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Shofar FTP Archive File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-048-07


Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-048-07
Last-Modified: 1999/06/02

Q. Where did you send this?

A. To Istanbul, and also to Switzerland, to Geneva.

Q. When?

A. In 1944 or 1943.  And this messenger, Welitsch, and
another one whose name I do not remember, were also Gestapo
agents, and they handed over these reports.

Presiding Judge: To whom?

Witness Loewenstein:  To the Romanian Secret Service, the
Romanian police.  After this they arrested the halutzim, the
leaders of the Federation of Youth; and it is very
interesting that, when they were questioned, Richter was
present together with Radu Lecca.  Immediately after the
War, in 1945 or 1946, a booklet was published by "Gordonia"
which contains all the testimonies.  We did not yet know
details about the revolt of the Warsaw Ghetto, we did not
yet know much about the situation in Poland, what exactly
happened there, but these were testimonies of refugees,
which we sent here [to Palestine].  In Geneva there were Dr.
Richard Lichtheim, Dr. Silberstein from Poland, as well as
Nathan Schwalb.  And in Istanbul there were representatives
as well.  This correspondence can be found in the files of
the Zionist Archives.

Judge Halevi:  When you were preparing for self-defence in
Bucharest - the underground of the halutzim, as you said -
did you know then what was in store for you?

Witness Loewenstein:  Yes, we knew from the refugees.  I
remember only one expression we had not yet heard of terms
such as Entlausung (disinfection) and others, but in 1943 we
already heard the expression Aktionstage (days for
operations), and we had heard about Aktionen (operations) in
Poland; about this we had heard from the refugees who came
from Poland.

Q. Did Dr. Filderman survive?

A. Yes, he is now in Paris.

Presiding Judge: Thank you, Dr. Loewenstein.  You have
completed your evidence.

State Attorney Bach:  In order to conclude the chapter on
Romania, I still have a number of documents.  The first one
is No. 401.  Killinger says here that Antonescu has given an
order permitting the emigration of 70,000-80,000 Jews to
Palestine in return for payment to the Romanians.  Killinger
thinks that this is objectionable, in view of, among other
considerations, the agreement with the Mufti of Jerusalem.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1041.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 987.  Here
Luther of the German Foreign Ministry writes to the legation
in Bucharest and says that the fact that the deportation of
the Jews has been interrupted for the moment is not very
tragic since, in any case, the matter is not so easy during
the winter months.  But he hopes that in the spring it will
be possible to resume operations.  And he adds: "In this
connection your opinion is requested concerning the idea of
a reciprocal visit in January by SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
Eichmann, which was raised by the Romanians."  And he thinks
that, "since Lecca is no doubt well-intentioned, it is
hardly possible to deny him this request, which could
possibly help him advance in his own work."

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1042.

State Attorney Bach:  In Prosecution document No. 988
Killinger replies by telegram that he agrees to Eichmann's
visit in Bucharest, and that Antonescu also agrees to it.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1043.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is numbered 994.
Klingenfuss informs Guenther that the legation in Bucharest
would like to hear from Eichmann though which Stapostellen
(regional headquarters of the State Police) Jews of first-
generation mixed parentage have to be deported from the
Reich.

Clerk of the Court Bodenheimer  This document has already
been submitted.

Presiding Judge: How was it marked?

Clerk of the Court Bodenheimer  T/857.

State Attorney Bach:  What was our number?

Clerk of the Court Bodenheimer 994.

State Attorney Bach:  It is hard to imagine that this
document, which belongs specifically to Romania, should have
been submitted here.

Presiding Judge: [reading from the document] Deportation of
the Descendants of Mixed Marriages...no, it seems that you
are mistaken.

Judge Raveh:   Mr. Bach, I should like to ask something in
connection with document No. 988.  It says here:
"...Gegenbesuch Eichmanns..." (reciprocal visit by Eichmann)
- what visit is meant?

State Attorney Bach:  This refers to the earlier visit by
Lecca.

Judge Raveh:   Which was not especially successful?

State Attorney Bach:  When Lecca was received by Eichmann,
but Killinger said that the visit was not so successful,
because Lecca was not received by the officials of the
German Foreign Ministry.  Nevertheless, we saw that Lecca
immediately asked for a return visit, that Killinger had to
agree to it, and that Antonescu also indicated his
agreement.

Presiding Judge: Mr. Bodenheimer is right: This document
deals with the descendants of mixed marriages.

