Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Judgment/Judgment-052 Last-Modified: 1999/05/27 162. We now propose to establish more precisely what was the part played by the Accused in the extermination operations. We have already touched upon this central topic in some of the earlier sections, when giving a description of the background of the events, especially in Hungary and Eastern Europe. In other sections, in which we described the expulsions of the Jews and all that was connected therewith, in the Reich itself and in the other European countries, the part played by the Accused is clearly seen from the very description of activities carried out there by his subordinates. In regard to all these matters, we have only to summarize and reach final conclusions. But we have not yet discussed the status of the Accused within the RSHA, i.e., at the centre from which the extermination operations throughout the length and breadth of Europe were directed, and this we now propose to do. In the course of this discussion, we shall touch upon another chapter in which the Prosecution seeks to prove specific activity on the part of the Accused, i.e., the introduction of the method of gas_killing, and the supply of gas to the extermination camps. 163. First, let us elucidate the date at which the Accused was informed that an order for complete extermination had been given by Hitler, for clearly we can place upon him responsibility for participating in the implementation of the Final Solution of the Jewish Question only from the moment when he began to act in the full knowledge that the signal had been given for carrying out the Final Solution. The Accused contends that Heydrich informed him of the matter orally, and that on the same occasion Heydrich sent him to Globocnik in Lublin, in order to ascertain what stage had been reached by the latter in his preparations for the exterminations. He relates that he travelled to Lublin as ordered, and there saw the extermination installations in the process of construction and was informed that the Jews would be executed by exhaust gases from a motor (T/37, p. 172). He mentions the date of the conversation and the visit in his Statement T/37, pp. 169-170: "In June, I think, was the outbreak of war, in June or July, let us say July, was the outbreak of war. And apparently about two months later, possibly three months later, at all events it was at the end of summer...when Heydrich summoned me. I presented myself to him and he told me... `The Fuehrer has ordered the physical destruction of the Jews.' "... And then he said to me: `Eichmann, go to Globocnik in Lublin...the Reichsfuehrer has already given Globocnik appropriate instructions, and see how far he has progressed in the work he has to do'." From the Accused's testimony before us, it appears that his visit to Globocnik took place approximately in the middle of September (Session 87, Vol. Iv, p. xxxx20; see also Session 78, Vol. IV, p. xxxx13) and this we are prepared to accept as fact. But, in contradiction to the Accused's version, we find that he had been informed not at the end of summer, in the circumstances he has described, but it was as early as the beginning of the summer of 1941 that Hitler had issued his order for the physical destruction of the Jews. The Accused admits that he was present at the gathering of men of the Operations Units which took place in Berlin on the eve of the war against Russia, i.e., in June 1941, but in his evidence he denied that the men of the Operations Units received information there as to what their duties would be and stated that the discussion revolved only around organizational questions (Session 102, Vol, IV, pp. xxxx10_11). But this evidence is contradicted by Walter Blume's statement, in the trial of Ohlendorf and others (Trial No. 9 of the additional trials at Nuremberg). Blume, who was commander of one of the Operations Units, declares (T/306, p. 3) that he was present at that gathering, and that there Heydrich spoke about the task of the Operations Units in regard to the extermination of the Jews. Sufficient corroboration of Blume's statement is found in the Accused's own Statement (T/37). When Superintendent Less asked him if, at that gathering, Hitler's order for extermination had been mentioned, he contends that he does not remember what happened at that gathering, but adds (supra, p. 2119), "...I assume that when the discussion opened, they were relying on some order..." and again, p. 2121, in answer to a further question about Hitler's order or another order, which was given there to the men of the Operations Units: "You are absolutely right, Mr. Superintendent, certainly something like that was mentioned." We find further confirmation that the Accused knew already in the summer months of 1941 that an order had been given for the Final Solution by mass extermination, in the following: (a) The Accused