To the Competent Court of Justice, Vienna

Re: Request for Legal Assistance

The main hearing in the criminal proceedings against the Accused Adolf Eichmann is at present taking place in this Court.

In the context of this main hearing, I request you to extend legal assistance to this Court by the examination on oath of the following witness:

Franz Slawik, currently in the Remand Installation, Vienna, Austria.

The witness is to be examined on the following allegations of the Accused:

(1) that in April and May 1944 he worked for the Accused as a house steward and caretaker;

(2) that during the time when the Accused lived in the Apostol Street, a Jewish youth called Salomon was neither beaten nor killed on the grounds of this house.

To complete the testimony of the witness, I request that the witness also be asked the following questions which were drawn up by Counsel for the Accused:

(1) In April, May and June of 1944, did you, as a member of the SS, act as caretaker of the lodgings which the Accused occupied from time to time?

(2) Did you also perform this activity in the house in which the Accused lived in Apostol Street in Budapest, and which had previously belonged to a Jewish industrialist called Leopold Aschner?

(3) Apart from Eichmann and yourself, who else lived in this house?

(4) At this time, did Eichmann have a Hungarian- speaking chauffeur called Teitel?

(5) At the end of May, were trenches dug in the garden of the villa for air-raid protection or other purposes?

(6) Who carried out this work?

(7) Did neighbours complain that the people working there were stealing fruit?

(8) Did you, together with the driver, Teitel, lock up the suspect in a corridor next to the back entrance of the villa?

(9) Did you then fetch a third person, and did you enter the corridor with that person?

(10) Did you, or did the person with you, beat up the alleged offender?

(11) Who was the person with you?

(12) What was the outcome of the beating?

(13) Did the driver, Teitel, drive the victim away in the Accused's amphibious vehicle?

I would also request that the witness be asked the following additional questions which were drawn up by the Attorney General:

(1) When did you make the Accused's acquaintance?

(2) When did you start working for him, and in which offices did you work for him?

(3) As the Accused's subordinate, what were the duties you carried out?

(4) When did you come to Hungary?

(5) Where did you live in Budapest?

(6) When did the Accused move into Aschner's villa?

(7) What were your duties at the villa?

(8) Describe the villa and its environs.

(9) Did Hungarian Jews work in the garden of the villa?

(10) Who made the labourers available?

(11) Who superintended the work?

(12) What were the duties of the engineer Kolbach?

(13) Who was engineer Buehring?

(14) What work did the Hungarian Jews carry out in the villa and its environs?

(15) Who were the Accused's chauffeurs?

(16) How were the tools kept in the villa?

(17) While you were staying at the Aschner villa, what clothes did you wear?

(18) How was the Accused dressed?

(19) What fruit grew in the garden of the villa and the neighbouring gardens?

(20) To whom did the fruit in the villa's garden belong?

(21) Who ordered you to punish those who stole fruit from the garden of the villa or the neighbouring villas?

(22) From whom did you learn that the boy Salomon had stolen fruit?

(23) On whose orders did you lock him in the tool shed?

(24) When did you call the Accused to come to the tool shed?

(25) With what tools or other instruments did the Accused maltreat the boy Salomon?

(26) On which parts of Salomon's body were blows inflicted by the Accused?

(27) Describe Salomon's appearance after he was maltreated.

(28) What orders did the Accused give to the chauffeur for the removal of the body?

(29) What do you know about the accusation that one of your Jewish workers tried to rape a Hungarian child?

(30) What measures did the Accused adopt after learning of this accusation?

(31) With whom did this false accusation originate, and was it withdrawn?

(32) What were your duties in connection with the Jewish labourers?

(33) What do you know of the fate of engineer Kolbach?

I would request you to summon to the examination of the witness the representative of the Attorney General of the State of Israel, c/o H.E. Ambassador Dr. F.E. Shinnar, Israel Mission, Cologne, as well as Counsel for the Accused, Advocate Dr. R. Servatius, Hohenzollernring 14, Cologne, and to afford them, on their part, the opportunity to ask the witness any questions which might arise from his answers.

There is no objection on the part of this Court to the aforementioned representatives of the parties obtaining copies of the record of the examination.

