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Shofar FTP Archive File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-047-03


Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-047-03
Last-Modified: 1999/06/02

State Attorney Bar-Or:  That is correct, Your Honour.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/937.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 417 is the central
document on the Bulgarian chapter. It was shown to the
Accused and marked T/37(170). The Accused speaks about it on
page 2121 ff. of his Statement.

This is the Agreement between Dannecker and Belev, the
Commissioner for Jewish Affairs of the Bulgarian Government,
in the Ministry of the Interior. The Agreement is written in
Bulgarian and dated 22 February 1943. We submit to you both
the Bulgarian text and a copy in German.

Six transports are mentioned here containing 5,000, 3,000
and 2,000 persons respectively. The transports are to go to
the German Reich, which is ready to receive them. In
paragraph 3 (a) it says that only Jews may be included in
these transports. Also of interest is paragraph 8, which
says the "The Bulgarian Government will not, under any
circumstances, demand the return of the deported Jews." -
Signed: Belev and Dannecker.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/938.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  And now document No. 204, which was
shown to the Accused and marked T/37(54). The Accused refers
to this document on pages 1161 and 1162 of his Statement.
This is Dannecker's Report No. 3 to the Attaches Group,
which was again seen and signed by Beckerle. It is dated 23
February 1943 and Dannecker attaches a photostatic copy of
the Agreement between himself and Belev which we have just
seen. He speaks about the methods for implementing the
deportations: "...They will be accommodated temporarily in
tobacco storerooms until they can be put on trains."

He is of course not content with the figures set out in the
Agreement and he already speaks about the future in terms of
further transports and hopes for the successful
implementation of further deportations.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/939.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Our document No. 171 is a note from
Wagner of the Foreign Ministry to the Foreign Minister dated
3 Aapril 1943. The document was shown to the Accused and
marked T/37(57) and the Accused speaks about it on page 1170
ff. Wagner actually reports to the Minister, for his
information, about the situation, as it was reported by
Dannecker and Beckerle.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/940.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 1035 is a further
report addressed to the Attaches Group. This time it is not
signed by Dannecker, but by the Polish Attache himself,
whose name is Hoffmann. Here also there is the note "Seen" -
Beckerle. The report is dated 5 April 1943. It specifies
that, out of a transport of 11,343, 4,221 were sent by boat
and 7,122 by train. It says furthermore that Dannecker is
meanwhile in constant touch with Belev, the Commissioner for
the Jews. It says also that the deportations will continue
for some time.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/941.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 1036 is a letter date
17 May 1943 from Guenther to von Thadden at the Foreign
Ministry about the treatment of the Jewish Question in
Bulgaria. Guether refers to a telephone conversation between
von Thadden and SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Pothammer. He mentions
that there are still 51,000 Jews in Bulgaria, who constitute
a considerable danger for the German military forces. He
speaks of the excuse used by King Boris, etc.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/942.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 191 is another report
signed by Hoffmann and countersigned by Beckerle. Its date
is 7 June 1943, for information of the Accused. It says that
in April the situation took a turn for the worse "because
the Government of Bulgaria openly supports the attitude of
the king as regards the Jews," and it speaks about the
objections which have to be overcome concerning the
deportation of the Jews from within the former borders of
Bulgaria to the Reich.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/943.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 420 is a letter dated
24 June 1943 from Hoffmann and Beckerle to the Attaches
Group: The deportation of the Jews from Sofia to the
provincial towns can be regarded as complete. 20,000 Jews
have been deported. But anybody reading these documents will
realize that this was actually only a pretext used by the
authorities in order to evade pressure from the Germans.

Presiding Judge: That is to say, the Bulgarian Government
deported the Jews from Sofia to the provincial towns?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Yes, in order to evade the pressure;
this becomes quite clear from the documents we have
submitted.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/944.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 1039 is a letter from
von Thadden to the Accused dated 28 July 1943. Among other
things it says: "In view of the elevated position of the
Metropolitan Paissi, and his positive attitude towards
Germany I ask you to fulfil his request if possible and to
instruct me how to reply." This request is that a certain
person be sent for instance to Theresienstadt if that is
possible.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/945.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  In document No. 1040 Wagner informs
Sofia, on 31 June 1944 after consultations with the Head
Office for Reich Security, that there is almost no chance to
accede to this request.

Presiding Judge: We have only a covering letter here in
document T/945.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  What is our number, Your Honour?

Presiding Judge: No. 1040.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  This is a telegram, nothing more.

Presiding Judge: Where is Theresienstadt mentioned here?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Theresienstadt is not mentioned
here; it is mentioned in document No. 1039. Document No.
1040 is the reply to document No. 1039. On the second page
of von Thadden's letter to Eichmann it says...

Presiding Judge: In which document?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 1039. Have I not
submitted it?

Presiding Judge: No.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I am very sorry, I have two copies
here. I shall obtain more copies and submit them. In fact,
document No. 1040 cannot be understood without document No.
1039. We shall submit it immediately after we receive the
copy. With your permission I shall proceed to document No.
830, a letter from Beckerle to the Foreign Ministry, dated
February 4, 1943. The Foreign Ministry later transmits the
contents, in Rademacher's handwriting, to the Accused. There
are three documents included here under the same number. The
gist of the document is that "the German legation in Sofia
has been informed of an offer from England, through the
Swiss Protecting Power, to accept 5,000 Jewish children for
Palestine."