admitted, when cross-examined by the Attorney General, that he received reports of the activities of the Operations Units in the East from the end of June 1941 onwards (Session 102, Vol. IV, p. xxxx11), and thus he had weekly information about the mass killings of Jews. Is it conceivable that he neither understood nor knew at that time that these activities were being carried out in accordance with an order from above for total extermination? (b) On 28 August 1941, the Accused writes to the Foreign Ministry that the emigration of Jews from the German- occupied territories is to be prevented, "having regard to the Final Solution of the European Jewish Question which is now in sight and is at present in the preparatory stage" (T/183 - our emphasis). It should be pointed out also that precisely during the same period the Accused secretly informs Rademacher that the Fuehrer has agreed that the Jews in Germany should be obliged to wear the Jewish Badge (see Section 82 above). We have already remarked, when we spoke of an earlier stage, that the rulers sometimes also spoke of the Madagascar Plan as "the Final Solution," but in the course of time the significance of this term changed. This gradual change in content, while the term itself remained unchanged, was convenient for camouflage purposes vis-a-vis all those who were not privy to secret decisions taken from time to time by the top leadership. Therefore, when the Accused states, for example, in a letter dated 12 March 1941 (T/697), that the emigration of German Jews from Yugoslavia is not desirable, "having regard to the Final Solution of the Jewish Question which is now in sight," it is not yet clear what is the Final Solution mentioned there. But when, on 28 August 1941, further words are used, to the effect that this solution "is at present in the preparatory stage," it is clear that the reference is to the new solution, and this solution, though, at that moment, in the preparatory stage, is none other than total extermination. If, in the same letter, the Accused gives an additional reason that, as a result of the emigration of Jews from the occupied areas, the possibilities of Jewish emigration from the Reich would be still further limited, it may be assumed that the reference there is to that trickle of emigration which was still being allowed until, in October 1941, by Himmler's order, the gates were finally closed. (c) In his statement, Hoess says (T/90, p. 1) that Himmler informed him in the summer of 1941 (he cannot give the exact date) that Hitler had given an order for the Final Solution of the Jewish Question, and that it would be the duty of the SS to carry it out. It is inconceivable that, at that same time, this matter was not known to the Accused, who held the same rank as Hoess and was head of the Section for Jewish Affairs in the RSHA. (d) Finally, in the letter of appointment, dated 31 July 1941, mentioned above (T/179), Goering ordered Heydrich to submit to him, at an early date, a plan for implementing the Final Solution, by way of "evacuation," i.e., the extermination of the Jews. It can be assumed with certainty that, immediately upon receipt of this letter, Heydrich summoned the official authorized to handle Jewish affairs in the RHSA, i.e., the Accused, explained to him that now a turning point had been reached as far as the handling of Jewish affairs was concerned, and gave him the new instructions, arising from the situation. 164. It follows, therefore, that already in the summer of 1941 it was clear to the Accused that everything connected with the expulsion of Jews would, in the end, lead to their final destruction. We are, therefore, convinced that the Accused gave false testimony when he stated that he had sent the first transports from the Reich territory to the Lodz Ghetto in October 1941, in order to rescue the Jews from death at the hands of the Operations Units. To maintain this version, the Accused was even prepared to admit that he employed the cunning techniques of horse dealers, in order to overcome the opposition of the head of the Lodz district to the entry of additional Jews into that ghetto, as stated in a cable of protest from the head of the district, dated 9 October 1941 (T/220). True - says the Accused in his evidence (Session 78, Vol. IV, p. xxxx13) - there is a basis for this complaint, but (so it appears from his evidence) any method to ensure that these Jews did not fall into the hands of the Operations Units was acceptable. The truth is that, at the time of the negotiations regarding these transports to Lodz in the second part of September 1941 (see exhibit T/221), the Accused knew full well that the Jews in the Lodz Ghetto would also be exterminated sooner or later, because such was the Fuehrer's command. The truth is that the Accused employed horse dealers' methods without any lofty intentions.
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