The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Shofar FTP Archive File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts//Sessions/Session-021-06


Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-021-06
Last-Modified: 1999/10/10

Attorney General: Document No. 1254 is a telegram where the
matter dealt with is special treatment of Jews. "In
accordance with the instruction of the Reichsfuehrer SS and
the Chief of the German Police, the special treatment
proposed by you must be given to the Jews Selman Lipski,
Moshe Bejman, David Cymerman and Abraham Itzkowicz."  The
telegram is addressed to the Gestapo Centre in Ciechanow,
signed by Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann.

Document No. 1255 again deals with special treatment of the
Jews. It is an instruction to execute Szmerek Goldberg,
Tasiemka Eliacz, Rafael Braun, Mendel Rubinsztayn, Moszek
Lewin, David Bryszkowski and David Zamiadyn. They were to be
hanged in the ghetto at Neuhof and in the presence of
persons of their race, or in German "in Gegenwart ihrer
Rassengenossen aufzuhaengen sind."  "Ich bitte um
Vollzugsmeldung" (I request you to inform me when the order
has been carried out). Signed SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
Eichmann.

Dr. Servatius:  I would request that the entire document be
read. And these are my reasons: The telegram refers to a
report, and we have to see the report which led to this
telegram. Secondly, it refers here not to an instruction of
Section IVB4 at the head of which stood Eichmann, but of
11B2 which, according to the chart prepared by the
Prosecution but not submitted, dealt with prisoners and
prisons. Therefore I would request the reading of the entire
document.

In principle, I wish further to bring to the Court's notice
that these telegrams are submitted here without the reports
that preceded them, and I have to point this out, as
occurrence that repeats itself, that the documents and
telegrams are submitted without the reports that preceded
them and which brought them about. The Accused informs me
that by reading the final report without referring to the
whole context, it is not possible to understand the issues:
Accordingly, if these reports are here, I would request that
they, too, be submitted.

Attorney General: With the Court's permission, first things
first. The sender's signature at the foot of the two
telegrams is that of Reichssicherheitshauptamt IVB4.

Presiding Judge: We see what is written here. Signed by the
Accused's Department, and above there is a reference to a
report of IIB2. There is no dispute about this.

Attorney General: But here it is stated that it came from
IIB2.

Presiding Judge: I understand it otherwise - that this was
done on the basis of a report of another Department, but it
is clear that the instruction was given by the Department of
the Accused.

Attorney General: With regard to the material which served
as the background of these telegrams, we have no knowledge
of that. I have already informed the Court of the difficulty
we have encountered much more than Defence Counsel, namely
that the Central Archives of the Gestapo are not available.
In this matter we are dependent on the remnants of the
Archives of other bodies, and particularly on the Archives
of the Foreign Ministry Office. I do not know what was that
report which, in each of the cases, gave rise to the
dispatch of the instruction. But the Accused was asked about
it, and his reply can be found in the interrogation on pages
3554-3557. After the recess I shall also submit the
instruction which served as the internal basis which enabled
the giving of orders for executions in the ghetto.

Presiding Judge: At all events, if Dr. Servatius were to
approach you on a question relating to the documents, would
you give him copies of each of the documents before they are
submitted here?

Attorney General: Yes.

Presiding Judge: If he should approach you with a request to
submit other documents as well which are connected with
these, and such documents are in your possession, would you
produce these documents to him?

Attorney General: We submitted to him, two months ago, all
the documents in our possession, including our catalogue.

Presiding Judge: Including those documents which you are not
going to submit to the Court?

Attorney General: Including those that we shall not submit
to the Court. We handed him a list of about 1,600 documents,
and we intend submitting to the Court about 800 documents.

Presiding Judge: You don't have any more?

Attorney General: We have no more.

Presiding Judge: Dr. Servatius, evidently more than that
cannot be done.

Dr. Servatius:  I am convinced, Your Honours, that I have
received everything which is in the possession of the
Prosecution. But the origin itself is not clear - how these
matters arose at the time.

