The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Shofar FTP Archive File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts//Judgment/Judgment-027


Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Judgment/Judgment-027
Last-Modified: 1999/05/27

On 22 April 1942 - too late - another cable was received
from the Accused, which was typical of the methods of
evacuation.  Not too many local communal workers of the
Association of Jews, or of the local communities, are to be
evacuated, in order not to endanger the implementation of
the tasks the Jewish organizations were required to carry
out, and their liquidation.  These communal workers are only
to be evacuated gradually.

The required reports sent to the Accused's office (for his
attention or that of his deputy), as well as to Lublin and
to Cracow, are dated 22 April 1942.  They state that a train
carrying 941 Jews left Duesseldorf on the same day for
Izbica (in the Lublin district), and that the commander of
the transport holds the amount of 47,050 Reichsmark (941
multiplied by 50).  The detailed report, as required in the
above  circular, is forwarded to the Accused's office on 29
April 1942.

92.There is much material in file T/1395 in connection with
belongings, money and bank deposits confiscated from
evacuated Jews.  Before his evacuation, every Jew completed
a very detailed "property declaration form" (T/650), and the
Gestapo handed over these declarations to the Chief Finance
Authority at Duesseldorf.  It transpired that Regulation No.
11 did not apply to 91 Jews, and they were given
confiscation orders.

93. Already on 21 May 1942 the Accused's Section demands
figures in connection with an additional transport, this
time directed in part to the East and in part to Terezin.
The Duesseldorf office replies on 27 May that 154 Jews can
be evacuated from its district to the East and 1,735 to
Terezin.  The handling of this transport is continued in
file exhibit T/1396, in which there are new instructions
dated 4 June 1942, in connection with evacuation to the East
(Izbica near Lublin).  These instructions do not differ from
the former instructions, and once again the reference number
is IVB4-2093/42g (391).  On 18 June 1942, the Duesseldorf
Gestapo informs the Accused's office that 142 Jews were
evacuated, as part of a larger transport of a total of 1,003
Jews, collected from other districts in Western Germany.
The handling of this transport was identical with the
handling of the previous transport; only this time the
inmates of a Jewish hospital for the mentally sick in the
town of Seyn near Koblenz were also evacuated, as stated in
a cable dated 1 June 1942 and signed by the Koblenz Gestapo.
The expulsion of the mentally sick Jews is also mentioned by
Dr. Plaut in his affidavit T/665 on pp. 14-16.  There is no
doubt that these patients were taken directly to
extermination in one of the extermination camps in the
Lublin area.

94. The evacuation of Jews destined for Terezin is described
in file T/1397 of the same Duesseldorf Gestapo office, and
since this is the first time that we come across a transport
of this kind, we shall again mention a number of details
here.

On 3 July 1942 the Accused's office sends a circular dated
15 May 1942, signed by the Accused's deputy Guenther,
comprising directives connected with evacuation to Terezin.
The categories of evacuees are:
(a) Jews above the age of 65, and sick people above the age
of 55, together with their spouses and children under the
age of 14;

(b) Jews who are war invalids or hold medals for
distinguished service, with their spouses and children up to
the age of 14;

(c) Jewish spouses of mixed marriages, in cases where the
marriages no longer exist;

(d) unmarried offspring of mixed marriages who are
considered as Jews.

The man responsible for the reception of the evacuated Jews
at the Terezin Ghetto will be "the Commander of Security
Police and SD Office, the Central Office for Jewish
Emigration, Prague."  A note about the transport is to be
sent to :

(a) the office of the Accused;

(b) Commander of the Security Police and the SD, the Central
Office for Jewish Emigration, Prague;
(c) the Terezin Ghetto.

The Commander of the Security Police and the SD, Central
Office for Jewish Emigration, Prague, has to inform the
Accused about the arrival and reception of the transport.

On 21 July 1942, 965 Jews were evacuated. and on 25 July
1942, 978 Jews - 1,943 Jews in all, over and above the
estimated number included in the above-mentioned letter of
27 May 1942.  On 4 August 1942, the Duesseldorf Gestapo
informs the Accused's office about changes in the number,
since thirteen Jews committed suicide, five died and six
escaped.  In the concluding report, dated 15 August 1942,
the total number included in the first transport is given,
and it is reported that 694 were included in the second
transport, making a total of 1,659 Jews evacuated to
Terezin.

"Contributions" to the Special Account "W" reached the
amount of 160,000 Reichsmark.

95. File T/1398 deals with those persons who survived
previous evacuation and were evacuated during 1943.

The file begins with a cable sent from the Accused's office
on 21 May 1943, this time signed by Kaltenbrunner, the head
of the RSHA.  Once again, it bears the special reference
number for all transports from the Reich, IVB4a - 2093/42g
(391).

The cable reports that, according to an order by Himmler,
all Jews are to be evacuated from the Reich and the
Protectorate to the East and to Terezin by 30 June 1943 at
the very latest.

The cable confirms the previous instructions regarding the
categories of evacuees, but there is a further tightening
up, in order to complete the evacuation operation.  Amongst
other things it is stated: (a) that all sick and invalid
Jews are also to be seized; (b) that all Jews still employed
on the war effort are also to be evacuated (and only those
in labour camps are to be left behind); (c) similarly, all
employees of the Jewish organizations and the communities
are to be evacuated and thus,

These institutions are in fact being liquidated.  In their
stead - as far as is necessary for those Jews remaining -
in order to fulfil the orders of the authorities, an
organization of Jews living in mixed marriages will be set
up in Berlin, which will employ only the remaining spouses
of mixed marriages."

Technical instructions for transport to Auschwitz and
Terezin are given, and a special postscript appears in the
cable for Katowice and Lodz:

     "On the evacuation of Jews employed by the Schmelt
     (Forced Labour organization) and of the Jews in the
     Lodz Ghetto (our emphasis), Obersturmbannfuehrer
     Eichmann, my Referent, will decide on the spot."

     On 25 May 1943, the Duesseldorf Gestapo sends
     information (following the usual pattern, to Berlin,
     Prague and Terezin) that on that day 32 Jews were
     evacuated to Terezin.  The changes which took place in
     the meantime in the economic situation of the Jews who
     remained, finds expression in a minute of 6 July 1943,
     which states that 22 Jews (out of the 32 evacuated) did
     not have the permitted 50 marks and could not deposit
     them.

The file of the Duesseldorf Gestapo contains no material in
connection with the evacuation to Auschwitz, in pursuance of
the above cable of 21 May 1943, and we do not know if this
material was lost or if such evacuation did not take place,
because there were no Jews left for evacuation in that
district.  But there is in file T/1398 one more list of nine
Jews evacuated to Terezin on 9 September 1943, and it seems
that this completed the operation, leaving in that district
only couples living in mixed marriages and offspring of
those categories who were not subject to evacuation.

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