Friday, March 13, 1964—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS- 32
Two Defendants Are Identified
as Auschwitz Camp Murderers
FRANKFURT (JTA) — A ted participating in the selec-
young German Jew, testifying tion of prisoners for death
here at the trial of 21 former and confessed also that he
SS men and a trustee charged had beaten and otherwise
with the mass murder of hun- mistreated some of the pri-
dreds of thousands of Jews at soners.
the Auschwitz-Birkenau death . Among those he had beaten,
compound, identified two of he had said, was Josef Cy-
the defendants in open court as rankiewicz, now prime minister
mass murderers. of Poland.
The witness, Hans Franken-
Kaduk protested, however,
that told the.court that 25 mem- that he was "only a little fish
hers of his family were, sent to in those days," insisting that
Auschwitz in 1943, and that he was "only carrying out
only he and his younger brother orders." He demanded to know
survived because they were why "the big shots, those really
used as slave laborers in the guilty," were not being prose-
camp. During his two years at cuted.
Auschwitz, Frankenthal said
He implicated several of the
on the • witness stand, he came present codefendants in his
often "within inches of death." crimes. One of them, Robert
Every four to six weeks, he Mulka, shouted in the court
said, SS officers would go room: "That's not true." Ka-
through the plant where he duk yelled back that his
worked, picking out for charges against Mu 1 k a were
death those who were too true.
ill to continue at the labor.
After a loud exchange be-
Twice, he said, he had be
tween the two codefendants,
come "unproductive" due to Justice Hofmeyer rang his bell
bad feet, and was about to be to restore order -in the court
sent to the gas . ovens, when room.
he was hidden by a political
The barns used to house
prisoner in the plant.
thousands of prisoners at the
He also described the death Birkenau section of Ausch-
march of the remaining Aus
witz were described by a for-
chwitz p r is o ners who were mer SS general as inadequate
moved from the camp by the for cows.
Nazis when the Russian army
The testimony was given by
advanced to positions near the Dr. Joachim Caesar, who head-
camp. He said the prisoners ed the agricultural and re-
were marched afoot or placed search branch of the SS.
in roofless freight cars where
He told the jury that the bar-
many froze to death.
racks-like buildings used for
When Presiding Justice Hans cattle at Auschwitz were of the
Hofmeyer asked Frankenthal same type as those into which
whether he could._ identify any an many as 1,200 prisoners
of the defendants as partici- were kept at Birkenau.
pants in atrocities he had per-
Another witness was Dr. Wil-
sonally witnessed, he hesitated helm Muench, a former SS doc-
at first, saying he was not sure tor at Auschwitz who was ac-
he could spot the men now quitted of war crimes charges
wearing civilian clothing in- by a Polish court in 1946. Dr.
Muench, testifying for the sec-
stead of SS' uniforms.
Finally, urged by the judge, ond time, repeated his state-
he walked slowly to the defend- ment that none of the camp
ants' section and identified two doctors had been compelled to
men. One was a medical corps- participate in the selection of
man, Gerhard Neubert, whom inmates for the camp's g a s
Frankenthal h a d previously chambers.
The witness, who was as-
mentioned by name. The other
signed
to the camp by the SS
is codefendant Karl Hoecker,
Hygienic Institute in Berlin, tes-
camp adjutant.
tified that he objected to taking
The witness said he had seen part in any action which led to
Neubert "select" victims for the the death of prisoners, and "I
.death ovens, while Hoecker had got away with it."
beaten him.
Asserting that he remained in
An unusually detailed de
the camp to help prisoners, he
testified that "there was plenty
scription of the Auschwitz
Birkenau camp activities was of good that one could do to
given the court by another help and prevent even worse
excesses without exposing one-
witness, a non-Jewish attor
ney, K o n r a d Morgen of self." •
He also told the court that
Frankfurt. He testified that,
not only officerS but enlisted
as a judge advocate for the
men had helped select pris-
SS in 1943, he had been as-
oners for the gas chambers,
s i g n e d to investigate the
a statement of vital import-
theft of gold at Auschwitz,
ance in the case because of
previously extracted from the
assertions by defendants who
teeth of dead victims.
were enlisted men that only
During that probe, he said, officers performed this task.
camp officials s h o w ed him
everything that was going on in He also repeatedly deflated
the camp, from the incoming the common argument, widely
train platforms to the death heard in war crimes trials, that
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American-Israel Pavilion Exhibits
Biblical, Cultural Holy Land History
The American-Israel Pavilion,
rising like a spiral to a height
of 45 feet, with a facade of
African redwood mahogany, an
entrance with stones and boul-
ders from Jerusalem and King
Solomon's Mines and a wall with
the symbols of the Twelve
Tribes of Israel, embodies the
culture and history of the land
in its natural surroundings.
