Eichmann Trial -- Session 92 -- Madagascar Plan

Attorney General Gideon Hausner cross-examines Eichmann about the Madagascar Plan. The Madagascar Plan predated the Nazi period but was revived during the war. Under this plan, Europe's Jews were to be deported to the island of Madgascar, which belonged to the French. Hausner asks the accused what measures were taken towards promoting the plan (00:02:35). Eichmann testifies that it would have developed once a peace treaty with France was signed but that the treaty never happened so the plan was shelved. This is duplicate footage also found on Tape 2135 (01:04:23). The footage on Tape 2135 is not as complete as the footage on Tape 2134. Hausner presents documents which were sent to the Foreign Ministry asking whether, in light of the impending Final Solution, the emigration of Jews is to be prevented (00:03:47) and if the accused was referring to extermination. Eichmann states that the document does not mean anything and that he signed it by order. Hausner presents another document from section IVB4 ordering the prevention of emigration for Jews from France and Belgium. There is some confusion about which document Hausner is referring to but cross examination continues (00:09:51) with Hausner stating that by May of 1941 the accused's section was aware of the Final Solution (00:10:32). Eichmann protests saying that at that time the only plan being considered was the Madagascar Plan. The accused is asked about how the Madagascar Plan was to be implemented when De Gaulle controlled the island in 1941 and why it was necessary to prevent emigration of French and Belgian Jews to implement the Madagascar Plan (00:13:29). Hausner proceeds to ask the accused why the emigration of Jews from the Reich does not harm the implementation of the Madagascar Plan while the emigration of Jews from France and Belgium does (00:23:41). Judge Halevi reminds the Attorney General that the document in question does not say that their emigration would harm the Madagascar Plan but that preference would be given to the emigration of Jews within Germany and, with emigration restrictions, the Jews from France and Belgium would have to wait. Judge Raveh asks the accused whether there was a difference between the emigration of Jews from occupied France and those from unoccupied France (00:26:05). Hausner asks the accused again if the Final Solution, in the sense of extermination, was discussed within his section at the beginning of 1941 (00:31:46). Again the subject of when the Madagascar Plan was shelved is brought up and Hausner tells the accused that the plan was dropped in August of 1940. Eichmann testifies that this was not the case and that the plan was merely passed on. Eichmann is asked if he was aware of Herman Goering's instructions to Reinhard Heydrich to submit a plan for the Final Solution in July 1941 (00:40:24). The accused states that he is aware of the order but when Hausner tells him that he dictated this letter Eichmann denies the charge. Servatius asks the Attorney General where he is getting this claim (00:42:57). Footage cuts (00:44:22) There is a small portion of testimony missing from the film. Footage resumes with Eichmann testifying that he does not think he said some of the things mentioned in the Sassen document and that he was drunk when he gave his interview with Sassen in 1957. Willem Sassen was a Dutch journalist attached to an Einsatzgruppen unit during the war. Sentenced to death in his own country following the war, Sassen fled to Argentina where he met Adolf Eichmann. In 1957 he began a series of taped interviews with Eichmann, the bulk of which became known as the Sassen Document during the 1961 trial. A very small section of this footage is duplicated on Tape 2133 (at 00:34:15). The footage on Tape 2133 is less complete. Hausner turns his questions to the Wannsee Conference and Eichmann's participation in the meeting (00:48:01). He asks the accused if it was Heydrich's intent to receive the authority to run the office of Jewish Affairs as he saw fit and whether he received that authority during the conference. The accused is asked if he was made Heydrich's specialist responsible for all affairs connected with the Final Solution (00:51:51). Eichman denies this claim.