Eichmann Before Jerusalem

by Bettina Stangneth

  60. Sassen transcript 51:7.

  61. Such an article appeared on the front page of the Pariser Tageszeitung on October 26, 1939: “The immediate thought, according to a report in ‘Lietuvas Aidas’ [the official news publication of the government of Lithuania], was of establishing a ‘Jewish state’ in the Lublin Voivodeship. But this plan was not the complete ‘solution’ of the Jewish question that Hitler has in mind. His ‘peace program,’ as he announced it in his last speech to the Reichstag, includes a ruling on the Jewish question, and he is thinking of a complete evacuation of the Jews from the whole of Europe, and their resettlement in closed territories overseas.”—Lietuvas Aidas appeals to government circles in Berlin.

  62. “Transportation to Lublin,” Pariser Tageszeitung, November 18, 1939, p. 2. The article reflects the uncertainty over how to classify the situation and the Nazis’ aims.

  63. On October 10, 1939, Josef Löwenherz of the Vienna Jewish Religious Community received the instruction from Eichmann’s representative Rolf Günther that Viennese Jews had to report to Eichmann in Ostrava and should prepare for a stay of three or four weeks. Josef Löwenherz, file memorandum on the audience with Herr Obersturmführer Günther at the Central Office for Jewish Emigration on October 10, 1939, prosecution document T/148 (identical copy under T/153).

  64. The mistake is understandable. When handwritten in capitals, the names EICHMANN and EHRMANN are difficult to tell apart. Pariser Tageszeitung, November 25, 1939.

  65. On October 19, 1939, Hans Günther noted the “rumors flying around in Ostrava” and the demonstrations. He emphasized they were taking great pains to avoid a riot by holding events to reassure people. Günther’s memorandum, “Rumors in Ostrava,” October 23, 1939, SÚA, 100-653-1; quoted in Miroslav Kárný, “Nisko in der Geschichte der ‘Endlösung,’ ” Judaica Bohemiae 23, no. 2 1987), pp. 69–84, esp. p. 81.

  66. Prague Jewish Religious Community, weekly report covering November 10–16, 1939, prosecution document T/162.

  67. Sassen transcript 68:6.

  68. In order to protect the informant Edelstein, who eventually had to travel back to Prague, no names were mentioned. The article claimed that someone who had escaped from the group of deportees crossing the border into Russia had given them the information. This shows just how precise Edelstein’s knowledge and that of the other observers was: when Nisko failed, the Nazis hounded whole groups of deportees over the nearby Russian border, firing shots after them. The correspondent—also unnamed—was Lewis B. Namier (Bernstein-Namierowski). Compare the complete text of the article, documented by Livia Rothkirchen, “Zur ersten authentischen Nachricht über den Beginn der Vernichtung der europäischen Juden,” Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente, no. 9 (2002), pp. 338–40. This issue also contains a facsimile excerpt from the original article. See also Margalit Shlaim, “Jakob Edelsteins Bemühungen um die Rettung der Juden aus dem Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren von Mai 1939 bis Dezember 1939: Eine Korrespondenzanalyse,” Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente, no. 10 (2003), pp. 71–94.

  69. Sassen transcript 57:4.

  70. Eichmann trial, session 27.

  71. Christoph Hoffmann founded this colony in 1871, after his outlandish settlement plans failed in Turkey. It was not the only Templar settlement in Palestine, but it was particularly tenacious. The British instructed all the German Templars to leave Palestine in 1943. Mildenstein describes his romantically idealized impression in two travel reports: LIM (Mildenstein’s pseudonym), “A Nazi Goes to Palestine,” series of articles in Der Angriff, September 26–October 9, 1934 (book edition: Rings um das brennende Land am Jordan [Berlin, 1938]); and Leopold von Mildenstein, Naher Osten—vom Straßenrand erlebt (Stuttgart, 1941), p. 114.

