Archive/File: people/e/eichmann.adolf/transcripts/Sessions/Session-107-05
Last-Modified: 1999/06/14

Presiding Judge: Dr. Servatius, you now have the Defence
witnesses whose statements were taken abroad, and we shall
once again follow the order which we followed with the
submission of the Prosecution witnesses, i.e., which we
followed when the statements made abroad were submitted.  In
what order or sequence do you wish to submit these
statements?

Dr. Servatius: The best way is to follow the order of the
applications.

Presiding Judge: Very well.  I thought that we should first
concentrate on those which have nothing at all to do with
Hungary, and then those which concern Hungary, but I leave
that up to you, Dr. Servatius.

Dr. Servatius: Often in the documents, several topics are
mentioned in the documents, so that it is difficult to
separate them.

Presiding Judge: Very well.  With what would you like to
start?

Dr. Servatius: I would like to start with Witness for the
Defence Six.

Presiding Judge: Alright.  I would stress once again that
the statements in their entirety are part of the record of
these proceedings, but you may now read out or translate
those parts from the statements to which the parties wish to
refer particularly.  Let us therefore take Six' statement.
To what would you like to draw our attention here?

Dr. Servatius: This is the examination of witness Six on 24
May '61 before the Tettnang Court of First Instance.  I
would refer in particular to page three, at the end of the
first paragraph.  This reads:

     "In order to be able to conduct negotiations abroad
     with representatives of the foreign state, it was first
     necessary to obtain approval of the Minister
     responsible, and the German envoy in the state
     concerned had to be present.  From my own knowledge I
     am unable to say whether Eichmann had wider or less
     wide powers than other section heads."

Then the last paragraph starts on the same page:

     "The so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question
     was based on a decision by Hitler which was announced
     to a certain circle at the Wannsee Conference in 1942,
     and then turned into a conclusion by this circle."  I
     now omit a sentence.  "During 1943, I did receive
     reports at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs from the
     foreign press for my information, about concentration
     camps, gassings and other measures against the Jews.
     These reports were so concrete that from 1943 on I no
     longer had any doubts that persecution measures were
     being carried out against the Jews.  From the end of
     1943 onwards, most of the highest-level ministerial
     civil servants must also have been aware of such press
     reports."

The same page, at the bottom:

     "Given the structure of the Head Office for Reich
     Security, it was impossible for a section head to grant
     exemptions from the orders of his superior, on his own
     authority or above the head of his superior.  Very many
     members of the Head Office for Reich Security were
     removed from their posts, and this was certainly one of
     the reasons why all were very careful not to exceed
     their authority.  There were no instructions giving
     section heads prior permission for making exceptions.
     This applies to the Head Office for Reich Security
     generally, and not specifically to the Eichmann
     section.  I am not familiar with Eichmann's various
     powers."

In the middle of page five:

     "I went to see Heydrich every three or four weeks at
     the conferences of department chiefs.  Eichmann did not
     take part in these conferences."

On the next page, six, in the middle:

     "His whole attitude meant that Eichmann would not
     exceed the limits of the instructions he received.  I
     would have noticed if Eichmann had exceeded his
     instructions when I was working in the Secret Service
     Head Office.  I am not, however, able to remember
     anything of the kind."

At the bottom of the same page, at the end of the paragraph:

     "As long as Eichmann was subordinate to me, I do not
     remember him making any anti-Jewish statements or
     proposals.  It was not in his nature to make proposals
     which went further than the anti-Jewish measures
     envisaged at that time."

Page seven, lower part:

     "Eichmann did not make his journey to Palestine on his
     own; he went with Hagen.  I must have read the
     Palestine report, I suppose.  However, I no longer
     remember the contents of this report.  When Eichmann
     was no longer subordinate to me, I ceased to receive
     any reports from him.  From Document No. 2, which has
     been shown to me, I see from the reference Hg, and also
     from the title, that the report was in fact written by
     Hagen."

At the bottom of page ten:

     "I know nothing about any connection or organizational
     co-operation between Eichmann and the Operations
     Groups."

A last comment on the conference in Krummhuebel, page
twelve:

     "I believe that, apart from Schleyer and von Thadden,
     the participants in the meeting did not have
     information about the current situation of the Final
     Solution."

These are the passages I wished to read out.

Presiding Judge: Mr. Attorney General, do you wish to stress
anything?

Attorney General: We have given the passages to Mr. Dayan to
be translated directly.

Interpreter: Shall I read out everything which has been
marked or underlined?

Attorney General: Yes.  At the bottom of page two.  In order
to avoid misunderstandings, hand it back to me.

The passage marked in the margin in ink:

     "The Eichmann section occupied a special position.
     More people were employed in this section than in the
     other sections."

Now, at the bottom, on page three:

     "If Eichmann was able to sign correspondence with
     outside bodies, particularly ministries, on his own,
     without any counter-signature (something which I am not
     aware of according to my own recollection), then this
     was definitely an extension of his powers as a section
     head."

Page four:

     "Had I wished to obtain an exemption or something
     similar for a Jew, I would not have gone to Eichmann,
     as he was an exponent of the other side."

