The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
Session 69
(Part 5 of 5)


Q. Did you personally hear this?

A. Yes, for I was dragging bodies and I passed near them while they were talking together. And that was a lie, for it was a mixed transport, there were Poles, Germans, Czechs, not only Jews, but they atoned for all the atrocities with the word "Jews".

And so, I said that I was a chemist, and I went off by train with a group of thirty chemists. At the place where we parted from the transport only about one thousand people still remained alive. This was in Krumholz, near Liebental in Lower Silesia - this place is called Krassnegora in Polish. On the way we dug anti-tank trenches and shelters for the army; this, too, was one of the methods of extermination of this transport, which was without food, without clothing, without sleep. When we arrived on this train, we asked our guard where he was taking the chemists to and he replied: "They are going to Flossenbuerg to forge dollars."

But he took us off at Reichenau, near Gablonz in the Sudeten area. There was a camp there where no Jew had ever been. It was a small camp of Gross-Rosen, and it had a plant for radio sets. The plant was called "05Goetterland". The whole camp worked for the factory of radio sets. Electricians, technicians and specialists in fine mechanics were working there.

We were the first Jews. Naturally we were full of lice - they had not been taken to a march, they were more or less clean - and we were obliged - all thirty of us - to sleep outside. We were sent away to the Baukolonne (Building Detachment). That was the only hard labour in this camp. We built a villa for the camp commandant, and we had to pave the road. And then something happened to me.

A Czech woman gave me a piece of bread. We returned to the camp. He ordered us to undress. I put the bread on top of my pile of clothes, since I knew that in Birkenau there was no punishment for possessing bread. I did not understand that there was a difference between that bread and this bread: in Birkenau it was "army bread" and here it was "freedom bread." And when he looked at this bread and asked "whom does this belong to?" and when I said that it belonged to me, he said: "Make an injection" (Abspritzen). I stood there, naked, two prisoners held my arms and I did not understand what this was about.

In Auschwitz I had heard about this, but I did not know what it was. He ordered them to bring a syringe. But he was told it was not there - it had been given to the SS hospital. He said to me: "Get dressed" and "Forward march." He threw my bread into the refuse bin, it was some kind of refuse pit. When I asked later what was supposed to have happened, it was explained to me that in this camp they used to make a petrol injection into the heart. And this was not done by a doctor but by the SS man himself - his name was Braun.

Two or three days before the liberation, we were set free from this camp. We could not walk any further, for the road seemed to be blocked. Meanwhile, of those thirty, who were all Jews, ten remained - twenty had died. Of these ten who survived, six died after the liberation in the municipal hospital in Gablonz, and only four remained alive.

Attorney General: Dr. Beilin, of all the twenty-five thousand who left Auschwitz together with you, how many survived after the War?

Witness Beilin: When I left the transport at Krumholz there were one thousand persons. I did not know what happened to them. After the liberation I was told by the doctor who remained with this group until the end - he now lives in Tel Aviv - that one hundred and nine persons survived, and of these one hundred and nine, forty-three died after the liberation.

Attorney General: What caused their death?

A. Firstly, some were found to have tuberculosis. Then, they had no strength left. They began eating to excess and apparently without proper supervision. Instead of being given their nourishment gradually and becoming accustomed to normal food, they started overeating and as a result contracted diarrhoea.

Q. In all, about sixty people remained alive?

A. Yes.

Q. Out of the twenty-five thousand who were there when you left Auschwitz-Birkenau?

A. Yes. I only want to add that I lost consciousness. For three days...I was in a state of semi-consciousness. I became a Muselmann. I began to visualize good food and I knew that this was the sign. When I was already in this state of semi-consciousness they did not force me to go out to the building detachment, but I had to scrub the floor of the block.

