Witnesses Tell Tale of Genocide
(Continued from Page 1)
velopments preceding the Nazi
holocaust. Placed on the stand in
this regard was Prof. Salo Baron
of Columbia University, eminent
authority on the history of
world Jewry.
During Baron's presentation,
Robert Servatius, Eichmann's
attorney, posed a question re-
garding the spread of anti-Semi-
tism through the ages, implying
that an individual has no control
over a course of historic events
in which great masses play a
role — in movements like anti-
Semitism. He implied, further,
in this line of illustration, that
the Nazi holocaust even con-
tributed toward Israel's rebirth.
Baron told the court that the
Nazi atrocities against Jews were
unprecedented in all of civilized
histor y.
"Nothing like this had hap-
pened even in the Middle
Ages," he said "Even in the
Middle Ages, Jews could retain
some sort of order, could en-
joy some rights, even if those
rights were restricted. But
under the Nazi regime, the
Jews became a classless so-
ciety."
"In ancient times," Baron
said, "the anti-Semitic scourge
was religious. The fundamen-
tal difference between the
millenia of anti-Semitism and
the manifestations of the Nazi
era is this: Never, not even
during the many pogroms, did
anti-Semitism result in mass-
murder and genocide."
Also, said the American
scholar, despite oppressions and
persecutions over the centuries,
the Jewish communities in Eur-
ope had made vast contributions
to learning in all fields until "the
Nazi movement set the clock
back."
Another witness was Aharon
Walter Lindenstrauss, also a Ger-
man Zionist leader, who told of
meetings in Vienna with Eich-
mann toward the end of 1933
in Rothschild Castle.
In the crudest threatening
language, said Lindenstrausst
Eichmann demanded 'that the
departure of Jews from Germany
be speeded up and warned if
the Jewish leadership did not
comply, "You know what your
fate will be."
Lindenstrauss described de-
pressing scenes of Jews lined
up hoping for emigration per-
mits, but it became apparent
at once, he said, that Eichmann
aimed at expulsion rather than
orderly emigration.
Attorney General Gideon
Hausner also entered into the
record quotations from the con-
fessions of Dieter Wislieceny, an
assistant to Eichmann who was
executed in Czechoslovakia for
his war crimes.
The confession, which accent-
ed the cruelty of Wislieceny's
superior now on trial, emphasized
that Eichmann was a coward
who tried to escape from respon-
sibility.
The following statements are
excerpts from Wislieceny's own
testimony before the Nureinberg
trials:
Eichmann was "cold as ice in
his attitude toward •Jews, never
showing any human feeling on
the subject."
Eichmann was "cowardly and
extremely cautious." He "never
did a thing without an order
from above."
"Eichmann is very cynical
in his attitude toward the Jew-
ish question and once told me,
`I'll go laughing to my grave in
the knowledge I've sent 5,000,-
000 Jews to death. This gives
me a feeling of immense satis-
faction.' "
"Eichmann said the Jews were
to be destroyed in accordance
with a Himmler order dated
April, 1942. He said the final
solution meant the biological_
extermination of the Jewish race,
but that for the present, able'
bodied Jews were to be kept
alive. Eichmann on many occa-
sions told me that Jews were
worthless except as laborers."
"Every action of his in these
matters" was submitted to Rein-
hard Heydrich, head of the Nazi
security police, and later to
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of
the German main security office.
Hausner continued to pre-
sent documentary evidence re-
vealing the bloodthirsty crimes
engineered by Eichmann. On
Wednesday he showed how
positions made before the Nur- former Grand Mufti Haj Amin
emberg trials by several other El Husseini of Jerusalem be-
Nazis, including SS Col. Wilhelm came a Nazi collaborator
Hoettel, SS Capt. Hans Heofle, whose protests against conces-
Walter Huppenkothen and Eber- sions to Jews brought an
hart von Thadden. The Attorney order from Heinrich Himmler
General said all of the deposi-• that no Jews should be al-
tions provided information on lowed to emigrate to Palestine.
Eichmann's powers of authority
The expose of the ex-Mufti's
and activities as a Gestapo offi- role substantiates the charge of
cial.
