THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Friday, June 23, 1961 — 18
Eichmann Pleads Guilt by Association
(Continued from Page 1)
and used • his Gestapo office
to aid them, the preposterous-
ness of such testimony led the
witness to qualify such state-
ment as "for the benefit of the
people themselves," with the
phrase "if this • expression
may be used." -
The length of Eichmann's
replies to some of his attorney's
questions moved presiding
Justice Moshe Landau to request
shorter replies. Landau, in
making the request, said "the
style, of course, is your concern
but - unless you stop here and
there, we won't understand you
at all." Reacting like a rebuked
subaltern, Eichmann 'mur-
mured, "sorry."
To prove that Eichmann had
only a minor role as a transport
official in the enormous per-
secution machinery, Servatius
submitted a chart which he said
was a description of the work
of v a r i o u s SS departments
which were accessible by tele-
phone. Eichmann triumphantly
noted that his branch was not
listed as having a telephone.
Listing the various SS de-
partments, Eichrnann said
that Department' 2, which
dealt with "technical mat-
ters" pertaining to Jews, in-
cluding the preparation and
use of gas vans to kill them,
was not connected with his
department.
Replying to a question from
his attorney, Eichmann denied
that he had a privileged posi-
tion with Heinrich Mueller, the
SS general who was head of
Bureau IV in which Eichmann
was a transport official. This
was indicated in a. prosecution
affidavit signed by Walter Hup-
pe-nkothen of the same bureau.
Huppenkothen was one of
four former Nazis who were
refused immunity from arrest
if they came to Israel as de-
fense witnesses and who testi-
fied in West Germany as such.
Eichmann argued that Muel-
ler always insisted that subor-
dinates report to him directly
and that Eichmann's• own sub-
ordinates did so, frequently by-
passing him. Eichmann was
then shown a prosecution docu-
ment that his permanent de-
puty, Rolf Guenther-, carried
out specific taskS of which
Mueller had no knowledge.
Eichmann- said it was hard to
believe but that since it was
documented he could not dis-
pute it.
He contended that his rep-
, resentatives, who dealt with
the roundups and transport
of. Jews to the gaa chambers,
did not operate under his
orders but under those of
security police at those field
stations.
Servatius also presented docu-
ments to show that advisers for
Jewish affairs attached to Nazi
German legations abroad were
under orders of the Foreign
Ministry and not of Eichmann's
office.
The former Gestapo colonel
said it was not true, as the
prosecution had contended that
Eichmann's deputies were in
charge of the deportations in
Czechoslovakia, Hungary and
France. He passed the buck to
the top security police in the
field for responsibility for the
death of 600,000 Hungarian
ews.
He could not deny that he
had been in Budapest super-
vising the evacuation of Jews,
but insisted that the "real auth-
ority" was with the Gestapo
chief there and that he was
only carrying out orders.
Servatius asked him:
"Could you in Hungary have
contravened the orders of the
SS and security police?" Eich-
mann answered strongly,
"No."
On Tuesday, Eichmann began
.
.
the presentation of a well-re-
hearsed version of his activities
as a lower-echelon Nazi official
deeply concerned for the wel-
fare of the Jews being thrust
out of the German economy by
orders of superiors which he
had no option but to obey.
The courtroom was jammed
again with correspondents,
many of whom had departed on
other assignments after the
first days of testimony against
the former Gestapo colonel.
Security precautions as tight as
those under which the trial
began on April 11 were reim-
posed.
Under the careful question-
ing by Servatius, Eichmann
proceeded to spell out a pic-
ture of his .Gestapo activities
as one of overriding concern
for Jews being forced to emi-
grate and to help them get a
secure foundation for the
future.
He testified that "a realistic
solution" required an autonom-
ous territory for the expelled
Jews, a half-way house. This
idea came to him, he said, after
reading Theodor Herzl's book
on the Jewish State.