The Pavilion and its exhibits
will depict the history and cul-
ture of the Jewish people in re-
lation to the Holy Land, the era
of the Old Testament and the
Old Testament itself.
The main exhibit will take
the visitor through 4,000 years
of history.
In a reconstruction of a Ju-
dean City, the visitor will see
a woman of the house in a
typical domestic scene of that
era, turning millstones to grind
wheat. The man of the house
is seen squatted on a boulder,
cushioned with a pillow of goat
skin stuffed with lamb's wool.
The flickering glitter of an oil
lamp provides the sparse light
from which he writes on his
clay tablets.
The visitor on his journey
will see eight scenes of family
life as it was in Babylon, Ye-
men, Poland, and Western and
Eastern Europe and early Amer-
ica. There are household scenes
of a wedding party with cere-
monial and musical objects
shown in Ethiopia, a woman
weaving a carpet, surrounded
by handicrafts in her home in
Morocco, North Africa and a
domestic scene of early Ameri-
can Jewish settlers.
As the light and music gets
brighter, the visitor "reaches"
Israel, again experiencing a
sense of actually being at the
various sites and scenes of
Israel today.
The Shopping Mall will dis-
Israel and Brazil Sign play and sell arts and crafts
Cultural Pact; Ratified and other products of Israel. In
the courtyard, a Snack Bar will
by Brazilian Senate
RIO DE JANEIRO, (JTA)— serve kosher foods, and Israeli
who starved to death children
considered "unworthy of life."
One was Dr. Walter Schmidt,
he said. Schmidt is serving a life
sentence as a war criminal. The
other was a Berliner named
Mutschmann, known at the sana-
torium he controlled as "the
king" because of his brutal rule,
Hefelmann said.
Hefelmann, an official in
Hitler's chancellory, said earl-
ier that the "euthanasia" pro-
gram was partly designed to
rid the country of "useless
eaters."
He insisted his job had been
small, and cited the Nuremberg
War Crimes Trial testimony of
two superiors as proof his role
in the killings had been "in-
significant." Neither his chief,
SS Gen. Karl Brandt, Hitler's
personal surgeon, or Chancellory
Deputy Victor Brack, Hefel-
m ann's immediate superior,
mentioned his name before the
Allies hanged - them.
"We must be grateful to
Brandt" and Philip Bouhler that
Adolf Hitler killed only 100,000
mental and physical defectives
and not 500,000, Hefelmann said.
German Minister of Justice
Opposes Nazi Crimes Amnesty
BONN (JTA)—Ewald Bucher,
minister of justice, stated here
that he is opposed to a general
amnesty for Nazi war crimes.
At the same time, however,
he reiterated his opposition to
an extension of the war crimes
statute of limitations beyond
1965. Under that statute, war
criminals not arrested within
20 years. of the official end of
World War II could no longer
be prosecuted unless they had
been arrested prior to the 1965
deadline or charged specifically
with murder.
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A cultural agreement between food specialties.
Credited with the participa-
Israel and Brazil was formally tion of the American-Israel Pa-
signed after the Brazilian Sen.
ate ratified the treaty last week. vilion in the New York World's
Brazilian Foreign Minis t e r Fair are: Harold S. Caplin,
Araujo Castro signed for this chairman of the board and di-
country while Am b a ss ador
Arieh Eshel signed on behalf
of Israel. Following the signing
ceremony, the Foreign Minister
was host at a luncheon in honor
of Ambassador Eshel who is
leaving this country next week. , -wrij rqms tr.tnprr
-
ramps
inside
of the
gas leeway
SS officers
at. the
camp because
had no
ovens. and
His the
guide
on that
tour,
in their
actions
he testified, was the late Ru- they
would have
been killed or
imprisoned
for disobedience.
dolph Hoess, the camp colas
He was asked specifically
mandant.
what would have happened to
"It was a most shattering ex- any SS doctor or officer refus-
perience," he told the court. ing to obey orders to take part
"Thousands were b e in g cre- in the selection of prisoners for
mated every day, but the ma- death or in the killings. He
chinery, ovens and pipes were replied: "Nothing would have
antiseptic, constantly cleaned, happened."