Please forward the original of the record of the examination to this Court,

(-) Moshe Landau
President of the Trial Court

File No.: 33 a Hs 3944/61

Examination of Witness

Vienna District Court for Criminal Matters, on 6 July 1961, as from 10.00 a.m.

Present:

Judge: Counsellor of District Court Franz Fiedler

Recording Clerk: VB Juliane Beringer

Criminal Proceedings Uagainst: Adolf Eichmann

The witness is instructed to tell the truth in reply to questions which he is to be asked, according to the best of his knowledge and belief, to conceal nothing, and to give his testimony in such a way as to be able to affirm it upon oath if required to do so.

With regard to his personal circumstances he stated:

1. First name and surname: Alfred Josef Slawik

2. Age: 20.10.1913

3. Place of birth: Vienna

4. Religion: Roman Catholic

5. Marital status: Married

6. Occupation: Warehouse supervisor

7. Residence: Vienna 10, Wirerstrasse 6-14/4/3/16,

currently remanded for investigation at the Vienna District Court for Criminal Matters.

8. Relationship to the Accused or other persons involved in the examination: Not related

Section 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was explained to him.

I. On the allegations of the Accused, Adolf Eichmann:

(1): From April 1944 until around November 1944, I worked for Eichmann as the caretaker, or rather house servant, at the Aschner villa in Apostol Street, Budapest (Am Rosenberg).

(2): I do not and did not know anything about a Jewish boy being beaten or killed on the grounds of the Aschner villa in Apostol Street while I was working for Eichmann. Today I am not sure whether I was away in Vienna for ten days or two weeks of leave in April or May 1944. After I returned, I heard nothing about any such event.

II. On the questions of the Defence:

(1): From April 1944 until approximately November 1944, I worked for Eichmann as house servant, only in the Aschner villa in the Apostol Street. I was a member of the SS with the rank of an Oberscharfuehrer.

(2): The Aschner villa in Apostol Street was said to have belonged to a manufacturer of electric bulbs by the name of Aschner.

(3): In addition to Eichmann and myself, the other permanent residents of the Aschner villa were the Hungarian caretaker couple (whose name I no longer remember), a servant called Janka, and Eichmann's driver, Karl Boehm. Shortly after we moved into the villa, two more of Eichmann's drivers also came to live there, but I only remember the name Teitel. I no longer remember the name of the third driver. At the time of the Hungarian Arrow Cross revolt (I no longer remember when this was), the tenants of the villa were SS Fuehrer Abromeit, Wisliceny, Novak, Dannecker, Girzick and Government Counsellor Hunsche.

(4): Teitel must have come to Eichmann from the Waffen-SS as the driver of an amphibious vehicle, around the middle or end of April 1944. He was an ethnic German from Hungary. I heard that in June or July 1944 Teitel was brought before an SS court for the murder of an old woman in Budapest and was said to have been shot.

(5): It must have been May 1944 when two covered pits for shelter were dug in the garden of the villa. Another garden, which was separated from the garden of the villa by a little path, also belonged to the Aschner villa. Air-raid trenches were dug in this garden, too, probably for the inhabitants of the surrounding villas.

(6): This work was carried out by a Jewish engineer using Jewish labourers. I myself had nothing at all to do with this work.

(7): I know nothing about complaints about stealing of fruit.

I am unable to say anything about Questions 8 to 13, as I know nothing about this.

III. On the questions of the Attorney General:

(1): I made Eichmann's acquaintance around the beginning of 1939 in Vienna.

(2): At the beginning of 1939, I came to the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Vienna. This was subordinate to Section IVB4a of the Head Office for Reich Security, and Eichmann was in charge of the office. I remained a member of the Eichmann office until the end of the War.

(3): I was at first assigned to the SS guard which was responsible for guarding the office building; I then carried out the duties of a telephonist and orderly, and I also acted temporarily as cook for the office. It was only in Budapest that I was under Eichmann personally as his house servant.

(4): I came to Budapest at the beginning of April 1944.

(5): As soon as I came to Hungary, I lived in the Aschner villa.

(6): Eichmann moved into the Aschner villa at the same time as I did. He came to Hungary before me, and I believe that prior to that he lived in a hotel.

(7): At the Aschner villa, I was responsible for ensuring that the household was run properly. I had to take care of the cleanliness of the premises, as well as catering for Eichmann and taking care of his personal needs. When there were visitors, I also had to see to it that the guests were waited on.