  72. There are hints about Sarona in the August 1934 issue of the German journal Palästina: Zeitschrift für den Aufbau Palästinas (edited by Adolf Böhm) and again in December 1937. Kaiser Wilhelm II also visited the colony on his trip to Palestine in 1898, thus assuring it a place in colonial literature.

  73. Heinrich Grüber, witness statement at Eichmann trial, session 41. For his impression of Eichmann, see also Heinrich Grüber, Zeuge pro Israel (Berlin, 1963).

  74. Adolf/Dolfi (Daniel) Brunner, 1938 leader of the Maccabees youth organization, remembers many of these conversations. Dr. Daniel Adolf Brunner, taped statement on the “Vienna Maccabi Hatzair,” 1977, Yad Vashem Archive O-3/3914; quoted in Rosenkranz, Verfolgung und Selbstbehauptung, p. 111

  75. Murmelstein told Simon Wiesenthal about it. See Wiesenthal to Nahum Goldmann, March 30, 1954, NA, RG 263, CIA Name File Adolf Eichmann.

  76. “In the year 1938/39, when Eichmann came into contact with Jewish personalities in Vienna, he wanted to impress them with his knowledge of Palestine and Jewish problems, and his language abilities. He implied he came from Sarona near Haifa, from a German family in the ‘Templar sect,’ and so nobody could ‘pull the wool over his eyes.’ Since then, the rumor has spread through Jewish circles, and Eichmann is always amused by this.” Dieter Wisliceny, “Report on former SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann,” twenty-two-page handwritten paper, Bratislava, October 27, 1946, known as the Cell 133 Document (prosecution document T/84), p. 5. It must be pointed out that Wisliceny is reporting this version from what Eichmann said, since at this time he was not in close contact with him. They began to work together again in late summer 1940. Wisliceny did not have a marked tendency to tell the truth, and when it came to Eichmann, this tendency was hardly discernible.

  77. Charlotte Salzberger, witness statement at Eichmann trial, session 42.

  78. “The Man We Are Looking For,” Jüdisches Gemeindeblatt für die Britische Zone, January 6, 1947; Simon Wiesenthal, Großmufti—Großagent der Achse (Salzburg and Vienna, 1947), p. 46. The rumor was still being circulated in Tel Aviv even in 1952.

  79. Wisliceny dates Eichmann’s interest in the Hebrew language to 1935 and appears to give Eichmann’s self-description verbatim: “Since he had a lot of free time, he started to occupy himself with old languages, particularly Hebrew, spurred on by a collection of Jewish cult objects and coins that was in his custody. He acquired this knowledge through independent study. He could read Hebrew well and make reasonable translations. He read and translated Yiddish fluently. He could not, however, speak fluent Hebrew.” Wisliceny, Cell 133 Document (prosecution document T/84), p. 3. Wisliceny also reported that Mildenstein had spent “many years” in Palestine, which underlines both his penchant for grandiloquent exaggerations and his distance from Mildenstein (and thus Eichmann).

  80. The date that Eichmann gave both in Argentina and in Israel throws up a few problems because of his earlier deployment in the SD and could also be a lie.

  81. The first application is mentioned in the second. The teacher who recommended himself for the job was Fritz Arlt. See reference to the SD Oberabschnitt Southeast’s initial conversation on July 3, 1936. BA Koblenz, R58/991. See Götz Aly and Karl Heinz Roth, Die restlose Erfassung: Volkszählen, Identifizieren, Aussondern im Nationalsozialismus (Frankfurt am Main, 2000); and Hans Christian Harten, Uwe Neirich, and Mattias Schwerendt, Rassehygiene als Erziehungsideologie des Dritten Reichs: Bio-Bibliographisches Handbuch (Berlin, 2006), pp. 238–42.

  82. Application no. 2, June 18, 1937, prosecution document T/55(11); a better copy under T/55(14), document 13, marked “Betrifft: Übersetzungen neuhebräisch-deutsch.” See also R. M. W. Kempner, Eichmann und Komplizen (Zurich, Stuttgart, and Vienna, 1961), p. 39. The first application in June–July 1936 is mentioned in the second.

