erusalem, April 1961-Nissan 5721 No, 10

TOWARDS THE EICHMANN TRIAL

PREVENTION OF THE EMIGRATION OF 1,000 ' I ...... '. .... ,. CHILDREN FROM RUMANIA -'-:-77.::-:~:--~- -Il I _ ••• I", ! ,'CI"r - , gu iI'!Il Berlin, 3 March, 1943. Secret _ I! ,~.i Bt!:~ r , To: Foreign Ministry, Attention : Coun­ GhtJk ,.' J sellor Herr von Hahn. Berlin, ' ,...... , .... J R auchstrasse. Re: Transfer of Jews from the Balkans '" to Palestine. ,....,.tf...... _l. Documentation: None. ••••• 'Yoa .em I.e.. " ...",.... •• It •• According to reliable information which must be kept secret negotiations which might prove successful are being •• I' 1 1 •• conducted between J ewish leaders in R umania-through their offices in Con­ stantinople-and Turkey, for the grant • of' transit visas for on~ thousand J ewish !!!Eltt1I. ~=~.&l_ ....kD» .... children and one hundred J ewish adults who will accompany the former on their !!.!!II. 0_. trip via Bulgaria and Turkey to Pa­ lestine. I ...~u.~l_ • .-SUu':U__ ..... We request every effort to prevent rln,... 111'.~ ._ ~"l' __U_. 1a this emigration. By Order a-.u•• ' t1Nr liar. "ell.... 1._ .u .or Eichmann ttlrJr:e1 la ....to ...... l ..... y.l'tIuAl.... tiNI' .1_ .&u.'.ll_ '1'0. tI:rId...... Dv.... l.nt .. ,., I .u. 'np.. ftIa 1 ... ,MUUu atalea a1 t 100 J ..l .... ~.lt,...... a-Ial_, «t... 1111 S.. _eaarMtt al' ·.aaoa-z.1"· aat , ...... The document speaks for itself. ..,0 "or Jalprl...... ISO nrnl .... l&1I.U_ It had a two-fold purpose: first-to •• rbrl.... will. prevent all emigration of J ews (especial­ I. wtl'4l P"'''' ·u. ,.~1aa' ...... ly of children) from countries within the ••1'1UlI ~oJl. .'&11 •••1' ...... r)tIIl_. Nazi zone of influence, in the hope that ultimately they would be done to death with the active aid (or under the "in­ K207357 fluence") of the Germans; second­ to prove to the Mufti that the Germans were preventing emigration to Palestine. Documents exist proving that the Mufti was particularly "interested" in plans concerning the rescue of J ews and transporting them to Palestine. Germany. Thus it conducted propaganda against the Jewish emigrants abroad and made it difficult for them to find a re­ fuge. Up to the beginning of 1938, Chronology 140,000 Jews left Germany . 1938 .of the Catastrophe 13 March: Annexation of Austria to the Reich. All decrees published in the past five years against the Jews immediately came into force in Austria. 1920 office of President of the State and Head of the Government. 28 August: Forcible expulsion of Foundation of the Nazi Party He became Fuhrer and Reichs­ thousands of Jews who were Po­ I ts programme included extreme kanzler, sole ruler of Germany. lish citizens and who had lived anti-Semitic features including in Germany. deprivation of citizenship for 1 April: Official "Boycott day" against the Jews of Germany. 9 October: Kristallnacht. the Jews and the threat of ex­ A wave of anti-Jewish riots pulsion from Germany. On this day Jews were ar­ officially staged in Germany, os­ rested and beaten and entry in­ tensibly in reprisal against the to Jewish business was prohi­ 1923 assassination of the Secretary of bited. A spate of orders and or­ the German Embassy in Paris 8 November: Munich Putsch. dinances against the Jews be­ by Hershl Greenspan. The riots A stillborn Nazi attempt at gan with the object of robbing continued for several days. (The revolution. and impoverishing them. These name "Kristallnacht" was given decrees continued to be issued because it involved the smash­ until the jews disappeared from ing of thousands of expensive 1924 Germany. window-panes of Jewish busi­ Hitler in Landsberg Prison-dict­ First wave of emigration of Jews nesses.) ates "Mein Kampf". from Germany. According to an official Ger­ In this two volume book ( the According to the report of the man report on Kristallnacht 191 first volume was published in National Representation of the synagogues were burned, 5,500 1925) Hitler expressed his basic Jews 38,000 Jews left Germany shops were destroyed, 30,000 views and revealed his plans, in 1933. Emigration was still un­ Jews were arrested, half of them which he subsequently endea­ restricted and the emigrants deported to the Buchenwald voured to put into practice could take a considerable part Concentration Camp, 36 Jews when he achieved power. The of their property. were killed and many others book is full of insults and threats severely wounded. A collective to the Jews. 1935 fine of one billion marks was Few people have read the imposed upon the Jews of Ger­ 15 September: Nuremberg Laws. whole book. Those who did read many while a new spate of de­ Law of State Citizenship, for­ crees designed to complete the it at the time thought that what mally proclaimed at the Con­ it contained was not real plans act of robbery was promulgated. gress of the Nazi Party in N u­ but merely propaganda. remberg declared that only a Third wave of Jewish emigration person of German or related after Kristalnacht. 