Presiding Judge: Where were these documents from? What is
their source?

Attorney General: The source of the verification I shall
give you immediately. This was the Polish Governmental
Commission. And, as Your Honour will observe, they are
confirmed by that Commission, which was called "The
Principal Commission for the Investigation of Hitlerite
Crimes in Poland." It was signed by the chairman, the head
of the Commission, Janusz Cumkawski.

Judge Halevi:  Where did they find this material?

Attorney General: his we do not know. We were not permitted
to conduct investigations inside Poland. We were told that
the Polish authorities would give us all the documents
relevant to this trial on their own initiative, and indeed
we received a great deal of material, part of which we are
using in this case.

Presiding Judge: Would it be possible, perhaps, to clarify
with the Polish authorities if they have that additional
material which Dr. Servatius requested?

Attorney General: I shall willingly be prepared to write to
the Polish Commission.

Presiding Judge: And now we shall read these documents in
their original and in translation.

[Interpreter reads.]

     "Geheime Staatspolizei. Staatspolizeistelle
     Zichenau/Schroettersburg. Nr. 1719, Berlin 17.4.42
     1508.

     Betrifft: Sonderbehandlung von Juden. Bezug: Bericht
     vom 27.3.1942. IIB2 621/42. Auf Anordnung des
     Reichsfuehrers SS und Chefs der deutschen Polizei ist
     die von dort gegen die Juden Selman Lipski, Moses
     Bejman, David Cymerman und Abraham Itzkowicz
     vorgeschlagene Sonderbehandlung durchzufuehren. RSHA
     IVB4 a 3205/41 I.A. gez. Eichmann - SS
     Obersturmbannfuehrer."
     
     "State Secret Police, State Police Post Zichenau
     (Ciechanow)/ Schroettersburg. Received on 17 April
     1942, Communication No 1719, Berlin. To State Police
     Zichenau/Schroettersburg. Secret. Subject: Special
     Treatment of Jews. Reference: Report dated 27.3.42.
     IIB2 621/42. By order of the Reichsfuehrer SS and Head
     of the German police, the Special Treatment is to be
     carried out on the Jews Selman Lipski, Moshe Bejman,
     David Cymermann and Abraham Itzkowicz, according to
     your proposal. Signed Reichssicherheitshauptamt IVB4
     3205/41g (iii). Par pro. Signed Eichmann
     Obersturmbannfuehrer.
     
     "Geheime Staatspolizei. Staatspolizeistelle
     Zichenau/Schroettersburg. Nr. 2239. Berlin Nr.  89 138
     23.5.42 1715. An die Stapo Zichenau/Schroettersburg.
     Geheim. Betrifft: Sonderbehandlung von Juden. Bez.:
     Bericht von 6.5.42 - IIB2 - 1865/42. Der Reichsfuehrer
     SS und Chef der deutschen Polizei hat angeordnet, dass
     die im vorstehenden genannten Bericht naeher
     bezeichneten Juden Szmerek Goldberg, Tasiemka Eliacz,
     Rafael Braun, Mendel Rubensztayn, Moszek Lewin, David
     Bryszkowski und David Zamiadyn im Ghetto Neuhof in
     Gegenwart ihrer Rassengenossen aufzuhaengen sind. Ich
     bitte um Vollzugsmeldung. RSHA IV4B4a 225/42g (II78).
     I.A. gez. Eichmann - SS Obersturmbannfuehrer."

     "State Secret Police, State Police Post Zichenau
     (Ciechanow)/Schroettersburg. Received 23 May 1942. In
     handwriting IIB2 Communication No 2239. Telegram
     Berlin. To State Police Post Sichenau/Schroettersburg.
     Subject: Special Treatment of Jews. Reference: Report
     dated 6.5.42 - 1865/42 - IIB2. The Reichsfuehrer SS and
     Head of the German Police orders that the Jews listed
     in greater detail in the aforesaid report - Szmerek
     Goldberg, Tasiemka Eliacz, Rafael Braun, Mendel
     Rubensztayn, Moszek Lewin, David Bryszkowski and David
     Zamiadyn - are to be hanged in the ghetto of Neuhof, in
     the presence of persons of their race. I request an
     implementation report. RSHA (1178) 225/42a. Signed Par
     pro Eichmann SS Obersturmbannfuehrer."