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/946.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 201.

Presiding Judge: What is the contents of the document?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Following information from Sofia,
von Hahn transmits to the Accused details about the proposal
from England to send 5,000 Jewish children from Bulgaria to
Israel.

Presiding Judge: Are there more documents about this
proposal?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  There will be more, there will be a
reply to this proposal. Document No. 201 was shown to the
Accused and was marked T/37(56). It is von Hahn's letter of
February 8, 1943 to the Accused. The Accused refers to this
document on pages 1167 and 1168. And that is the reply to
the proposal.

Judge Halevi:  Whose reply.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Von Hahn informs Eichmann that the
German legation received certain instructions, which are
cited in quotation marks. He transmits the contents of this
information to the Accused.

Presiding Judge: In the end nothing came of it?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Nothing.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/947.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 831 is a letter dated
13 February 1943 from Bergmann of the Foreign Ministry to
the German legation in Sofia. It is suspected that these
children will be educated under British influence to become
5,000 propagandists.

Judge Halevi:  Who decided this matter? Who gave these
instructions?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The instructions given in this
matter come, as it were, from the Foreign Ministry alone,
whether it is from von Hahn or from Bergmann. These men
inform Eichmann about what they are doing, it is true, but
they do not explicitly rely on his authority. On page 1167,
which I have already mentioned, the Accused says that:

"This is after all perfectly clear, Inspector, that every
Jew who, at the beginning of the War, or even at later
stages...and at first I should not even like to say so, but
later on of course, abroad he would not have overly praised
the Germans. This was perfectly clear to us. It is obvious.
The Head of the Security Police and the SD would never have
used reasoning of this kind."

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/948.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  In the end the matter is summed up
in a general policy direction which is sent by the Foreign
Ministry to all the legations concerned. This is contained
in document No. 400, a telegram addressed to Budapest,
Bucharest and Rome. It is signed by Rademacher, who repeats
that no negotiations concerning the emigration of Jews are
to be conducted with foreign governments. Among other
things, it also says here what had beeb stated in earlier
documents: That such negotiations contradict the policy of
the Axis Powers vis-a-vis the Arab nations.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/949.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 1037 is a letter dated
2 April 1943 from Guenther to von Hahn at the Foreign
Ministry which is also about emigration to Palestine of Jews
from the Balkans. He reports what the British Ambassador in
Washington told the Jewish Congress about negotiations which
are allegedly being held between Bulgaria and Great Britain
about the emigration of 4,000 Jews.

Presiding Judge: It says here "Sora" - do you know what this
is?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  I think it is a newspaper which
quotes radio news.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/950.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  Document No. 1038, a letter from
Pausch of the Foreign Ministry to the Accused on the same
subject - emigration of 4,000 Jewish children to Palestine.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/951.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  And again on the same subject,
Document No. 1034, a letter from the Accused to the Foreign
Ministry dated 4 May 1943. It says that the government in
Palestine has approved an undertermined, rather large number
of immigration certificates for Zionists with women and
children. He mentions a transport of 8,000 Jews from
Bulgaria via Turkey. "For information and preventive action
if possible."

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/952.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  This completes the chapter on
Bulgaria, and, with the permission of the Court, I proceed
to the third Balkan country: Greece.

Dr. Servatius:  Your Honour, the Presiding Judge, it does
not say here "for preventive action," but "taking steps"
(Veranlassung).

Judge Halevi:  Does the Accused have an opinion or take any
position in any of these documents?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  The last document constitutes a
taking of position.

Judge Halevi:  What position?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  What is the point of writing this
entire letter?

Judge Halevi:  In one of the documents I saw that the
Accused was asked what his opinion was. No document was
submitted in answer to this question.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  There is none. We are dealing with
Foreign Ministry documents and these are the only documents
which can guide us in this matter, because the documents
from the Accused are not available. In these documents we
found no expression of opinion about this subject by the
Accused.
Judge Halevi:  In your Document No. 830, which was submitted
earlier and which we marked T/946, there are a number of
papers.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  That is so.

Judge Halevi:  The second page is in handwriting.

State Attorney Bar-Or:  In Rademacher's handwriting.

Judge Halevi:  It says: "An das Reichssicherheitshauptamt"
(to the Head Office for Reich security).

State Attorney Bar-Or: "zu Haenden von SS
Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann oder Vertreter im Amte."
(attention of SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann or his
deputy).

Judge Halevi:  Does it not say here - in the same
handwriting - and I refer to the last lines which read: "Ich
darf bitten, mir die dortige Auffassung mitzuteilen" (May I
ask you to let me have your opinion). Is this request not
addressed to the Accused?

State Attorney Bar-Or:  It is a request from Rademacher to
the Accused. Under it there is another note by Rademacher
dated the 6th of the month. I have the impression that the
name of the Accused appears here as well, at any rate...

Judge Halevi:  But what the opinion of the Accused is - this
we do not know?

Presiding Judge: I think it follows fairly clearly from his
statement. He says that emigration was totally prohibited by
Himmler, after a certain date...

State Attorney Bar-Or:  We are speaking of the year 1943.
The prohibition was issued in the summer of 1941. It is
obvious that there was nothing to be said here on the part
of the Accused.

Presiding Judge: Yes, and he follows this line, this is his
opinion.


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