He cited that fact that while
Herzl preferred Palestine as a
Jewish homeland, he had agreed
to an alternative, namely Ma-
dagascar. Eichmann said he
had recommended Madagascar
to his superiors as an answer.
Acting under orders to effect
Jewish emigration at all' costs,
he said he saw no contradiction
between aiding' Zionism, which
also fostered emigration, and
expulsion of the JeWs from
Nazi Germany.
He described himself as
advancing the cause of Zion-
ism by speeding the process
of emigration "and no Zionist
can complain I ever was - a
hindrance." Showing a man-
ner of pained innocence, he
added that he regretted to
say that some depa'rtments in
the Nazi Reich not only did
not cooperate but even
to r pe doe d his efforts at
"benevolent emigration" of
the German Jews. •
Eichmann cited the stand of
Joachim Von Ribbentrop, the
Nazi Foreign Minister, as a
major obstacle because the lat-
ter r e f used to allow the
emigres to transfer funds with-
out which other countries re-
fused to accept them.
At this point in the testi-
mony, Servatius submitted a
report by Joseph Kennedy,
then United States Ambassador
to. Britain, quoting Von Ribben-
trop as asserting that Jews
were without exception pick-
pockets, murderers and thieves
and that all of their assets and
properties had to be returned
to Germans to whom it "prop-
erly belonged." ' The Kennedy
report had been previously in-
troduced by the prosecution.
An air. of high drama marked
the courtroom as Judge Landau
set the stage for Eichmann's
testimony by ordering him to
stand up in his glass-enclosed
prisoner's dock. As the defend-
ant stood at ramrod-stiff atten-
tion, Landau told him he had
four 'choices as a. witness. He
could make a statement in his
own defense or decline to test-
ify. If he chose to speak, he
could do so under oath or with-
out it but if he chose to testify
under- oath, the prosecution
was thereby given the right to
cross-examine him. Eichmann
replied, "I wish to testify under
oath."
The defendant, obviously
thinner than in his appear-
ance while listening to the
, prosecution's case, said he
did not wish - to take an oath
on the Bible since he did not
belong to any church but that
he was a. , "believer in God."
Landau ruled Eichmann
could take the oath in any
form "which you consider
binding." Eichmann there-
upon swore "by God," bring-
ing a rumble of surprise and
resentment from the audi-
ence made up mainly of
survivor s of Eichmann's
Gestapo labors.
One of Eichmann's first
statements was a charge that
he had been kidnaped by Israel-
is in Buenos Aires and forced
to sign the statement that he
voluntarily accepted trial in
Israel. He testified that he had
been chained to a bed by his
captors and asked - by one of
the "commandoes" to sign the
statement.
He said he countered with a
request to be turned over to
Argentine police and that this
request was refused. He said
he was then released from his
bonds and again told to sign,
adding that "this cannot be
regarded as an act of free will."
Before beginning his ques-
tioning, Servatius made a brief
introductory statement to the
effect that "two worlds face
each other here—the world of
sufferers and the world of the
rulers, the sufferings of the
victims and the -power of
tyranny."
The West German attorney
added that the machinery of
the Nazi dictatorship would be
described in Eichmann's testi-
mony, which would also cover
the status and position of Eioh
mann in that machinery.
Servatius continued that
"the defense will show that
the defendant's activities fol-
lowed from orders of the lead-
ership and, from the point of
view of the defendant, were
the inevitable result of those
orders." .
Servatius _ also asserted that
the defense would prove that
there was no truth in prosecu
tion charges that Eichmann had
been more extreme in his anti-
Jewish activities - than Hitler
and that in his zeal he violated
orders of his superiors.
Eichrnann spoke in 'lengthy,
complicated but grammatically
correct sentences in marked
contrast to his confused and
ungrammatical phrasing in his
unrehearsed interrogation by
Israeli police after he was
brought to Israel. He described
the rise of Hitler and the Nazi
party to power.