Dr. Servatius:  May I be allowed to point out that on this
document it says also in handwriting IIB2.

Attorney General: Before I call the next witness, and to
supplement the two documents that I submitted previously, I
should like to submit our document No. 396, which was
presented to the Accused. I submit the signed original which
was shown to him together with two copies. This is an
instruction dated 6.1.1942 of Himmler concerning the
carrying out of the execution. The Court will find in
paragraph 2 that the right to order executions....

Presiding Judge: Do you have an extra copy of the German
original?

Attorney General: I shall submit it immediately after
finishing the reading thereof, Your Honour. Now, just at
this moment, I even have it here, if you please.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/202.

Attorney General: The document establishes that the right to
give instructions for executions is to be by the Head Bureau
IV of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or by anyone specially
authorized therefore. In paragraph 3A it is stated how the
executions in the camps are to be carried out. Exact
procedures are laid down as to the distance at which the
shooting squad is to stand. I draw the Court's attention to
3 AC, that hangings must be carried out by other prisoners.
The hanging should be carried out in such a way so that no
mechanical hitch could occur, and the prisoner carrying out
the hanging should receive three cigarettes as his reward.
Paragraph B speaks of executions outside the camps. In Bb it
is stated that in carrying out the executions publicity
should be avoided if there were no contrary instructions. I
stress this especially in the light of the special
instruction in the telegram which I submitted.

Judge Raveh:   By "publicity" are you referring to
Oeffentlichkeit"?

Attorney General: Yes, making it public. Hangings outside
the camp are also to be performed by prisoners, and in the
case of labourers belonging to a foreign nation, as far as
possible by members of the same nation as those being
hanged. In such a case, too, the hangman shall receive three
cigarettes as his reward.

Presiding Judge: Is there a signature to this document?

Attorney General: It is signed by Himmler, Your Honour. It
served as a document in Trial 4 at Nuremberg. If it
interests the Court, the Accused was questioned on this
matter and his reply can be found on pages 2099 to 2104 of
his statement.

Presiding Judge: 6.1.42?


Attorney General: Yes 6.1.42.

I shall now call a witness regarding a Nazi labour camp, Dr.
Moshe Beisky.

Presiding Judge: Sir, would you please take the oath?

[The witness is sworn.]

Attorney General: Is your name Dr. Moshe Beisky?

Witness Beisky: Yes.

Q. You are a magistrate in Tel Aviv?

A. Yes.

Q. Do you live at 7 Rehov Pinkas, Tel Aviv?

A. Correct.

Q. You were born on 1 January 1921?

A. Correct.

Q. Dr. Beisky, at the outbreak of the Second World War were
you in Cracow?

A. Correct.

Q. Did you continue working there until the middle of 1940?

A. Correct.

Q. And what happened to you after that?

A. When a start was made with the setting-up of a ghetto in
Cracow, I decided that I would not go into the ghetto. And,
since my parents lived in a town at a distance of about 80
kilometres from Cracow, I went to that town. In this town
there gathered many Jews who in fact had not been living
there from before the War. They were refugees, having come
from larger places when the ghetto had been instituted.

