Barbie Trial -- Day 17 -- Victims testify

Identifier
irn1004052
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2005.516.1
  • RG-60.4549
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • French
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

14:54:11 Fernand Hahn speaks about prison, SS, and explains that during his deportation to Dachau on in June 1944, Barbie identified himself by name to prisoners at the station saying they would never come back. Hahn says he had not seen Barbie clearly enough to be able to recognize his face after 43 years. 14:55? But he says he remembered Barbie, speaking in French while in a group of German soldiers, as saying that the war was lost for Germany, but that he had put aside "booty" and had a plane ready to take him to South America. 15:16 Judge Cerdini asks Hahn how he could be sure the man was Barbie. "Because he told us who he was," Hahn replied. 15:21 Verges turns to Cerdini and the jury, acknowledges the importance of Hahn's testimony which indicates Barbie was aware what his deportees were bound for, and says he's troubled by the need to cross-examine someone who had undergone so much suffering. 15:26-27 But, Verges goes on, "The witness would have us believe that Mr. Barbie, in front of German soldiers, would have openly predicted the German defeat, when the Battle of Normandy was in full swing, and that he misbehaved by taking booty for himself. This is testimony that cannot be believed! After Verges's statement, Hahn says he has nothing to retract. 15:33:59 Francine Gudefin lost sight in one eye and is permanently disfigured as a result of blows to her face by Barbie and his aides. Some blows were delivered because she urinated on the floor in panic while being forced by Barbie to watch her brother tortured. "I have nothing against those who don't understand. They couldn't possibly understand." After several interrogations, she was put on the August 11 train to death camps. She provides testimony on her arrest, interrogation, torture, and her brother.

Note(s)

  • Time code on screen [real time on June 4, 1987] is approximately 4 seconds ahead of internal tape time code. Abbreviated transcript with real time code idents available in departmental files.

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Genre

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