  83. Hebräisch für Jedermann von Dr. S. Kaléko, Buchausgabe des Hebräischen Fern- Unterrichtes der Jüdischen Rundschau: Mit einem Vokabular der 1500 wichtigsten Wörter, Grammatik-Index und Anhang (Berlin, 1936). Published by Verlag Jüdische Rundschau GmbH, the volume is available in a few German libraries, including the National and University Libraries in Hamburg, A1949/7278 (5th ed., 1936). Eichmann was still able to recall the author’s name and the rather odd title during the Sa
ssen interviews. A possible reason is that Saul Kaléko taught Hebrew in Berlin until 1938: Saul Kaléko (Barkali Shaul), Teaching Hebrew in Berlin, 1933–1938 (1957), Yad Vashem Archive O-1/132; another possible reason is that his book was advertised in the Jüdische Rundschau, which also published selected lessons.

  84. Simon Wiesenthal to Nahum Goldmann, March 30, 1954, NA, RG 263, CIA Name File Adolf Eichmann. Wiesenthal’s source is Benjamin Murmelstein.

  85. Dolfi Brunner (leader of the Maccabi Hazair, who encountered Eichmann several times in Vienna) and Ernö Munkácsis (of the Budapest Jewish Council) were convinced that Eichmann was just using set phrases to show off. Dr. Daniel Adolf Brunner, “Vienna Maccabi Hazair,” audio recording, Jaffa, 1977, Yad Vashem Archive O-3/3914, quoted in Rosenkranz, Verfolgung und Selbstbehauptung; and Dr. Ernö Munkácsis, statement, in Eichmann in Ungarn: Dokumente, ed. Jenö Levai (Budapest, 1961), p. 211.

  86. Sassen transcript 2:4.

  87. Otto Bokisch and Gustav Zirbs, Der Österreichische Legionär: Aus Erinnerungen und Archiv, aus Tagebüchern und Blättern (Vienna, 1940), p. 37.

  88. Sassen transcript 22:14.

  89. Werner Best uses the phrase “Dienststelle Eichmann” (Eichmann’s office) in his sworn statement of June 28, 1946: “Himmler [had] his own leader from Eichmann’s office—Günther—come out from Berlin.” Documents from the Nuremberg Trials IMT vol. 41, p. 166 (Ribbentrop-320). See also Thadden (Foreign Office) in IMT 2605-PS.

  90. Rudolf Mildner, affidavit, read out on April 11, 1946, IMT vol. 11, p. 284.

  91. Sassen transcript 14:2.

  92. Prof. Dr. August Hirt, Strasbourg University, wanted the collection and persuaded Eichmann to organize this project with the WVHA (the Main Economic and Administrative Office of the SS), via Wolfram Sievers of the Ahnenerbe think tank, whom Eichmann had helped with “Aryanization” measures in 1941. Prosecution document T/1363-1370. The idea for the collection came in February 1942. Eichmann petitioned for an official assignment from Himmler in November 1942, and received it.

  93. The old Madagascar idea was taken up again by Franz Rademacher in the Foreign Office, working with Paul Wurm. Eichmann’s office became involved only when Heydrich began to fear for his own influence in Jewish policy, and the work was then delegated to Theodor Dannecker and Erich Rajakowitsch. The fact that everyone involved afterward gave a different version of events is one of the most compelling examples of witness statements not necessarily being truthful just because they corroborate one another.

  94. Stiller to the Reichskommissar of the Netherlands, The Hague, September 19, 1941, prosecution document T/526. In the letter he discusses his conversation with Lösener from the Reich Home Office on that day.

