The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
Session 34
(Part 7 of 8)


The first document is our No. 719, which was also shown to the Accused and was marked No. T/37(194). It is a letter from the Dresdner Bank and the subject is the seizure and management of the Jewish property. There is mention of one of the assistants of the Accused, Dr. Rajakowitsch, who, it says here, will apparently not be authorized to set up an organization according to the Prague model in Holland. This will apparently not be done, but, they say, they have learned that Dr. Rajakowitsch will serve on the governing body of the firm which is to administer the Jewish property. Dr. Rajakowitsch is one of the persons sent to the Netherlands by the Accused, and he dealt with all Jewish affairs in the office of the representative of the Accused in the Netherlands.

State Attorney Bach: The next document is our No. 1255. Here a man named Stiller writes to the Reich Commissioner for Internal Affairs at the office of Seyss-Inquart, named Wimmer.

Presiding Judge: Seyss-Inquart was the Protector?

State Attorney Bach: He was the Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/526.

State Attorney Bach: The subject here is marriage with Jews. I shall read one very important, very typical passage: "The keenest advocate for the intention to tighten the regulations for protecting the blood, especially to equate half-Jews in general with the Jews, is said to be Oberregierungsrat (Senior Government Councillor) Reischauer of the Party Secretariat in Munich..." (The Accused also mentioned this man in his statement, as we shall see at a later stage.) This is the man who made this proposal. The idea that half-Jews should also be regarded as Jews met with opposition from the German army and even from Hitler, because the result was that quarter-Jews, too, had to be excluded from the army, and Keitel was afraid that thousands of soldiers were likely to find themselves in this unpleasant situation, so that they would be regarded as Jews. Hence the objection.

There is an addendum to the report:

"Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann at the Head Office for Reich Security is said to work in close cooperation with Oberregierungsrat Reischauer. Eichmann has set up the central emigration offices in Vienna and Prague and directed the deportation of Jews from Stettin, etc., to the Generalgouvernement. Eichmann is said to be very keen on the new regulations, although his manner is courteous."
Incidentally, this is not the only document we shall submit from which it appears that on certain points the Accused took a more extreme position than the Fuehrer himself.

Judge Halevi: Who writes this and to whom?

State Attorney Bach: One of the assistants of Wimmer writes it, a man by the name of Stiller. He writes this to Wimmer. ('Wimmer' is written by hand in the margin on the first page.) Wimmer was the Commissioner General for Internal Affairs with Seyss-Inquart. Wimmer was a German official under Seyss-Inquart and was called Commissioner General for Internal Affairs, i.e., he was responsible for internal affairs in Holland, and he received this report from Stiller, one of his assistants.

Judge Halevi: Stiller writes this from Holland?

State Attorney Bach: Yes, they were both in The Hague.

Your Honours, our No. 617, T/37(195). Again one of those things, as somebody once remarked, which say little but say it all. In the NSB there were - the NSB was the Dutch fascist party before the German entry, its name was Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (National Socialist Movement of the Netherlands). There were some five or six Jews who were Fascists and members of that party. When the Germans invaded Holland - that was in December 1941 - Harster writes the following - Harster was the Commander of the Security Police in Holland, i.e., he held the same position in Holland that Knochen in France.

Harster writes the following note: There were several Jews in this party, he says, they were of course now expelled from the National Socialist organization, but he adds nevertheless that the Reich Commissioner and the ranking officers of the SS do not think it desirable to treat these in the same way as the other Jews. He therefore proposed that they might perhaps be allowed to leave for abroad. He adds that it may perhaps be possible to use these Jews for some intelligence purpose abroad.

Judge Halevi: It says "V-Mann."

State Attorney Bach: Yes, V-Mann, that is to say that these Jews may perhaps still serve some purpose.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/527.

State Attorney Bach: And now the reply, which is typical, our No. 618. Rajakowitsch, the representative of the Accused writes:

"I discussed the note from the BdS with SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann. SS O'Stubaf Eichmann is of the opinion, in principle, that in the present cases exceptional emigration cannot be approved. However, NSB Jews may be delayed far enough in the evacuation to let their turn come last. By that time the evacuation process should have become so well established that difficulties are no longer to be expected."
I should like to stress that in Harster's letter he said that the deportation of these Jews would not make a good impression also on the members of the Dutch Nazi party. He (Rajakowitsch) says that one should wait for the last train, by then people would have got used to it, the matter would make no impression then, and these Jews could then be deported. And, indeed, at the end there is a note that these Jews were in fact deported to Theresienstadt.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/528.