He has been described by sur-
everything polished. Cremation
squads were always cleaning vivors as one of the few humane
physicians at the camp.
and polishing."
Meanwhile, at L i in burg,
He described the methods
used to make the victims be where another war crimes
lieve they were being led only trial is in progress, Dr. Hans
Hefelmann, an ex-Nazi official,
to disinfection chambers in
stead of into death ovens. "It testified that some feeble-
minded or crippled children
was a nightmare," he said.
were starved to death under
At the opening of that ses-
Adolf Hitler's "mercy killing"
sion, one of the nine judges
program.
read a pretrial confession
Hefelmann, 58, charged with
made by one of the defend-
ants, Oswald Kaduk. In that helping kill 73,000 persons, said
statement, Kaduk had admit he knew of at least two officials
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Hebrew Corner
Jerusalem
Jerusalem has been the center
of the religious and spiritual life of
the Children of Israel during all the
generations. When the State of Is-
rael was established Jerusalem be-
came once again the Capital of the
young State.
• In Jerusalem the President of
the State dwells; the ambassadors
of the peoples of the world go up
to Jerusalem to present their cre-
dentials to the President.
• The Parliament of Israel con-
venes in Jerusalem.
• The Government has its seat
in Jerusalem; here are to be found
all the Government offices.
• The central institutions are
situated in Jerusalem: The Jewish
Agency, the Keren Kayemet Ley-
israel (Jewish National Fund) and
the Keren Hayesod.
• The Zionist Congress convenes
here.
• In Jerusalem the Hebrew Uni-
versity is situated—the highest cul-
tural institution of the people of
Israel.
• The Supreme Court of the
State has its seat in Jerusalem.
• In Jerusalem the great medical
center—Hadasa—was built.
• The Yad-Vashem Institute is
in Jerusalem—in memory of the
terrible disaster that happened to
the people of Israel in the days of
the Nazis.
• To the west of Jerusalem lies
Mount Herzl and the Military
Cemetery for the heroes of the War
of Independence and of the Sinai
Campaign.
• To the east of Jerusalem is
situated Mount Zion — and on it
there is an anicient grave, the
grave of King David. From this
mountain one can see the Old City
and the "Wailing Well," which is
in the hands of the enemy army.
(Translation of Hebrew column.
Published by the Brith Ivrith Ola-
mith. Jerusalem.)
rector; Zechariahu Sit c h i n,
president and director; Emil
Weitz, vice president, secretary
and director; Martin Wolman,
treasurer; Nathan Straus III,
chairman of the advisory board
and director; Myron Angel, Ben-
jamin S. Berkowitz, Dr. Eman-
uel Hellman, Bernard Polan
and Maxwell M. Rabb, directors.
In charge of design, Ira Kessler
and Associates, Inc., Architects,
and Zvi Geyra, art director.
Habimah Decides to Give
Performances in Boston,
Montreal and Hartford
NEW YORK, (JTA) — The
cross-country tour of Habimah,
which had been canceled, has re-
sumed on a limited basis, it
was announced by the manage-
ment of the Little Theater Inc.,
sponsors of the current visit of
the Israeli troupe.
On Wednesday and Thursday
Habimah presented its produc-
tion of "Children of the Shad-
ows" in Hartford, Conn. "The
Dybbuk" will be on view at Bos-
ton's New England Life Audito-
rium March 23127. In Montreal's
Palace Des Artists, "The Dyb-
buk" will be seen on March 21,
while "Each Had Six Wings"
will play there on April 1.
The management of the Little
Theater Inc. stated that if the
necessary support for the He-
brew speaking actors is forth-
coming in other communities,
the tour will be extended.
Moscow Publishes
Poetry of Israelis
LONDON, (JTA) — An an-
thology of modern Israeli poetry
comprising representative works
of more than 40 Israeli Hebrew,
Yiddish and Arabic poets, has
been translated into Russian
and published by the Soviet
Government Publishing House,
it was reported from Moscow.
The works, which were trans-
lated by various Jewish and
non-Jewish translators, include
poems by Jacob Fichman, Ye-
huda Karni, Abraham Shlonsky,
Avigdor Hamieiri, Nathan Alter-
man, Leah Goldberg, and others.
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