Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 32, 38 and 39 -- Transport of French children; how other leaders saw Eichmann

Identifier
irn1001361
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1999.A.0087
  • RG-60.2100.044
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
  • German
  • Hebrew
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Emil Knebel was a cinematographer known for Andante (2010), Adam (1973), and Wild Is My Love (1963). He was one of the cameramen who recorded daily coverage of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem (produced by Capital Cities Broadcasting Corp and later held academic positions in Israel and New York teaching filmmaking at universities. Refer to CV in file.

Scope and Content

Session 32. George Wellers is testifying for the Prosecution. He is discussing the transport of 1000 French children, in four transports from Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers transit camps (from these transit camps Jews were then transported to the killing centers in occupied Poland). The children were accompanied by 200 adults. They arrived at the camp by bus. Wellers discussing the transport beginning at 5am. He describes the children, scared and often crying, as they were forced onto railcars and sent to Auschwitz. He says he never saw these children at Auschwitz. 00:04:04 Session 38. Mordechai Ansbacher is testifying, saying that he begged to be kept with his sick mother, but was taken away on a separate transport. He describes his arrival at Dachau. He describes the SS men singing a song about the Jews being drowned. He describes the roll calls, and how long they took because a mistake was always made. He says that there was no food on the transports, and only when they got to Auschwitz did they get a loaf of bread before being reloaded onto a cattle car. 00:12:58 He describes the clothing, he took a sack to make a shirt from the cement detail. He had a very thin shirt otherwise. He had no underwear, and his shoes were wooden blocks that rubbed his feet; he did not use them. He said that they learned quickly to stick together, and if a few people could stay together, they would survive. 00:16:53 Session 39. Judge Michael Musmanno is testifying. Attorney General Hausner asks him if he talked to Goering in his investigation. He says that he did, and that Goering said he was unaware that the extermination of the Jews had hit its reported levels, and that Hitler, Bormann, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, and Eichmann did since they were directly responsible for the Holocaust. Other people close to Hitler who spoke of Eichmann were von Ribbentropp, Kaltenbrunner, Hans Frank, Schellenberg, Karl Koller, and others. He says that Hitler put Eichmann into the program of Jewish extermination (duplicate footage on Tape 2048).

Note(s)

  • See official transcripts, published in "The Trial of Adolf Eichmann", Vol. I-V, State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem, 1994. Also available online at the Nizkor Project.

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Genre

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