  95. The Germans tried in vain to keep the deportation of thousands of Jews to the General Government of occupied Poland confidential; information still reached the rest of the world. Internal information on the February 15, 1940, press conference for German representatives: the news of thousands of Jews transported to the General Government is correct “but is to be treated as confidential.” Prosecution document T/667; identical with IMT NG-4698. On February 15, 1940, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung’s Berlin correspondent reported on what was happening, and on February 17 the Danish newspaper Politiken published an alarming article on the inhuman deportations from Szczecin: “Germany deports nationals. Old people and toddlers are being deported—to nowhere. As are frontline soldiers from the World War.” There were numerous deaths, and even President Roosevelt requested a report. The Germans closely monitored the subsequent press, and translations were prepared. German Translation of the Danish Report for use in the RSHA, IMT NG-1530: Bern German News agency to the Foreign Office with the Swiss Press, February 16, 1940, prosecution document T/666.

  96. Ephraim (Erich) Frank, report on the “Representatives of the Jewish Umbrella Organizations in Berlin, Vienna and Prague, Before the Gestapo in Berlin (Eichmann), March 1940,” given in the meeting of the circle of German Zionists on June 23, 1958, transcribed by Dr. Ball-Kaduri, Yad Vashem Archive O-1/227; published as document 2 (though under the wrong heading and thus the wrong date for the transcript) in Kurt Jacob Ball-Kaduri, “Illegale Judenauswanderung aus Deutschland nach Palästina 1939/40: Planung, Durchführung und internationale Zusammenhange,” Jahrbuch des Instituts für deutsche Geschichte 4 (1975), pp. 387–421. There are several reports from attendees at the discussions on March 27 and 30, 1940, as well as the (also incorrectly dated) Löwenherz-Bienenfeld Report, prosecution document T/154.

  97. Sassen transcript 2:4 and 6:1.

  98. Correspondence on the exhibition: Archiwum Głównej Komisji Badania, Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce (AGK, Archive of the Main Committee for the Study of Nazi Crimes in Poland), EWZ/L/838/1/2. BA Koblenz 69/554. See also Götz Aly, “Endlösung”: Völkerverschiebung und der Mord an den europäischen Juden (Frankfurt am Main, 1995), p. 250. Photos of many of the displays are still extant.

  99. On October 28 Die Zeitung referred to the same source, reporting that “on October 21 the third transport of around 800 Jews left Grunewald Freight Railroad Terminal for the east. On the same day, the Jewish Emigration Office in Kurfürstenstraße was closed, with no reason given for the closure.”

  100. In conversation with Sassen, Eichmann made a joke of the fact that someone had taken him for a general. In Israel, he called it a malicious exaggeration.

  101. Quoted in Peter Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung: Eine Gesamtdarstellung der nationalsozialistischen Judenvernichtung (Zurich and Munich, 1998), p. 282.

  102. Minutes of the meeting on March 20, 1941, prepared on March 21, Reichsring Main Office for National Socialist Propaganda, published in H. G. Adler, Der verwaltete Mensch: Studien zur Deportation der Juden aus Deutschland (Tübingen, 1974), pp. 152–53.

  103. “Expulsions in the Reich,” Aufbau, October 24, 1941. Zvi Rosen found the article in the Horkheimer Archive. See Zvi Rosen, Max Horkheimer (Munich, 1995), p. 40.

  104. The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels, ed. Elke Fröhlich, commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary History, with support from the Russian National Archive Service (Munich, 1996), pt. 2, vol. 2, p. 194.

  105. There were documented deportations from Berlin in 1941 on October 18 and 24, November 1, 14, 17, and 27.

  106. “I can’t recall exactly now: either I coined it, or it came from Müller.” Sassen transcript 1:4.

  107. Göring’s edict of July 31, 1941, tasked Heydrich with developing the “complete solution to the Jewish question,” which Heydrich then used to legitimate decisions such as those taken at the Wannsee Conference. “After this [edict] Eichmann’s power in this area [Jews] grew exponentially. He was able to use this edict to brush aside all objections and influences from other ministries and officials.” Wisliceny, Cell 133 Document (prosecution document T/84). This is Wisliceny’s version of events, in a statement made in his own defense, but Eichmann’s typical tone can be heard clearly in his words. It sounds very much like Eichmann explaining to Sassen why the Wannsee Conference was such a turning point for him personally. The same tone can even be heard in Israel, where he tries to relate the relief the conference brought to his newly discovered conscience.