Once I was sitting there, scrubbing the floor and I noticed a pair of SS boots approaching towards me. Naturally, I automatically rose - ""Muetze ab" (cap off) and I saw Mengele. He recognized me in my present condition, despite the fact that I - certainly - did not resemble my original self. This was three days before the liberation. He knew that the War was lost. He asked me: "Was machen Sie hier?" (What are you doing here?) I told him: "I am scrubbing the floor." And he walked away, saying: "Weitermachen" (Carry on doing it). I was sure - despite the fact that I was semi- conscious, I was half-dead, I could not feel the tips of my fingers, the tip of my nose, the tip of my jaw and my legs were swollen - I knew these manifestations well and I was sure that he would be looking for me.

I knew that he would want to get rid of the witness who had been present at the time of the liquidation of the Gypsies' camp. I don't know if he really searched for me or not, because that same night I was placed in the Sterbeblock (hut for dying people). When I opened my eyes I was in the city hospital in Gablonz on the river Neisse - this was four days after the liberation. I was amongst the medical personnel, in a separate room, with a white bed and even with flowers on the cupboard.

Q. What occupying army was it?

A. I was liberated, so my friends told me - there were eighty persons there, Poles, Russians and Jews who had originally been liberated by the Czech partisans who appeared on 9 March, and, that night, the Red Army entered.

Presiding Judge: Dr. Servatius, do you have any questions?

Dr. Servatius: I have no questions to the witness.

Judge Raveh: Dr. Beilin, I do not know whether I understood you correctly; when you first came to Auschwitz, you did not work as a doctor?

Witness Beilin: No, not in the quarantine and later on, too, I did not work as a doctor. It was a special case if someone was chosen to work as a doctor. The selection of doctors was carried out by the Haeftlings-Oberarzt (the Prisoners' Chief Doctor). He himself was a Polish prisoner whose name was Zangfele. This Roman Zangefele chose me whenever necessary. An interesting point: Since my diploma had been torn up in the "Sauna", when he selected me for the clinic he asked my one question: "Have you encountered spot typhus?" I replied: "Yes." Then he said to me: "You are lying - there was no spot typhus in Poland." He had forgotten that in the meanwhile, the Soviets had been in this part of Poland for two years and they had brought us typhus.

Q. How did he pick you out?

A. One has to bear in mind that the mortality rate of doctors was also very high. They were not used to hard labour and if they did not work in their profession they died. They were tortured and died, particularly as the authority over them was in the hands of criminals who especially suppressed the intellectuals - not only the doctors, but doctors as well. Hence, when there were few doctors in Birkenau, an order was issued to all blocks: "All nurses and doctors are to report." And then he made his selection from amongst these.

Presiding Judge: Thank you, Dr. Beilin, you have concluded your testimony.

Attorney General: Your Honours, in view of the fact that we only have a few minutes left, may I perhaps be permitted to use them in order to submit, through Mr. Yehuda Bakon, that statement of his which was, indeed, made on 15 June 1960 but which was sent to the archives, because in the meantime we received his long statement from Yad Vashem, and hence it did not reach the Prosecution at all?

Presiding Judge: Is he still here?

Attorney General: Yes.

Presiding Judge: Mr. Bakon, you are continuing to testify under oath.

Attorney General: May I approach the witness, Your Honour?

Presiding Judge: Certainly.

Attorney General: I want to ask him to read a certain passage.

Presiding Judge: Certainly.

Attorney General: Is this the statement you referred to as having been submitted in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem?

Witness Bakon: Yes.

Q. Is it signed by you?

A. Yes.

Q. Would you like to read, here, this extract, from the words "Generally speaking" to the end of the passage?

Presiding Judge: On what date was it made?

Attorney General: On 15 June 1960.

Witness Bakon: "Generally speaking, people were exterminated by gas, in their masses. But the Edelstein family was put to death by special order, and it appears that Eichmann had a hand in it. Mrs. Edelstein told me before that, in February, when she met Eichmann, that he had promised that she would meet her husband.

Presiding Judge: Is it signed by you?

Witness Bakon: Yes.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/1330.

Are you making copies of this?

Attorney General: Yes, of course.

