, Your Honours, we are not only dealing with reports from Veesenmayer. The next document is number 182, which was also shown to the Accused and was given the number T/37(91); this was a letter from Eichmann himself to Guenther, dated 24 July 1944. Incidentally, the date of the previous document was 25 July 1944, and this one, in fact, is dated 24 July, from Budapest. Here, Eichmann himself informs Guenther that papers were already being prepared in the foreign legations, in order to permit the emigration of Hungarian Jews, and he writes:

"In the German note in reply, emigration to Palestine is not strictly forbidden, but it says that emigration to Palestine must be avoided as far as possible. While it has so far not become apparent that emigration to countries other than Palestine had been tried by the foreign neutral legations concerned with the matter, they are already, from the outset, furthering emigration to Palestine. The German embassy here has so far not stood in the way of these efforts, as it is believed that emigration to Palestine was not rejected by Germany in principle. We, for our part, saw to it that also on the part of the embassy here, everything possible should be done, in order to delay the emigration efforts, and in the end to prevent them, after the evacuation of the Jews was continued. This step would be rendered possible all the more, since every emigrating Jew has to be in possession of a German visa or a special transit visa for departing from Hungary, issued by the German military authorities through the German embassy.

In order that emigration to Palestine might be prevented more efficiently, it seems to us to be useful to formulate with greater clarity and greater stringency the consent of the German Reich, which was given on this point in the first place, so that emigration to Palestine within the framework of this operation will not receive Germany's consent."

State Attorney Bach: Your Honours, this copy is to be found amongst the documents of the German Foreign Office.

Judge Raveh: This is, on the face of it, some kind of internal matter between various departments of the same section in the Head Office for Reich Security.

State Attorney Bach: The copy was sent to the German Foreign Office, apparently - we don't know this exactly - through some office, or the copy was passed on to Veesenmayer, and through Veesenmayer to the Foreign Office, or in some other way. It may be that, since this letter from Veesenmayer was written on 25 July and this letter from Eichmann on 24 July, it is even possible that the letter from Veesenmayer was written on the basis of this letter. This we do not know. But it is a fact that this letter ultimately reached the Foreign Office.

Presiding Judge: This document will be marked T/1216.

State Attorney Bach: Now there is reference not only to the proposed submission of an appeal. This we can see in our following document No. 156 which was shown to the Accused and was given the number T/137(111). Here, there is a report from Veesenmayer to the Foreign Office, a cable dated 14 August 1944. He says that the Hungarian Minister of the Interior, who had just been appointed, announced on the preceding day to the commander of the Special Operations Unit of the local SD, Eichmann, that the last Council of Hungarian Ministers had decided to propose to the Regent that the evacuation of the Jews from Budapest commence on the 25th of that month. Upon Eichmann's demand, the Minister of the Interior expressed his readiness to advance the date to the 20th of the month. It could be presumed that the Regent would agree, if only in order that the implementation of the proposed transports of emigrants could begin, to which Germany had agreed through the intervention of the embassies of Switzerland and Sweden.

Thereafter, he says in paragraph two:

"Simultaneously with the anticipated announcement of the Regent's approval, it had to be taken into account that Hungary would now demand the granting of German visas or transit certificates for the applications which are now before us. In view of the fact that the Reichsfuehrer-SS had, according to a statement by Eichmann, raised objections to putting into effect the transports to Palestine via Romania, I hereby accordingly request instructions by immediate cable, as soon as possible, whether nevertheless the existing applications - particulars of which are again given below - can be acceded to at the appropriate time."

Thereafter, he comes to the subject of Budapest, and he says:

"For the implementation of the Budapest operation, apart from this, everything is ready from the technical point of view. Eichmann presumes that incidents, mainly by armed Jews, will not be entirely absent."

State Attorney Bach: The next document is No. 976. Here, Grell reports in a cable dated 19 August 1944 on the shocking details in the plan for the deportation of the Jews of Budapest:

"The Hungarian Minister of the Interior has informed SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann that the Hungarian Government, with the approval of the Regent, would begin evacuating the Jews from the area of the city of Budapest on the 25th of this month. The Regent agreed to the evacuation of only a limited number of Jews, but the government came to a decision to evacuate all the Jews, apart from those Jews who had already been set aside, the 'excepted' (Ausnahmejuden) Jews."