  108. Sassen transcript 17:8.

  109. Lead story in Die Zeitung (London), March 6, 1942.

  110. New York Times and Daily Telegraph (June 25, 1942), and BBC (June 30, 1942). Mass murder by gas, and the first suggestion of collecting the perpetrators’ names, were reported in the Times (London), (March 10, 1942).

  111. Die Zeitung (London), June 19, 1942. After the Baum group’s attack on the propaganda exhibition The Soviet Paradise in Berlin, there were mass arrests and shootings of the attackers. Eichmann informed the representatives of Jewish organizations about the Nazis’ retaliation and organized the transports to Sachsenhausen. Documents corroborate Eichmann’s admission in Argentina. Sassen transcript 69:1f. Josef Löwenherz, memo on the hearing with the RSHA, IV B 4, May 19, 1942, prosecution document T/899. See Wolfgan
g Scheffler, “Der Brandanschlag im Berliner Lustgarten im Mai 1942 und seine Folgen: Eine quellenkritische Betrachtung,” in Berlin in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Jahrbuch des Landesarchivs Berlin (1984), pp. 91–118.

  112. Newsweek, August 10, 1942.

  113. Eichmann decided that “Kindertransports can roll”: Dannecker’s note on July 21, 1942, about a phone call with Eichmann and Novak on July 20, prosecution document T/439; identical with IMT RF-1233. Published in Serge Klarsfeld, Vichy–Auschwitz: Die Zusammenarbeit der deutschen und französischen Behörden bei der “Endlösung der Judenfrage” in Frankreich, new ed. (Darmstadt, 2007), p. 441. Facsimile in Kempner, Eichmann, p. 212. Press reports: Paris Soir, August 19–20, 1942; and “Children’s Fates,” Die Zeitung (London), September 4, 1942.

  114. Jewish Frontier, November 1, 1942.

  115. New York Herald Tribune, November 25, 1942; and New York Times, November 26, 1942, where Rabbi Stephen S. Wise warns of the possibility of four million deaths. See also New York Times, December 2 and 4, 1942.

  116. Survivors’ reports bear nightmarish witness to these moments of recognition. This image of Eichmann emerges in particular from the moving recollections of Leo Baeck, Benjamin Murmelstein, Joel Brand, and Rudolf Kasztner, who all wrestle with their own feelings of guilt and their entanglement in the catastrophe.

  117. After Himmler’s visit to Auschwitz, Special Unit 1005, under Paul Blobel, was tasked with searching for suitable methods. The special unit was housed in Eichmann’s building and remunerated through Eichmann’s office payroll, about which Eichmann complained several times in Argentina.

  118. Dieter Wisliceny, “Re: Editor in Chief of the ‘Grenzbote,’ Fritz Fialla [sic],” handwritten note, July 26, 1946, Bratislava; prosecution document T/1107. Wisliceny’s version seems credible, though not because it corroborates Eichmann’s. It is impossible to verify statements by comparing them with Eichmann’s: he simply corroborated other people’s lies if he thought they might exonerate him. The Madagascar case is one example of a tangle of lies and false corroborations that resulted in the falsification of the whole history of the affair. The tangle is masterfully unraveled in Brechtken, “Madagaskar für die Juden.” Rademacher claimed it was Eichmann, not he, who came up with the idea, although the work on the Madagascar Plan can be clearly traced back to Rademacher. Eichmann agreed with the lie, because the legend that he came up with a plan for a Jewish state, rather than just deporting Poles and Jews to Eastern Europe, was significantly better than the truth for his self-image. The stories are a perfect match but are some considerable distance from the truth. There are many documented examples of Eichmann’s use of the lies other people told in their defense.