Q. What was the name of the town?

A. Dzialoszyce. I remained in this town until a few days
before Rosh Hashana* {* The Jewish New Year in September
1942.} of 1942. I cannot remember the exact date today, but
at any rate, it was about a week or ten days before Rosh
Hashanah 1942. The period of the War in this village, to
describe it briefly, was naturally as in the whole of Poland
at that time - it began with the carrying of the armband
with the Shield of David, forced labour which at first was
only one day a week, afterwards twice a week, and the
population were taking turns at hard labour. Already since
my arrival in that town, so it seems to me, it was forbidden
to go beyond the confines of the town. By the way, this was
a Jewish town, mainly, even before the War, the population
of which doubled or even tripled with the outbreak of the
War, for anyone who had a relative in that town - from the
larger towns in Silesia, Cracow, Lodz, Litzmannstadt - came
to that town. It was forbidden to go beyond the limits of
the town.

With great difficulty it was possible, from time to time, to
obtain permission to go out. In the evenings it was
forbidden to leave the houses. Naturally, if anyone was
caught red-handed leaving the village, matters very often
ended up with shootings and the killing of people. I am not
able, - again because of the passage of time - to remember
what was the nunmber of the Jews who were executed in this
way.

Q. What German units operated there?

A. I suppose that, in the main, they were SS men, but I
presume that there was a period when they were men of the
Schutzpolizei. For a certain time The NSDAP were also in
that village, but for a particular time only.

Presiding Judge: What is the NSDAP?

A. Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.

Q. Were all of them NSDAP?

A. No, these men were dressed in coffee-coloured uniforms.

Q. That was the unit named NSDAP?

A. Yes. On their left sleeve there was a black band with a
swastika, below which was written NSDAP. This was a unit
which it was not difficult to distinguish.

In this period, several times in the town heavy forced
contributions were imposed on the Jews, of amounts which, in
regard to refugees, were gigantic; if you took into account
that this was already in the second year of the War, and
also in the third, the source of their livelihood in the
village had dried up, for the Jews were mainly artisans from
the district, and there was no money. But several times - I
don't remember how many - forced contributions in legendary
figures were levied, which were imposed on the Judenrat; it
was up to the elders of the town to collect them. The
members of the Judenrat at that time were the dignitaries of
the town who had held office before, and upon them was
imposed the task both as regards the financial contributions
and also in regard to the supply of people for work. At a
later stage, and this was already at the beginning of 1943,
they began taking people out to the labour camps. These
camps were in the vicinity of Cracow, and there was a firm
in particular which used to receive people from our town.
This was the firm of Richard Strauch. There were labour
camps in Kostize, near Cracow, in Kobierzyncka street, and
in some other places. At the airport near Cracow, as well,
there was a labour unit comprised of people from our town.

Attorney General: Perhaps you could tell us something about the
concentration of the Jews in Miechowitz?

A. This was at the same time which I have already referred
to, a few days before Rosh Hashana of 1942. One day, about
noon, the village was surrounded by soldiers, SS men and, as
far as we knew subsequently, it was the Sonderkommando. On
the same day, during the afternoon, a number of men were
taken out to the central square which served as a
marketplace, and after they were forced - I saw this with my
own eyes - to do exercises (this town was extremely
religious, not only traditional. Most of its men, I would
say, grew beards and side-curls - a typical Polish Jewish
town...). After the men in this square were compelled to do
gymnastics for some minutes, a few soldiers opened fire on
them from a distance and they were killed.

Q. May I receive the Polish album? I would like the witness
to endeavour to identify these scenes of brutalities, not
all of them, but I would want him to give his impression
whether they are...

A. I can describe this, for I saw it.

Q. We have photographs, we will ask you presently to try and
identify them, if you can. Perhaps in the meantime, you
would describe them.

A. I went to the square. We didn't know what was going on.
And in the meanwhile, an order was given that all the people
had to pack luggage for themselves of - it seems to me, and
again I am not able to say this with certainty - thirty
kilograms, and as part of it a suit of working clothing.
This thing created an impression that apparently we were
going out to some kind of labour camp. The night passed with
sounds of shooting in the town. I cannot tell you how many
people were shot that night. I only know that the Rabbi of
the village, an elderly man of over eighty, the late Itzhaq
Halevi Staskevsky, was shot while he was wrapped in his
Tallit (prayershawl) and Tefillin (phylacteries).


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