(8): The Aschner villa, a two-storey building, was situated on the Rosenberg, in a garden which sloped towards the Danube. The villa also had a tower. The entrance to the garden and the entrance to the villa were both in Apostol Street. The villa had another entrance, to the basement, which led to the caretaker's flat and the heating installation. This entrance was at the rear of the house, around the back from the entrance to the villa proper, in the right-hand corner. From the entrance to the villa itself, one first came to a vestibule (cloakroom), which had two doors. The door in the wall on the right led into a room, while the door opposite the entrance door led into a round hall, which was dome-shaped and extended into the second floor. On the right of the hall the steps led up to the second floor. On the left of the entrance to the hall were the servants' stairs to the second floor, the door to the kitchen and to the large dining room. The servants' stairs also had an exit to the servants' quarters in the basement.

Opposite the entrance to the hall there was a door to the lounge. On the right of the lounge there was the winter garden, while on the left of the lounge a door covered by wallpaper led to the library. The windows of the winter garden, the lounge and the library overlooked the garden, with a view of the Danube. On the first floor were the sitting rooms in which we lived. Above the winter garden, the lounge and the library there were no rooms, but a large terrace. On the right of the Aschner villa, looking from Apostol Street to the villa, there was another villa with the garage in the left-hand corner of the garden, and there was a little path, and on the other side of this path there was a large garden, which also belonged to the Aschner villa. The slope down towards the Danube was not built up. The entire other side of Apostol Street was taken up by villas.

(9 and 10): Hungarian Jews, made available by the Religious Community, worked in the garden of the Aschner villa.

(11 to 14): No work was carried out in the villa itself; the air-raid installations, already mentioned, were built only in the two gardens. I believe that the name of the engineer from the Jewish community who had to carry out the air-raid constructions was Kolbach. This engineer was responsible for carrying out and supervising the work. I do not know an engineer Buehring.

(15): Karl Boehm was Eichmann's permanent chauffeur; Eichmann also had another two drivers - Teitel, and an SS Unterscharfuehrer whose name I have forgotten.

(16): I do not know where the tools were kept. I paid no attention to this work, as I had nothing to do with it.

(17): At the Aschner villa I only wore civilian clothes. I had one brown and one dark blue suit.

(18): Eichmann only wore the SS uniform.

(19): There were many flower beds in the garden of the villa, but not many trees. However, I do not know if they were fruit trees. I myself eat hardly any fruit and therefore was not interested in the trees. The other garden, which also belonged to the villa, had many trees in it, but I forget what sort of trees they were.

(20): I do not know anything about any fruit being taken. If there was any fruit, this might have been taken by the Hungarian caretaker. The Hungarian caretaker was already there when I arrived at the villa and must have been engaged already by Aschner. I never fetched fruit or arranged to have fruit fetched from the garden for supplying the household.

I am unable to say anything about Questions 21 to 28, as I know nothing about this. I never received an order to punish fruit thieves, I never locked anyone up in any room of the villa. I know nothing at all of a tool shed in the villa. The garden was maintained by the Hungarian caretaker, but I do not know where he kept his tools. I do not know anything about Eichmann having ill-treated anyone or a boy called Salomon.

(29 to 31): I do not know anything about one of the Jewish workers being accused of having tried to rape a Hungarian child. I did not have any Jewish workers, and Jewish labourers were only used in the garden to install the air- raid shelters. I am unable to give any further information, as I know nothing about this.

(32): I had nothing at all to do with the Jewish labourers.

(33): I do not know anything about the fate of engineer Kolbach.

Read, confirmed, signed

(-) Juliane Beringer
(-) Franz Slawik
(-) F. Fiedler

Section 153 of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads:

If the giving of evidence or replying to a question would result in a direct and major material loss for the witness, or would bring discredit upon himself or one of his relatives (Section 152(1)), and he therefore refuses to give evidence, he should only be compelled to give such evidence in circumstances of extreme importance.

Section 170, Paragraph 1, of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads:

The following persons may not be sworn, and otherwise their oath is void:

(1) those who have themselves been convicted or are suspected of having committed or having been an accessory to the criminal offence on account of which they are being examined.

(2)...

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