The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
Session 107
(Part 6 of 6)


Dr. Servatius: I would first note that, as far as I know, these documents have all already been introduced in the proceedings. I would now read out from page three, the top of page three:
"My task was to organize the transport by rail required to carry out the compulsory transfer from the Warthe District of those Poles evicted from their farms by the District Commissioners, in order to accommodate ethnic Germans. These Poles were now to be transported to Poland. By Poland I mean the Government General. I do not know any more details about this action which was directed by the District Commissioners."
At the bottom, last paragraph:
"When these compulsory transfers caused difficulties and unacceptable situations" - I omit part of the sentence - "a separate organization was set up in order to run this operation properly. The Central Office for Migrants was set up for this purpose in Posen, under the Inspector of the Security Police and the Security Service. A branch office of this Central Office was set up in Litzmannstadt. This was preceded by a field office of the Central Office, under Hauptsturmfuehrer Barth. When this field office became an office in its own right, I was appointed to head it. That was in the spring of 1940."
At the top of page four, continued:
"There were several field offices subordinate to my office, as well as a transit camp in Litzmannstadt. The purpose of the office was to handle the processing of the Poles on their way to the Government General, after they had been evacuated by offices controlled by the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Folkdom; in the transit camp, those Polish families which had been identified by the Main Race and Settlement Office as qualifying for Germanization were sorted out, as well as those Poles whom the Labour Office took away as workers for use in the Reich."
At the bottom of the same page:
"As the head of the Litzmannstadt office, I always sent my train requirements to Department IV B 4 in the Head Office for Reich Security and no longer dealt directly with the Reich Railways. In the matter of transport, the main concern was to ensure that the evacuees were deported in good time, so as to guarantee accommodation for the settlers as they arrived. All this was the concern of my office in Litzmannstadt."
On page six, on the Lidice affair, in the middle:
"It has been pointed out to me that the 20.6.1942 teletype to Eichmann does not mention the term "special treatment", but that in my teletype to Ehlich, dated 22.6.1942, I dictated the following sentence: `I have notified IV B 4 of the transfer of these children, on the assumption that they are destined for special treatment'. I would like to state on that: I do not remember exactly what was in my mind when I drafted the teletype. It is my opinion that I did not then take the words "special treatment" to mean extermination. I am sure that at that time I was not aware of, and familiar with, the term "special treatment" in the sense of extermination. The children were a special matter within our camp operation and required a special treatment relative to our conditions."
On page eight it also says the following - there is a reference to a teletype, and it says there:
"giving the time of arrival as 11.30 (sic: original statement reads 21.30) and asking for the children to be met at the station and then immediately assigned to suitable camps." In this document it says that those who are not suitable for Germanization are to be sent on `via the Polish camps at your end'. It goes on to say, `The children are bringing with them only what they have on their bodies. No special care for them is required'. To-day I no longer have any special recollection of these teletypes I have been shown, but I would like to point out that, contrary to what it says in the remark in this teletype, I had to have special care arranged for in the Gneisenaustrasse camp, and I did so."
Page nine, below in the middle, I now come to Hungary, the commando's arrival in Hungary.
"Around midday on 19.3.1944, i.e. on the Sunday on which Hungary was invaded, we arrived in Budapest and were for the time being accommodated in a hotel. At first I did not have the impression that we had any fixed organization and division of work. I remember that right at the beginning Geschke gave me the assignment of establishing contact with the Hungarian police, in order to guarantee that supply services in Budapest would remain undamaged."
Then, page ten at the top, at the beginning of the paragraph:
"At some point Eichmann definitely told me that I was now a member of his department. It is also possible that Geschke ordered me there. I was not on good terms with Geschke. In any case, subsequently, when the Hungarians two or three weeks later made rooms available, and Eichmann opened an office marked as such, I was with him. He appointed me as his deputy in his office."
At the bottom of page eleven the witness speaks about transmission of orders and what he knows, and then says that, in general, he does not know anything.
"However, I do know that Eichmann was repeatedly summoned to Geschke, and that this happened very often. I never went with him to Geschke, so I did not hear what instructions and orders he received there. Eichmann also went several times to see Winkelmann and Veesenmayer. I do not know whether he was summoned to see them. It is my opinion that, as a Higher SS and Police Leader, Winkelmann could have issued orders to Eichmann."
At the bottom of the same page:
"By deportation I mean both concentration and also despatch. Novak was our office's liaison with the railways and was responsible for transport matters. It is my opinion that he must also have arranged and organized deportation transports with the railways. I am referring here to railway trains."
The witness then talks about the activities of Eichmann's office. At the top of page 13 he says:
"I did observe that his typist did not have a great deal to do. Eichmann spent little time in the office itself. He came and went when he wished. In Budapest he had a very full private life which took up a lot of his time. I also do not know anything about Eichmann having intervened or having been able to intervene in deportations positively or negatively on his own initiative. During the time that I belonged to my office in Hungary, I did not notice Eichmann acting on his own initiative in the sphere of Jewish affairs, either exceeding or acting counter to any instructions, of which, moreover, I had no knowledge. My impression of Eichmann was always that he was not the type to do something on his own responsibility. The reason why I had this impression was that previously, when I was active in the Warthe District, whenever I asked him something, he would not immediately take a decision himself, but would ask for my query in writing, and would send me the reply later. To-day I no longer remember whether I had this impression only from the matter of the Lidice children, or whether there were various other incidents of the same type in which Eichmann evaded giving an immediate decision. What I do remember is that I had always to submit a request for a transport train to him in writing, and the same was true of changes. I considered that this demonstrated exaggerated caution on the part of Eichmann."
Page 14, a reaction to the Kasztner report, in the middle:
"I have been shown the passage from Kasztner's report, pages 26 and 27, in the Israel Prosecution Document 900, where Kasztner describes two instances of money being handed over in my presence. I wish to state in this connection that the words I am described as saying were certainly not spoken by me. I did not make any promises of this nature.