Nazism against Mufti-led Arabs.
Servatius, in his fight to bar
The defense, meanwhile, is
acceptance of the depositions seeking. the right to bring wit-
by the court, argued also that nesses to Israel from Germany
some of the individuals were and Austria and asks immunity
still alive and should be invited for them. Servatius' assistant,
to court so that his client could Dieter Wechtenbruch, is now in
cross examine them. He par- Germany gathering testimony he
ticularly urged the calling of was permitted to secure under
von Thadden, who headed the the direction of German courts.
German Foreign Ministry sec-
From all present indications,
tion dealing with Jewish affairs. the trial may last another four
Von Thadden was reported to months. Dr. Jacob Robinson of
have negotiated frequently with New York, a deputy attorney for
Eichmann and also to have given the prosecution and former mem-
a report to German Foreign ber of the Lithuanian cabinet
Ministry officials at a special considered an outstanding au-
meeting before the end of the thority on historical and legal
war on the status of the pro- matters involving Jewry, was
asked by this correspondent
gram of killing Jews. .
The Attorney General object- whether the trial can end in
ed to this request declaring that three months. He replied:
"If the story of a holocaust
if the description of von Thad-
den's tasks and position as given that lasted 12 years, in which a
by Servatius was correct, then third of the Jewish people was
von Thadden had also commit- exterminated, can be con-
ted crimes against the JewiSh densed into a three months
evaluation, then the trial can
people.
end in that length of time,"
Hausner said that "should he implying that it could not.
step on Israeli soil, I will be
General Telford Taylor, the
obliged to put him on trial."
American prosecutor at the
The West German attorney Nuremberg trials, now an ob-
said there was a legal aid agree- server here, calls the Eichmann
ment in effect between Israel trial procedure "the most bril-
and West Germany under which liant judicial organization he has
witnesses from one of the coun- ever witnessed." Like observers
tries must be granted immunity from many other lands, he ad-
from the other. The court asked mires the fairness of the court
the Attorney General to submit which is giving Eichmann's de-
the full text of the West German- fense every opportunity to pre-
Israel legal aid agreement and sent his case, in spite of the
reserved decision on admissibil- view that he came to court con-
ity of the second group of depo- victed in advance for his heinous
sitions.
crimes.
_Depositions•of Eieltinann A itles Show He
'Was in Pull Control of Slaughter of Jews
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
the pertinent section of the
Israeli law for the punishment
of Nazi criminals.
The disputed depositions in-
cluded testimony from Dieter
Wisliceny. Wisliceny was an
Eichmann aide who was interro-
Baron said that the Nazis
gated by a United States. Army
wiped out - "o vernigh t" the
officer and who was later hand-
achievements of full emancipa-
ed over to Czechoslovakia which
tion reached by the Jews in
hanged him for his war crimes.
Europe as a result of 200 years
Another deposition, that of
of struggle for equal rights.
Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf
He told the court that, if not
Hoess, who was hanged by the
for the holocaust, there would be
Allies, also was ruled admissable.
20,000,000 Jews today through-
Eichmann, who never released
out the world, with slightly more
any of the men of his Gestapo
than half living in Europe. In
units, was quoted by Wisliceny
Poland alone, where there are
as having declared "we are all
now only about 30,000 Jews,
in the same boat." Wisliceny
there were 3,300,000 before the
said Eichmann aides were taught
Nazis started sending Jews to
to obey orders blindly and "it
gas chambers, he said.
was impossible to make them
Refuting Servatius' suggestion
slow down the pace of extermi-
that the Nazi plan for the ex-
nation—growing to unmanagea-
termination of Jews was part of
The presiding judge, Justice ble dimensions — by common
a mass movement of anti-Semi- Moshe Landau, sustained the sense or appeals to reason. It
tism, Baron said the final solu- admissibility of the documents was even impossible to make
tion was "conducted by the offi- with a citation of a clause in them see the necessity to save
cial Nazi apparatus itself."
the London charter under thousands of lives for labor
Under cross - examination by which the Nuremberg trials duties."