Now on page five, the bottom of page four:

     "I am not familiar with Eichmann's various powers.
     However, there is no doubt that he had wider powers
     than other section heads.  This was the general view in
     the Head Office for Reich Security.  The general
     impression was that Eichmann was not only under
     Mueller's orders, but that he was somewhat on the same
     level as Mueller.  Mueller was known as one of the
     worst instigators, and I would say that the two were
     very well matched.  Under a different superior than
     Mueller, Eichmann's powers would probably not have been
     as extensive as they actually were.  It was known that
     Eichmann had access to Heydrich and Kaltenbrunner,
     although I cannot now give any actual facts to attest
     to that.  I also saw Eichmann in Heydrich's antechamber
     - as far as I remember, definitely once or twice."

Now further down on the same page:

     "In my view that was another reason why Eichmann's
     superior considered Eichmann to be particularly suited
     for his job, as he was a National Socialist of long
     standing.  I believe that Heydrich in particular
     attached value to the Eichmann section being in the
     hands of a National Socialist of long standing.  In my
     opinion, Mueller and Eichmann teamed up fairly well."

In the middle of page six:

     "Eichmann believed absolutely in National Socialism.
     Essentially, the world was fulfilled for him by means
     of the Nazi outlook on life."
     
And further down on the same page:
     
     "I believe that, when in doubt, Eichmann always acted
     in accordance with Party doctrine in its most extreme
     interpretation."

Bottom of page eight:

     "During the war it was at least possible to try and be
     transferred away from an Operations Group.  I myself
     made such a successful attempt.  It was also possible
     in some other cases which were referred to at
     Nuremberg."

Presiding Judge: Is that everything?

Consecutive Interpreter: Yes.

Presiding Judge: I designate this statement VII.  Dr.
Servatius, who is next?

Dr. Servatius: The next witness is advocate Dr. Merten.  the
examination of 29, 30 and 31 May 1961 before the Berlin-
Tiergarten Court of First Instance.

I would refer to page nine.  He says here:

     "It is correct that in the criminal proceedings
     instituted against me in Greece I did not mention this
     visit of the Accused before Christmas 1942.  This was
     on the advice of counsel for my defence, who advised me
     to say as little as possible about any personal contact
     with the Accused, as otherwise it was to be feared that
     this circumstance would be considered to incriminate
     me.  I also at the time remembered the "major"
     discussion of January 1943 as having taken place in
     December 1942."

Then, page twelve, at the top:

     "What is, however, correct is that, in substance, what
     I am saying to-day does not entirely coincide in every
     detail with what I said in my defence speech before the
     Greek court."  Then, in the middle: "I would say about
     this that the reasons for the discrepancy are not only
     the lack of documents, but more particularly the fact
     that in the Greek proceedings I was the accused  and
     was making a speech for the defence, where the main
     object was to incriminate myself as little as possible.
     Moreover, my counsel was most insistent in his
     recommendation that I dissociate by every possible
     allegation the Wehrmacht from the Head Office for Reich
     Security; I was told that I should bear in mind the
     fact that senior professional army officers were
     judging me, and I had to address them in `military'
     terms.  To-day I am in a different situation, since to-
     day I am a witness and have to give testimony on oath.
     The reason why in the speech in my defence I moreover
     spoke only of Eichmann and did not refer to Guenther,
     too, in this respect, was also because of the emphatic
     recommendations of my defence counsel that in my
     argument I should avoid a wealth of names which would
     confuse the court.  It can be seen that I did at that
     point think of Guenther, because on page 43 of the
     shorthand record about 17 February, 1959, I refer to
     `Eichmann's SS adjutant'".

These are the passages to which I wished to refer.

Presiding Judge: Thank you.  Yes, Mr. Hausner.

Attorney General: We have no passages from Merten's
statement on which we wish to comment.

Presiding Judge: I designate the first part of this
statement VIII (1) and the addition of 7 June 1961 - VIII
(2).  Dr. Servatius, who comes next?  The Attorney General
has nothing to read out from Merten.

Dr. Servatius: The statement by witness Krumey of 6 June
1961 before the Frankfurt am Main Court of First Instance.

Presiding Judge: Did you also receive copies of the
documents which were shown to Krumey during his examination?

Dr. Servatius: No, I did not receive any separate copies.

Presiding Judge: Nor have you looked at these documents?

Dr. Servatius: I cannot say for the moment, I -

Presiding Judge: I gave instructions that both parties
should have these documents brought to their notice.  There
was some difficulty here.  If you remember, these documents
reached the Court indirectly, and I therefore gave
instructions that both parties should have these documents
brought to their notice.

The Secretary, Mr. Bodenheimer, maintains that he showed you
the documents and that you said that you wished to refer
only to the first document.  Do you remember something like
that?

Dr. Servatius: I do remember these documents now.  There was
the first one and the - except the first one, there were no
objections to any of them.  At the top of the first one it
said "Copy", so that here there was no photocopy of the
original, and the second thing to which there was an
objection was the last sentence of this teletype.  This
sentence was even underlined; it read: "No special care for
them is required."  I would have liked to see the original,
since it is strange that this sentence is underlined, and it
is possible that it was a later addition made by someone.
There - the reason why it attracts attention is because all
the other photocopies are photocopies of the original; it is
only this essential document which is just a photocopy of a
copy.

Presiding Judge: Alright.  In any case, this is what was
sent to us, and we shall pay due attention to this.  We
shall bear in mind that it was a photocopy of a copy.

Dr. Servatius, what do you wish to read out from this
statement?

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