In reply to questioning: It is correct that I accompanied Brand and Bandi Gross to Vienna for their flight to Turkey. However, it is not correct that I am supposed to have told Brand before the flight left that he should make it known abroad that there were still decent SS leaders such as myself and Wisliceny. I never said anything of the sort.

In reply to questioning: I do not know any details about Becher's business via Brand. I was never brought into this transaction. Eichmann sent me to Vienna with Brand for his flight. I had to fetch Gross from somewhere else, on the orders of a Hauptsturmfuehrer from the office of Commander Geschke."

The examination then passes on to the foot march. The witness describes what he saw and then says - I am quoting from the last lines at the bottom: "In Budapest I went to see Eichmann about the matter; I told him about this transport and its state and remonstrated with him that this was inadmissible. I believed that he could have intervened in the matter. The only thing Eichmann said when I remonstrated with him was: `You have not seen anything.' Whereupon I went to Winkelmann and informed him of my observations, but my impression was that he was already informed of the circumstances I had observed."

On the same page, at the bottom, last paragraph:
"Around the end of April or in May 1944, i.e., the beginning of May 1944, I lived with Eichmann in a large yellow house on the Schwabenberg. It was a large villa, which I thought was lived in only in the summer. At the back of the house there was a large flight of stairs, underneath which there may have been some sort of storage room. In front of the house was a sandy forecourt; the garden at the back of the house dropped away steeply. I do not remember there being a garage, hut or shed at the back. I also do not remember air- raid trenches already there or being dug. The latter I would have seen, because very often I came back by the early afternoon, as we were not very busy in the office. It may be that there was a tennis court next to the villa, below the garden, alongside the next parallel road. We only lived there some three or four weeks. After that Eichmann moved into a villa further down the hill."
Then, on the next page, the last paragraph:
"When I lived together with Eichmann in the yellow house, there was a man called Slavik with him. However, he did not work in the department; he acted as caretaker for our billet. I do not know whether he stayed with Eichmann in his later villa. Both villas were situated in an estate of villages where the houses were detached, each in its own garden. There were fruit trees planted at the yellow house. I do not know whether the second house also had fruit trees. At the time Eichmann was driving an amphibious vehicle."
That is what I wanted to read out.