State Attorney Bach: Our next document is No. 1359, a telegram from Zoepf. Zoepf was Eichmann's chief representative.

Presiding Judge: That is the Dannecker of the Netherlands?

State Attorney Bach: The Dannecker of the Netherlands, exactly, Your Honour. He writes to the Head Office for Reich Security, Department IV in Berlin. He reports on the difficulties connected with the designating of the Jews and relates that, in the beginning, the Dutch citizens felt that this was an insult to the whole Dutch nation. During the first days, he says, the Dutch people expressed their sympathy for the Jews by themselves putting on a real or imitation Star of David. Following energetic measures against such persons, and against all the Jews who did not wear the Star of David, matters have recently quietened down somewhat. Then he speaks about the night curfew imposed on the Jews, about the marking of food cards which had been introduced, and about the prohibition to exercise certain trades.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/529.

State Attorney Bach: The next document is our No. 1243. In reply to a telegram from IVB4 which we have already submitted, and with reference to a telephone conversation with Brussels, Rajakowitsch writes:

"According to the present situation it cannot be expected that the expatriation order for Jews of Dutch nationality will come into force in the foreseeable future. The evacuation here has also included Jews of Dutch nationality and will be continued, unless other obstacles arise, even though the order is not yet in force. On our part there are therefore no objections to evacuating Jews of Dutch nationality, too, from your area of command."
This instruction came from Eichmann, who wanted to coordinate with Holland and France the revocation of the citizenship of Dutch and French Jews residing in Belgium, so that his people in Belgium might be able to deport these Jews, and in order to make a good impression on the French. And Rajakowitsch says here that there is no problem, even without such an order they are expelling the Dutch Jews. For the time being there are no problems.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/530.

State Attorney Bach: Our next document is No. 1496. It is a letter from Rauter, who was the Higher SS and Police Leader (Hoeherer-SS-und Polizeifuehrer).

Judge Halevi: What is the difference between Hoehere SS and Reichsfuehrer?

State Attorney Bach: There were actually three bodies here: The Higher SS and Police Leader who represented the Reichsfueehrer in the countries concerned. He was, for instance, the judge in SS matters, having competence over SS personnel; he was in charge of all SS personnel from the administrative point of view; as a rule, he had no real executive functions; he was, as it were, Himmler's personal representative on the spot. The BdS was the local representative of the Chief of the Security Police (Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei), i.e. just as Rauter represented Himmler, Harster represented Heydrich, and later Kaltenbrunner. Finally, the Referent (Specialist) Zoepf, or Dannecker - they were the representatives of Eichmann in matters concerning the Jews.

Judge Halevi: And what was the title of Zoepf and people like him, and their function?

State Attorney Bach: The title was always Referent (Specialist) for Jewish Questions attached to the BdS. In France the position corresponding to that of Rauter was held by a man called Oberg. He was the Senior SS and Police Commander in Paris and is mentioned in some of the documents we submitted yesterday. Rauter reports, of course, to Himmler; that was the address for him.

Rauter describes first of all the deportation to Mauthausen, about which we have already heard, and says: "So far we have deported altogether 20,000 Jews to Auschwitz, including those sent to Mauthausen as punishment," but the figure may reach 120,000.

And then he describes a special feature, a special trick used in Holland. The Jews were put into work camps where they were not maltreated, so that they would have no reason to escape from these; on the contrary, they would escape into these camps (Werkveruimingslager). In this way, he thinks, when the full number of Jews will be reached in those camps, it will be possible to seize them, and afterwards their families also. As he puts it, the camps will be occupied "schlagartig" (at one stroke) and the Jews deported.

And here follows a sentence which is shocking to this day, not only for the Jews of Holland: "Am 15. Oktober wird das Judentum in Holland fuer vogelfrei erklaert (on 15 October the Jews of Holland will be declared outlawed)." Every Jew found in any place in Holland will be put into the camps for Jews. Thus no Jew who is not especially privileged will be able to show his face in Holland any more." Then he speaks of Westerbork.

And let me call attention to this: The letter reached Himmler, and on the first page Himmler wrote in his own hand: "Sehr gut" (very good) - over his well-known signature, at the top of the first page.

Presiding Judge: This will be T/531.

State Attorney Bach: The next document is No. 355. Here we present a number of official confirmations issued by the Zentralstelle fuer Juedische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) in Amsterdam about which the witness Dr. Melkman testified this morning. We see here that, over the signature of Aus der Fuenten, various permits are issued. It goes without saying that Aus der Fuenten was, concurrently with his other activities, of course indirectly also subordinated to the Accused. He received his instructions through Zoepf.