Servatius, Baron dwelt on the were set up. He said that this
Details from _the Hoess de-
major differences between age- section regarding acceptance
position gave the lie to Eich-
old anti-Semitism and the Nazi as evidence of sworn affidavits
mann's testimony to his Israeli
type of anti-Jewish persecution.
was much more liberal than
captors that he knew the ex-
Mufti of Jerusalem only
casually as the result of a
passing introduction at a Ber-
lin cocktail . party. He was
cited by Hoess as working
hand in hand with the Mufti.
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Adolf by Reinhard Hey drich,
Hoess declared in his deposi-
Eichmann, on trial here for Himmler's deputy. He claimed
master-minding the murder of throughout h i s statement tion that the Eichmann - Mufti
6,000,000 Jews, had told his that he had pro-Zionist sym- combination sabotaged a care-
Israeli captors that he had pathies, declaring that on his fully arranged plan to transfer
many Jewish relatives, that he visit to Palestine, "my sym- 10,000 Polish 'Jewish children to
was "neither a Jew-hater nor pathies were with the Jews Palestine in exchange for Ger-
an anti-Semite" and that all not the Arabs." He said that mans. Hoess' deposition indi-
"my men knew it." His taped
he used only Jewish cabs cated the children were already
words were played back at the
because the Arab cab drivers en route to Palestine when the
trial.
Mufti and Eichmann scuttled
were "unreliable and fast."
the arrangement.
Reviewing his life as a child
The documentation, however,
Hausner also asked the court
and young man, Eichmann told recorded the fact that Eichmann
the interrogators that he was was shown a report by Hagen for approval of submission of de-
not brought up in an anti-Sem- on the Palestine visit, which
itic atmosphere. He said he had had been corrected in Eich-
Jewish relatives through mar- mann's handwriting. In that re-
riage,. explaining that many of port were scores of viciously
his stepmother's family married anti-Semitic comments, such as
Jews and Jewesses. He claimed - that "the economic chaos in
that he helped some of those Palestine is explained by the
half-Jews to leave for Switzer- fact that Jews here cheat each
land as late as 1944. other since, because of the
Asserting that he had distant shortage of Aryans, they can-
Jewish relatives also in Hun- not cheat them," and that Ger-
gary, Eichmann told his inter- man Jews had said that it was
rogators that even in Hungary, better to return to German con-
he maintained his own idea for centration camps than to stay
the solution of the "Jewish in Palestine.
At an early stage of the in-
question"—which, until Ger-
many attacked Russia, was a terrogation, Eichmann said he
read his first book on a Jewish
"political solution."
subject when he joined the Jew-
Eichmann said he then be- ish Bureau of the security po-
lieved that '`as long as Britain lice. in 1935 and that the book
occupied Palestine and large- was Herzl's The Jewish State."
scale emigration there was im- He also read a description of
possible, "some other "terri- Jabotinsky's Zionist Revision-
torial concentration" of Jews ist organization. He said he pre-
was necessary as a "temporary pared a summary of the two
measure."
items and of Agudas Israel ac-
Eichmann claimed that he tivities for an information bro-
ISRAEL CELEBRATES 13TH ANNIVERSARY. Women march past reviewing stand in
and another SS official named chure which was distributed Jerusalem in parade viewed by hundreds of thousands. Other thousands celebrated the
Hagen were sent to Palestine
among members of the Gestapo. occasion in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Ghana, Britain, Belgium and elsewhere.
JERUSALEM — Adolf Eich-
mann was pictured at his trial
here in depositions from former
Gestapo and SS associates as
executing orders for the annihi-
lation of Jews with relish to the
point of ignoring an order from
Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler
in 1944 to halt the mass murders.
The depositions were read into
the court record by Attorney
General Gideon Hausner after
the three judge court rejected
the contention of Dr. Robert
Servatius, Eichmann's chief coun-
sel, that the documents were not
admissible. The West German
attorney had argued that the de-
positions made to the Nuremberg
trials were made in a different
context and without opportunity
for Eichmann to cross examine
the deponents.
Eichmann on Tape Said He Helped
Half-Jewish Relatives Escape Nazis
Parade Is Highlight of Israel's Independence Day
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