After Nazi Germany began
to win victories in the war
which was "forced upon Ger-
many," the Nazis began to
think of themselves as all-
powerful and initiated etil
, actions. He asserted that this
was "a tragedy over which I
had no influence because of
my lowly rank and position."
He said he could not foresee
what the Nazis intended to do
to the Jews at the time he
joined the party.
Under_ questioning by Ser-
vatius, Eichmann said he re-
peatedly sought to be trans-
ferred to the front line but was
refused. The questioning was
based on documents in Eich-
mann's personal SS file which
had been submitted by the
prosecution. One of them was
a recommendation for a promo-
tion for Eichmann in the SS
because he "secured valuable
property for Germany," a re-
ference the prosecution had said
meant the billions in property
stolen from the Jewish victims_
of the Nazi holocaust.
Eichmann said "this was a
mistake by my superiors." He
described as "a standard sen-
tence" a comment in another
document on his "toughness" in
carrying out his duties.
In testimony designed to de-
monstrate his humane attitude,
Eichmann said he applied for
permission to study Hebrew
under a rabbi so that he could
read a 'Yiddish paper published
in Warsaw. He said it would
have been simpler to have had
the rabbi arrested and ordered
to teach him Hebrew, but I
wanted it otherwise."
He said he applied to his su-
periors for an allocation of
three marks an hour for such
instruction.
Next Eichmann q u o t e d
from a report on a confer-
ence dealing with Der
Sturmer, one of the most vi-
ciously anti-Semitic Nazi pub-
lications. The report included
disparaging remarks about
participants in the confer-
ence, proving that he "dis-
liked" such methods, Eich-
mann said.
Servatius in his introductory
statement, said the defense
would be based on the same
documents as those used by the
prosecution. He emphasized
that his client chose to testify
under oath knowing that this
would subject him to cross-ex-
amination.
The West German attorney
said he would prove, by the
same documents, that the re-
sponsibility for the Nazi pro-
gram rested on the Nazi politi-
cal leadership and that the vari-
ous Reich ministries had pro-
vided the legal basis and pre-
liminary preparations for the
persecution of the Jews with-
out which Eichmann could not
"take a single step."
He contended again that
Eichmann was not among . the
leaders who gave orders but
in the lower ranks of those
who took orders. He added
that he would seek to prove
that Eichmann neither order-
ed nor carried out the execu-
tions of the Jewish victims
and that he' would disprove a
charge of direct mur der
of a Jewish boy for al-
legedly stealing cherries in
the garden of a villa in
Budapest .commandered by
Eichmann as his headquart-
ers in carrying out the de-
portations of Hungarian Jews
to the Auschwitz murder
camp.
He said the defense would
also prove that Eichmann was
unable to refuse to carry out
his orders but that he did try
to alleviate the persecutions by
recommending to the German
Foreign Ministry the rescue of
1,000,000 Jews, presumably a
reference to the Eichmann pro-
posal for the exchange of
1,000,000 Jews for 10,000 win-
terized trucks for the collapsing
Russian front near the end of
the war.
The defense portion of the
case is certain to last at least
a week. After presentation of
the defense and the prosecu-
tion's cross examination will
come introduction to the court
of interrogations conducted by
courts in West Germany and
Austria of former Nazis whom
Israel has denied immunity.
These witnesses have been.
questioned by the courts in
Germany and Austria, and were
cross examined by representa-
tives of both the prosecution
and the defense.
The last phase of the trial is
expected to be reached some
time in July, when both sides
will deliver their summations
to the court. Then the case will
be in the hands of the three
Israeli judges, Presiding Justice
Moshe Landau am: justices
Binyamin Halevi and Yitzhak
Raveh. With a court record in-
cluding testimony by 112 prose-
cution witnesses and more than
1,400 documents to study—com-
prising about 2,000,000 words—
it 'is anyhody's guess as to how
long it may be before the court
is ready for a verdict.
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