"The concentration will begin on 25 August, as planned, in three camps. The first transport, consisting of two trains, with a total of twenty thousand Jews, will depart on 27 August, and on the following days, there will be three trains daily, containing nine thousand Jews each. The concentration will be carried out by the Hungarian gendarmerie alone."

State Attorney Bach: I pass on to document No. 154, which was given the number T/37(93). Here, Veesenmayer, on 24 August 1944, advises of a sudden new development:

"The Hungarian Minister of the Interior has just notified SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann that contrary to previous announcements, he had given an instruction, by virtue of an order of the Regent, to begin concentrating the Jews of Budapest on the 28th of that month, into five large camps which still had to be erected outside the city limits, without providing for deportation from these camps to the territory of the Reich. Eichmann would report on that to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and would ask for him and his unit to be repatriated from here, as they had become superfluous."

State Attorney Bach: In actual fact, he did not do so. The struggle continued. On the same day, a letter was forwarded from Veesenmayer, in which he wrote that Eichmann regarded himself as being superfluous.

Judge Halevi: He threatened to draw his own conclusions?

State Attorney Bach: Yes, and it appears that, in fact, he continued the struggle in Budapest.

Presiding Judge: This will be exhibit T/1219.

State Attorney Bach: Now we come to the two documents which, as I informed the Court, we obtained from America - from the personal archive of Himmler; they were in America and reached us from there. The one document is a cable sent by Becher to Himmler on 25 August, at 18.10 hours. Our number for this cable is 1421. Here, he writes to the Reichsfuehrer at Hochwald. It says here:

"The other side did not seriously believe our desire to conduct negotiations. It assumed that we wanted to make use of its consent for propaganda purposes only. As a result of the discussions in depth and of the fact that at that very moment three hundred units* {*In German: "Stueck" (pieces); the reference is to Jewish human beings.} were crossing the border, this impression was altered.

The other side specifically declared its desire, in principle, to implement it, and was strengthened by the realization that there could be no one who would give a clear 'no' to a one-time possibility such as this. The other side thinks that implementation by means of the supply of trucks alone was not practically feasible, seeing that, even with the best goodwill of the American Government, it could not expose itself to such an extent. On the other hand, in view of the size of the undertaking, the plan would be feasible only with the consent of the highest authorities. I propose that, apart from the trucks, we should demand those commodities which can be supplied under bilateral treaties with neutral states, such as Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal, but delivery of which was cancelled on a number of occasions, owing to the intervention of the Allied Powers; for example, chrome, nickel, ball bearings, survey instruments, tool manufacturing machines, wolfram, aluminium, etc.

Consequently, I agreed with the other side: (a) To secure authorization and cover by the supreme American authority for implementation in principle (there follow some sections which are not legible in the reprint); (b) The total amount of foreign currency which must be found in order to carry out the arrangement; (c) The creation of an overall pattern for the supply programme; (d) Specification of the merchandise which can be supplied immediately."

"The other side declares that, if further deportations to the Reich were now carried out, the deciding authority will not regard the negotiations as serious, and hence they would fail. Meanwhile, the relevant order from the Reichsfuehrer has reached us. I humbly request permission to continue the negotiations, in the spirit of this information. With absolute loyalty to the Reichsfuehrer - Becher, Obersturmbannfuehrer."

State Attorney Bach: "The relevant order" - this will become clear not by the next document, but by the next but one.

Presiding Judge: This will be exhibit T/1220.

State Attorney Bach: The reply to this cable of Becher's is contained in Himmler's cable to Obersturmbannfuehrer Becher. This is our document No. 1422. This cable was sent to Becher on 26 August 1944. It says: "Your cable dated 25 August was received. I give you authority and confirm the continuation of the discussions in the spirit of your message." Signed: Himmler. This is a cable which was sent on the following day, 26 August.

Presiding Judge: This will be exhibit T/1221.