Incidentally, on the fifth of these documents there is a confirmation, on which the signature of Aus der Fuenten appears, dated 22 January 1943, and it is confirmed here that SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Aus der Fuenten received certain articles, including money, unpaid wages, "Stammkarten des Pflegeper-sonals, Rechenmaschine und zwei Schreibmaschinen (Registration cards of the nursing staff, a calculating machine and two typewriters)," etc. The date was that of the Apeldoorn Bos incident about which the witness testified, and this proves that Aus der Fuenten carried out this operation, and that he got in touch with the Accused afterwards, and the Accused put the train at his disposal which transported those mental patients to Auschwitz. It is obvious from the date and also from the contents of the document that Aus der Fuenten's confirmation refers to that incident.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/532.

State Attorney Bach: The next document is No. 339. The subject here is a Jew named Kuttner, who was sent to Mauthausen and was shot there "while escaping," as it says here. And it goes on: "In accordance with instructions from the BdS and in coordination with Section IVB4, the members of the family of the deceased, insofar as they are full Jews, have now to be sent to Westerbork Camp, in order to be utilized for work in the East."

Not only is the Jew deported and killed, now they want immediately to arrest his whole family and to send it to the East right away. Incidentally, this document was also given our No. T/37(135).

Presiding Judge: What is the reason for this individual treatment, if it can be put this way, in October 1942, which was already quite late?

State Attorney Bach: Here we see again, as in France where we submitted a similar document, that, in order to prevent Greuelhetze (atrocity propaganda), when a man had been taken, his family was also taken. In this case, a Jew had been killed in Mauthausen, and it was not thought desirable that the family should remain behind and tell all kinds of stories, so they have to be arrested and deported quickly. Or perhaps something simply happened with the man and they want to punish the family. Or maybe, as one of the witnesses testified, I think Dr. Wells testified on such cases, maybe there really was an attempted escape. He said that whenever someone tried to escape, his family was seized and killed.

Judge Halevi: In that earlier document also, from the Senior SS and Police Commander - "schlagartig" (by one stroke) to send 8,000 Jews to a work camp and on the same day all their relatives from outside the camp - why is there always the close time sequence, simultaneously with their relatives? This seems to have been the method.

State Attorney Bach: This was apparently the method which we find, as a matter of fact, in all these places.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/533.

State Attorney Bach: And now another case of individual treatment by the Accused himself. Our number is 1484. It is about a professor from the University of Leyden. There was apparently a request from the Foreign Ministry concerning him. In a first letter from Guenter in this matter it says: "In view of the fact that the Jew Meyers is a former professor at the University of Leyden, hence an intellectual, I cannot agree to his emigration to Switzerland, in spite of the amount of foreign currency that may be provided." Signed - Guenther.

Presiding Judge: This will be marked T/534.

State Attorney Bach: By the way, Professor Meyers was one of the great jurists of Europe.

And now, another letter on the same subject. Our No. 223, which was also numbered T/37(75). Here it says that, as is well known, the Reichsfuehrer-SS has forbidden emigration from the Reich and from the occupied areas and that "only in very special cases, where there exists a positive interest of the Reich, the emigration of individual Jews may be permitted by this office after proper examination."

In the course of time, applications from Jews have been received in various offices, especially by the Reich Ministry for the Economy and the Reichsbank, as well as by lawyers, especially Swiss lawyers, in which permission to emigrate is requested against offers of large sums of foreign currency. In spite of very serious political objections, which were and are constantly voiced by this office, and in spite of express warnings concerning the dangerous results abroad of granting such permission, the Reich Ministry for the Economy and the Reichsbank were most interested to approve applications for emigration from time to time in cases where large amounts of foreign currency are obtainable."

"Temporarily deferring political objections, which exist today in all cases of Jewish emigration, it was agreed, in view of the compelling reasons voiced, to grant, by way of exception, some emigration permits in cases where certain conditions are met. Such applications will be considered only when the Jewish applicant and his relatives are of an advanced age, when there are no special objections to the emigration from the Security Police point of view, and when a sum in foreign currency of no less than 100,000 Swiss Francs per person is made available, with a waiver of the countervalue." "The emigration of the Jewish intellectual Meyers (formerly Professor in The Hague), for which the Swedish Legation is offering to pay SF 150,000, was refused, as already indicated in my letter of 1.12.42, regardless of the amount of foreign currency offered, considering his professional standing."


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