Dr. Servatius: I do not know whether the translation that has reached us is a correct one. In the translation which was handed to me by the Assistant State Attorney, Mr. Bach, it says: "It appears that Eichmann had a hand in this matter, for Mr. Edelstein also told me..."

Judge Halevi: The translation is not exact.

Presiding Judge: It does not say: "Also Mr. Edelstein, but "Mrs. Edelstein."

Dr. Servatius: Then there is a difference of time here. It seems to me that, this morning the witness mentioned June, whereas here he says that it was in February that Mrs. Edelstein met Eichmann. Accordingly, I apprehend that the witness may have been influenced by what he heard later on.

Witness Bakon: I said that in January-February, at the beginning of the year, Dr. Janowich said that Eichmann had arrived and that did not mean good tidings. During the same period Mrs. Edelstein also met...she was taken out of the camp, and, according to what she described, it was clear that she had met with Eichmann, or with someone who represented him.

Presiding Judge: The question is this: when did you hear these remarks from Mrs. Edelstein? In February or June?

Witness Bakon: Mrs. Edelstein was taken outside the gates twice - once in January or February and it was then that Dr. Janowich, too, identified Eichmann, for he told us, apart from Mrs. Edelstein, that, now that Eichmann had arrived it did not bode good tidings...

Q. We are talking of what Mrs. Edelstein said about Eichmann.

A. Twice, when she returned from the gate, she was promised that she would meet her husband.

Q. When was that?

A. Once it was approximately in January or February 1944; and the second time it was shortly before she was removed from the camp.

Q. But when did she tell you this?

A. I remember it mainly from the second time.

Q. That means - in June?

A. I remember hearing it for the first time from Dr. Janowich and the second time from Mrs. Edelstein.

Presiding Judge: Any further questions, Dr. Servatius?

Dr. Servatius: No, I have no more questions.

Judge Halevi: I am sorry, it is still not clear. Here you wrote, and you said in your evidence, that Mrs. Edelstein told you this in February?

Witness Bakon: She told us twice.

Q. She told you the same story twice?

A. More or less the same story - that she had been promised that she would meet her husband.

Q. She told you the contents of this story twice?

A. Yes, that she had been promised that she would meet her husband.

Q. And twice she mentioned the name of Eichmann?

A. The first time mainly...

Q. What do you mean by "mainly"? I am asking about Mrs. Edelstein.

A. She said it had been promised to her by Eichmann.

Q. Twice she said that?

A. Twice.

Q. In February she said Eichmann?

A. In February she mentioned Eichmann specifically - that is what I understood in February. And in May I understood it had been promised by Eichmann or by someone speaking on his behalf. In February it was very clear that it was actually Eichmann, and in June - by his representative or by himself.

Q. Did she return to your camp also in June?

A. Of course she came back.

Q. And in the end she was executed?

A. A little while after this she was taken away, and she never came back. Subsequently I learned that she had been executed.

Presiding Judge: Thank you, Mr. Bakon, you have finally concluded your testimony.

We shall now adjourn. We shall continue tomorrow morning at 9.00.

As I have announced, after the recess you will be showing these films.

Attorney General: We should only like to ask for one instruction from the Court. Does the Court wish that a witness should be present during the screening, a witness who will previously have been sworn, and that he should confirm what is being viewed? That would save time. Or would the Court prefer that we should screen a portion, and thereafter summon a witness to the witness stand to confirm it?

Presiding Judge: I do not know whether the first course is practicable.

Attorney General: It is practicable - it can be put into operation.

Presiding Judge: But you have said that you have to darken the hall. The proceedings also have to be recorded.

Attorney General: I understand. So only the second course is possible.

Presiding Judge: After all, you have already seen it - you know the amount of lighting.

Attorney General: At this spot, where the shorthand writer sits, there is not much light.

Presiding Judge: Of course it is possible to ask the electrician to put a lamp here. Everything is possible.

Attorney General: Will the Court agree in principle to the first course?

Presiding Judge: If you maintain that it is practicable, and that it will not lead to general confusion, of course.

The next Session will be tomorrow morning, at 9.00. o'clock.


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