State Attorney Bach:  Perhaps it was submitted in this
context, in connection with the offspring of mixed
marriages, but what is meant is a correspondence with
Richter about persons in Romania.

Presiding Judge: In this case there is no need to submit it.

State Attorney Bach:  There is no need to submit the
document, but we draw attention to it, document T/857.

The next document is our No. 224.  It was shown to the
Accused and numbered T/37(47).  Eichmann writes that, to his
regret, he has to postpone his visit because of pressure of
work.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1044.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 481.  Richter
sends Eichmann the copy of a letter from Filderman to a
Romanian by the name of Bursan, describing the desperate
situation of the Jewish orphans in Transnistria, of five
thousand Jewish children aged between two and sixteen.
"Five thousand orphans are in a dreadful state," says
Filderman, "innocent children lying naked in beds without
linen, in unheated rooms whose windows have no panes, so
that they cannot even get out of bed to relieve themselves,
so they live in totally polluted air. They all suffer from
eczema, boils, scabies and other diseases, and are badly
undernourished."  He says that there is no possibility of
buying food for these children, that the daily wage is not
sufficient to buy bread for them, and that even these wages
are not being paid to people.

Filderman asks most urgently to see to it that these
children be brought back, since otherwise they are condemned
to die.  In his letter to Eichmann, Richter adds that he has
spoken with Lecca about the matter and that nothing will be
done.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1045.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 580.
Richter writes to Lecca, indignant because a certain
newspaper wrote about a Jewish journalist whom it had
employed, favourably mentioning his work in the past, so it
seems.  In his letter to Lecca Richter says:

     "I should like to draw your attention to the fact that
     in 1942 it could be regarded as a lack of sound
     instinct (Instinktlosigkeit) if an erstwhile Jewish
     penpusher is eulogized after his death in a leading
     Romanian newspaper."

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1046.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 184, which
was shown to the Accused and marked T/37(45).  Richter
informs Eichmann about the replacement of the Undersecretary
of State for the Navy who was instrumental in Jewish
emigration and was dismissed from his post.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1047.

State Attorney Bach:  Our next document is No. 231, a letter
to the German Foreign Ministry signed by Eichmann by his own
hand, saying that: "In accordance with reliable information,
which must be kept confidential, one thousand Jewish
children, together with one hundred accompanying staff, are
about to be taken to Palestine via Bulgaria and Turkey."
"Es wird gebeten, die geplante Auswanderung nach
Moeglichkeit zu unterbinden" (You are requested to thwart
this emigration project, if possible).

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/1048.

State Attorney Bach:  These documents are of course
connected with the documents about Bulgaria which my
colleague, Mr. Bar-Or, submitted yesterday.  All this
belongs to the same complex of problems.  I believe the
Court has asked: Who actually gave the order?  I shall now
submit several documents which show that the order came
directly from the Accused.

Our next document is No. 200.  This letter is signed by
Guenther, and he says: "Within the next few days 150
children are about to emigrate from Romania overland through
Bulgaria...may I ask you to make every effort, in order to
cause Romania to renounce this incomprehensible emigration
project, or, alternatively, to put obstacles in the way of
transit through Bulgaria, if possible ("...sofern wie
moeglich der Durchreise durch Bulgarien Schwierigkeiten
engegengestellt werden").

Presiding Judge: This document will be marked T/1049.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is our No. 980.
Here Killinger, or rather Richter - this is clear from the
telegram - informs Eichmann that a transport of 74 Jewish
children from Romania via Bulgaria to Palestine is being
planned.  They were of the opinion that this was not in the
interest of the Reich, in view of the general solution of
the Jewish Question in Europe.  He also reports that he has
informed the travel agency that the transport would be
stopped in Bulgaria and re-directed to a different
destination if it should arrive there, and therefore this
transport of 74 children was not sent.  And here, on the
second page, the Court will see that it says in handwriting,
"Telephonisch an Parteigenossen Eichmann durchgegeben"
(Passed on to Party comrade Eichmann by telephone).

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1050.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 981.  Here
Beckerle, the German minister in Sofia, reports about the
same subject, about the same 74 children.  He says that he
received the information, and that the emigration of the 74
children has been prevented.  The German Foreign Ministry
transmits this letter again to Obersturmbannfuehrer
Eichmann.  This actually constitutes the liquidation of the
project, i.e., they made sure of it from the Bulgarian as
well as the Romanian end.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1051.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 482.  Richter
sends a letter to the German consuls in many cities in
Romania and asks for information about copies of Jewish
manifestos.  Furthermore, he wants to know which Jews are
still in possession of radio sets.

Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1052.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is numbered 483.
Richter sends Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann a detailed
report about the Romanization procedures of Jewish property.
Presiding Judge: This document is marked T/1053.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 982 and it
was marked T/37(282).  This is again signed by the Accused
personally, and he writes to the German Foreign Ministry
about two projects for the transfer of Jews to Palestine -
one transport of 1,500 Jews on a boat under Greek flag,
named "Smirnik," and the other on a boat of 300 tons holding
350 Jewish emigrants from Bessarabia and Bukovina, under the
protection of the Red Cross.  He adds that the Jewish
institutions in Bucharest have already contacted their
organizations in Istanbul on this matter.  In conclusion
Eichmann says: "It is requested that this emigration also be
prevented to the extent possible."

Presiding Judge: This document will be marked T/1054.

State Attorney Bach:  As far as the children are concerned,
our crucial document is perhaps No. 220, which was marked
T/37(44).  Von Thadden reports here that Eichmann has
informed him about the attitude taken by the highest echelon
of his ministry on the departure of Jewish children from
Romania: The emigration of Jewish children must be refused
as a matter of principle.  "The emigration of five thousand
Jewish children from the occupied zones of the east would be
granted, if German internees abroad could thereby be
exchanged at the rate of 4:1, i.e., twenty thousand Germans
against five thousand Jews.  This did not mean twenty
thousand old Germans, but twenty thousand Germans still
capable of propagation, under the age of forty."

He adds that, if this was to be carried out, the
negotiations would have to be conducted speedily, since the
time was approaching when the departure of five thousand
children from the east would no longer be technically
possible, because of the implementation of our measures
against the Jews.  If the departure of Jewish children from
Romania, or from other Balkan states, was to be approved at
all, it was important to ensure that this would not be done
without reciprocity, as mentioned above.

The Accused was asked about this matter on page 1131.  On
page 1132 Inspector Less asks him what he meant when he said
that the negotiations had to be conducted speedily, because
the time was approaching when it would no longer be
technically possible to carry out the matter.  Eichmann's
reply is on page 1133, where he says: "This was in 1943, in
accordance with the order from the Reichsfuehrer, which was
given to the police one had to know that up there, '...das
oben von den Einsatzkommandos hier alles - so nehme ich also
an - enschuldigen Sie bitte, Herr Hauptmann, den brutalen
Ausdruck - getoetet wird.  Das und nichts...' (It was known,
was it not, that by the operations groups up there - and
forgive me for the brutal expression, Inspector, all are
being killed.  This and nothing else..."

Presiding Judge: Does he quote this as an order from Himmler
in the letter?

State Attorney Bach:  No, he invokes Himmler's orders about
killing in general.

Presiding Judge: From "Meine Frage" (my question) in this
document, in the last but one passage?

State Attorney Bach:  Yes. Von Thadden says that: "To my
question whether this attitude could be reported to the
Reich Foreign Ministry as final, and as the attitude of the
Reichsfuehrer-SS, Eichmann answered yes."

State Attorney Bach:  The next document, No. 214, is signed
by Guenther and deals with the emigration of five thousand
Jewish children from Romania and Bulgaria to Palestine.  He
mentions a ship which is to sail under the Red Cross flag
and which would transport one thousand children on each
voyage, and that von Papen has been approached in Turkey,
and that the organizers of the project are of the opinion
that the emigration of the remaining Jewish children will
pass with tacit agreement.  But Guenther says:

     "In the interest of the most comprehensive possible
     seizure of all the Jews in Europe, it is requested that
     steps be taken to prevent the departure of Jews,
     especially of Jewish children from the Balkan
     countries, by every means."

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/1056.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 1229, and it
was also marked T/37(307).  Here there is mention of
Bosshammer, also from the office of the Accused, and the
question is raised by the German Foreign Ministry whether it
is possible to transfer Romanian Jews to camps in
Transnistria, to open camps.  The answer comes from
Guenther, who objects and says: The difficulties cannot be
solved by transferring Jews to open camps in Transnistria.
German camps can always be named which can accept these Jews
immediately.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/1057.

State Attorney Bach:  The next document is No. 222.  Here
Richter informs Eichmann that he has ordered the arrest of
Filderman because of his protest against the payment of four
billion Lei as a special levy.  He says that Filderman
pretends to have fallen ill and has therefore not yet been
arrested, but a request for his release has been rejected.

Presiding Judge: Does Richter write this together with
Killinger?


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