Eichmann Trial -- Session 41 -- Witness Dr. Grueber re: knowing Eichmann during the war and concentration camps
Creator(s)
- Heinrich Grueber (Subject)
- F. Csaznik (Camera Operator)
- Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
- Rolf M. Kneller (Camera Operator)
- Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation (Producer)
- J. Jonilowicz (Camera Operator)
- Leo Hurwitz (Director)
- J. Kalach (Camera Operator)
- Emil Knebel (Camera Operator)
- Milton Fruchtman (Producer)
Biographical History
Heinrich Karl Ernst Grüber was a Protestant Dean of Berlin who risked his life to save Jews from Nazi persecution. Heinrich Grüber was born in Stolberg, in the Rhineland, on 24 June 1891. Of Huguenot stock, he studied theology in Bonn, Berlin and Utrecht before becoming an active social worker and the director of a home for developmentally disabled boys. Staunchly opposed to Hitler, he came into contact with Pastor Niemoller and the Confessional Church. Niemoller entrusted him with setting up an organization, the 'Büro Grüber', at his vicarage in Karlsdorf, near Berlin, to help save Christians of Jewish descent. The Büro dealt with emigration and employment abroad, care for the aged, welfare, and the education of Jewish children. Grüber constantly negotiated with the Nazi authorities, including Eichmann's Gestapo office, on behalf of Jewish organizations and sometimes found secret helpers in the Wehrmacht and different Reich ministries. After the outbreak of war he was frequently harassed by Gestapo threats, and in December 1940, he was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then transferred to Dachau. He suffered from a heart complaint, had his teeth knocked out and most of his helpers were murdered by the Nazis. Released in 1943, he resumed contact with Evangelical church clergymen in exile. In 1945, he became Dean of St Mary's Church in Berlin, and founded the Evangelische Hilfsstelle für Ehemals Rassisch Verfolgte (Evangelical Aid Society for former Victims of Racial Persecution). From 1949 to 1958 Gruber was the chief representative of the Evangelical Church in East Berlin, resigning his position in protest against anti-Christian smears in the DDR. He was also unpopular in West Germany for his advocacy of nuclear disarmament and his attacks on West German militarism, not to mention his insistence on the collective guilt of the German nation for Nazi crimes. Grüber argued that every German 'who glosses over his past failings is a potential criminal of tomorrow' and denounced the official whitewashing of the German people in the post-war period. He was the only German witness to come to Jerusalem in 1961 to testify at the Eichmann trail as to the existence of 'another Germany'. Dean Grüber continued to emphasize the moral obligation of the Germans to the Jewish people and to warn the authorities against minimizing periodic outbursts of neo-Nazi activity in the Federal Republic. His memoirs, "Erinnerungen aus Sieben Jahrzehnten," were published in 1968. He died of a heart attack seven years later at the age of eighty-four. Courtesy of: "Who's Who in Nazi Germany" ©1982, Wiederfield and Nicolsa London
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 41. Dr. Servatius complains that the numerous witnesses from abroad fall within various courts, and that it would take too much time to attain all of these witnesses, their affidavits, and their testimony. They list the witnesses whose addresses they do not yet have. That court will make the request to the German courts, and Dr. Servatius says that his assistant will attempt to do just that. Attorney General Hausner requests that the Defense be instructed to supply the names of all of the witnesses to be questioned, as it is becoming global. The Judges agree. Dr. Servatius says that he is overburdened with his work, so he does not know that he will be able to submit all of his witnesses immediately, but he will do his best once he is able to assess his work. Hausner says that they would prefer, in all cases, to bring the witnesses to the court rather than have an affidavit if at all possible. 00:14:50 Dr. Heinrich Karl Ernst Grueber is called in to testify. He is sworn in on a Bible, as he is a Christian clergyman, the Protestant Dean of Berlin who risked his life to save Jews from Nazi persecution. They move the interpreter next to the witness, as he is hard of hearing. They ask him basic questions about his past, and he answers that he was a clergyman in various places around Berlin prior to the war. 00:22:29 He says that Jews were second class citizens, not allowed to freely express themselves like others. He says that he had to become more prominent as he was not restricted in his actions, meaning that when someone had to visit a government office, or needed to acquire supplies of some sort, he had far more success than his Jewish partners. He describes that on Jewish holidays, there would be days of further oppression, and they would all hide together to try to avoid the beatings. He also mentions that he knew Eichmann's name before the war, and had been in his office, though he had never actually met him. 00:37:39 He describes the impression that Eichmann made, the transformation of his name into a symbol of oppression. 00:43:20 Tape jumps, and Grueber is being asked whether Eichmann ever referred to orders from above that he received. He says that Eichmann relied on the "I" form for everything, that "I will order" and such. He does not know whether he did that to raise his own prestige or because he was in charge, but he never said that he had to check with his superiors on anything. He describes the men who he associated with and requests not to give any names. He says that some were germane with the Jews, but not all. He describes how differently they see the concentration camps now than they did then. Then they did not understand what exactly they were doing, they did not comprehend how someone like Eichmann could act with such cruelty, it simply did not sink in. The Judges order a 20 minute recess when Hausner says he wants to switch topics.
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.
Subjects
- DEPORTATIONS
- GRUEBER, HEINRICH
- HAUSNER, GIDEON
- CONCENTRATION CAMPS
- CLERGY
- JEWS
- EICHMANN TRIAL
- SERVATIUS, ROBERT
- TRIALS
- EICHMANN, ADOLF
- COURTS/COURTROOMS
Places
- Jerusalem, Israel
Genre
- Unedited.
- Film