Presiding Judge: Mr. Hausner.

Attorney General: (to the consecutive interpreter) You have marked passages there, please read them out.

Consecutive interpreter: If these are passages which have already been read out, should they be read again?

Presiding Judge: No, that is not necessary.

Second paragraph on page nine.

"After that Eichmann, who held the same rank as I did but whom I always considered to be my superior, sent me with Wisliceny to summon the Jewish Council; I also remember standing subsequently with Wisliceny in front of a large group of Jews, with Wisliceny talking about what was going to happen. To-day I no longer remember what he said in detail. The general tendency was reassuring.
Page 13, at the bottom:
"In reply to questioning: I remember an incident when Wisliceny asked me to accompany him, in order to fetch money. We then went together to some living room or other. I forget where this room was. It is possible that Kasztner and perhaps Brand, too, were also present. As far as I remember, it was anyhow Wisliceny and not Hunsche who was with me. It is not impossible that I fetched money somewhere another time with Hunsche."
On page 15:
"On the way to Budapest, not very far from the Hungarian border, I saw groups of Jews, on foot, accompanied by Honveds or gendarmerie. The column of Jews was very stretched out, guards were few and far between, and the people looked exhausted. Some of them were sitting and lying around on the road."
And further down, on the same page - this has already been read out by Counsel for the Defence. That is all.

Presiding Judge: I have designated this exhibit IX, and the appendices as appendices to IX.

Judge Raveh: I wanted to ask Mr. Hausner: Do you consider this document on which Dr. Servatius had reservations to be authenticated?

Attorney General: I believe that Dr. Servatius relied especially on this document.

Judge Raveh: He was basing himself on a reservation about this document. That is what I understood.

Attorney General: It is somewhat difficult to accept the document without accepting precisely what it contains. We have no other text or version of this document. Either one accepts the document or one does not accept it in its entirety. I assumed that this document was precisely one of those on which Dr. Servatius builds his defence. He cannot accept one part and say: Up to here it is authenticated, and from here this is an addition.

Dr. Servatius: As far as I understand it, this is the first document of the -

Presiding Judge: Yes, this is the document about which you spoke earlier.

Dr. Servatius: The document contains both incriminatory material and exonerative material. If it is not accepted, I do not have to defend myself against the document.

Presiding Judge: This is what was shown to Krumey when he was examined in Germany, and this is how it reached our files.

Dr. Servatius: Very well, I leave it to the Court's discretion.

Presiding Judge: In that case, whom would you like to take now?

Dr. Servatius: Witness Baer, one of the last commandants of the Auschwitz concentration camp. This is the examination of 6 June 1961 before the Court of First Instance in Frankfurt am Main. I would refer to the last page, three, where it says: "When I took over command matters, Hoess was there. However, at that time Hoess was a Bureau Chief in the Economic and Administrative Main Office, Bureau Group D. He was not a commandant any longer. Before I arrived, Hoess had ceased being a commandant; Liebehenschel had taken over this post, previously occupied by Hoess. However, when I took up my office, Liebehenschel was not present and did not hand matters over to me.

I did not know the Accused Adolf Eichmann, nor did I have anything to do with him. I also did not know of him as someone in the Head Office for Reich Security. I do not wish to answer any further questions." This is all I wish to read out from the document.

Presiding Judge: I designate this exhibit - i.e., this statement by Ber - Number IX.

The Court will adjourn until 3.30 this afternoon.


[ Previous | Index | Next ]

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor

© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012

This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and to combat hatred. Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.

As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.