State Attorney Bach: The next document is our No. 1441. This is a cable sent on 25 August at 11.15 hours by Veesenmayer to Ribbentrop, the Reich Foreign Minister. He says:

"SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Winkelmann has advised me by telephone just now that, during the night, at 3 a.m., he received a cabled order from the Reichsfuehrer-SS forbidding, absolutely and with immediate effect, any deportation of Hungarian Jews to the Reich. In reply to my question whether this was official and whether I could make use of it, Winkelmann answered in the affirmative."

State Attorney Bach: There is no doubt that the cable which arrived at three o'clock on the morning of 25 August, to which Veesenmayer refers here, is the cable which Becher mentioned at six o'clock of the same day, when he says: "This morning an order in the matter was received from the Reichsfuehrer concerning the cessation of the deportation." He says this in the same paragraph as the one in which he talks about the cessation of the deportations.

Now, Your Honours, the following extract appears on page 92 of Kasztner's report:

"On 25 August at 20 hours (that is to say at 8 p.m.), Wisliceny requested me by telephone to come to him, since he had an urgent matter to relate to me. He received me with a sly smile and told me: `You have won. The Headquarters is leaving!' What happened? Himmler had partly taken account of the Hungarian Government's request, that is what Wisliceny said to him. He thought that it would be right, after they had left Romania, not to irritate Hungarian susceptibilities too much. Therefore, he brought about the departure from Budapest of Eichmann and his commando, but he left the Gestapo behind..."

State Attorney Bach: That is what Wisliceny apparently said to Kasztner.

Presiding Judge: No, that is his interpretation.

State Attorney Bach: It is perhaps not so clear from the report, but I agree, Your Honour, that this could very well have been the interpretation of Kasztner, which Kasztner gave to that statement of Wisliceny. And he describes the situation thus:

"The Judenkommando evacuated the offices on the Schwabenberg. Eichmann shut himself up in a farm in the provinces. It is said that he applied to Berlin by telegraph for permission to extend his stay in Hungary by one week, for Veesenmayer was already working behind the scenes, in order to overthrow the Horthy regime and to bring Szalasi to power. Then Eichmann would get a free hand on the Jewish Question. He accordingly remained in Hungary, in order to spare himself the journey there and back. The news of the departure of the Judenkommando spread like wildfire amongst the Jews of the capital. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief - it seemed that 'the Battle of Budapest' was won."

"Strangely enough, rumours were circulating at the same time about the imminent total deportation of the Jews of Budapest."

In his comments on Kasztner's report - this is T/1116, on page eight of the German copy - Wisliceny describes this situation. He says that this order of Himmler's was obtained by Becher. And now the crucial sentence: That

"Eichmann asked Winkelmann to keep this cable from Himmler confidential since the formal agreement of Horthy had already been secured. I obtained the text of this cable, this "Fernschreiben" [the reference is to Himmler's] through Eichmann's secretary, and I immediately passed its contents on to Dr. Kasztner. Horthy, who became aware of the new situation through Komoly and Ferenczy, withdrew his consent to the deportations."

Presiding Judge: Was this Komoly the Zionist?

State Attorney Bach: Yes, he was head of the Committee for Relief and Rescue. Wisliceny told Kasztner, and Kasztner also mentions here in his report that he at once told others about it, and, through Komoly and Ferenczy, it also reached Horthy. Consequently Horthy, at a later stage, cancelled his consent. But the Accused sought to keep this cable a secret, on the grounds that, for the time being, there was no need for it, since Horthy had agreed to the deportations.

The last document I wish to submit in this context is our No. 155. This is a cable from Veesenmayer, dated 30 August. Here he reports to the Foreign Minister about a meeting of the new government in Hungary, where the principal item was the evacuation of the Jews from Budapest, and where it was resolved that the operation should be carried out immediately, that the rounding up of the Jews ought to take place on 1 September, and that the deportation should commence on 2 September. That is to say, despite this cable of the 25th or 26th of the month, they were still talking on the 30th of the month about deporting the Jews from Budapest, which, in fact, was not carried out, except on a much later occasion and in a different form. But, at that stage, it was not carried out.

Presiding Judge: This document will be marked T/1223.

We shall adjourn at this point. The next Session will be held tomorrow morning, at 9.00 o'clock.

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