1932 blood could be a citizen of the According to the figures of State; that Jews were undesir­ the Jewish Representation in 21 July: In the Reichstag Elections able aliens, blood-defiled, en­ Germany 215,000 Jews left Ger­ the Nazi Party receives 37.4 per dangering the honour and se­ many between April 1933 and cent of the votes (230 deputies), curity of the German people. July 1939. In this period 97,000 becoming the largest party in They could not be Staatsburger left Austria and 17,000 the Pro­ the German parliament. (citizens) but remained subjects tectorate. In the elections held on No­ (S taa tsangehorige) . vember 6 of that year the per­ A second wave of Jewish emigration 1939 centage declined to 33. 1 per from Germany as a result of the cent, although the Nazis still re­ Nuremberg Laws. 24 January: Establishment of the mained the largest party in the Central Office for the Emigra­ Reichstag. This wave was more difficult and encountered more obstacles tion of the Jews. than the first. A large number The Office was headed by 1933 of countries surrounded them­ Heydrich, head of the Security 31 January: Hitler appointed selves with a rampart of restric­ Police and the SD. Branches of Reichskanzler (Premier). tive laws, or prohibited the en­ the Central Office were opened After the death of the aged try of refugees. The wicked Ger­ firs t in Vienna and then in President Hindenburg (August man regime wished to force the Prague. These two institutions 2, 1934) Hitler proclaimed Jews to depart but at the same were headed by Adolf Eich­ himself his successor, uniting the time coveted Jewish assets in mann. "The Emigration Offices'! which at first engaged in en­ THE HOLOCAUST OF EUROPEAN JEWRY - IN NUMBERS forced migration and extortion of sums of money from the J ews % 0/ losses Jewish popula· Victims 0/ based on the were converted in the course of tion in 1939 annihilation time into offices for the expul­ Percentage a/losses sion and deportation of Jews. (1) Poland 3,250,000 2,850,000 67.7 When in September 1939 the (2) Soviet Russia (the Nazi Reich Security Head Office was occupied provinces) 2,100,000 1,500,000 71.4 established, comprising Division (3) Rumania 850,000 425,000 50.0 IVB4 for Jewish Affairs (Berlin, (4) Hungary 400,000 200,000 50.0 Kurfiirstenstrasse 16), Eich­ (5) France 300,000 90,000 30.0 mann was appointed its head. (6) Czechoslovakia 315,000 240,000 76.2 From this office, he directed the (7) Germany 193,000 110,000 57.0 implementation of "the final so­ (8) Austria 90,000 45,000 50.0 lution" of the Jewish problem. (9) Lithuania 150,000 130,000 86.6 30 January: Hitler threatens the (10) Latvia 95,000 80,000 84.2 destruction of the Jews of Eu­ ( 11 ) Holland 150,000 105,000 70.0 rope. (12) Belgium 90,000 40,000 44.4 The following passage is from ( 13) Yugoslavia 75,000 55,000 73.3 a statement made by him in the (14) Greece 75,000 60,000 80.0 Reichstag: ( 15) Italy 57,000 15,000 26.3 "If international European (16) Bulgaria 50,000 7,000 14.0 Jewry, in Europe and elsewhere, (17) Others 15,000 5,000 33.3 should involve the European 8,255,000 5,957,000 72.1 peoples in a new world war, the result will be not Bolshevist do­ mination of the globe, and there­ REMARKS fore the victory of Jewry, but (a) This table of figures was assembled by the distinguished statistician and demo­ the destruction of the Jewish grapher, J acob Lestchinskyl. The figures are the results of estimates and calcula­ race in Europe." tions and do not. pretend to b~ absolutely accurate. J acob Lestchinsky says that A similar statement was made the true, accurate figures may be at most two to three per cent higher or lower, by Hitler on 30 January 1941. and no more. (b) In this table the year 1939 was taken as a basis of comparison. This means that 15 March: Conquest of Czechoslo­ J ews who fell victim to the Nazis in Germany since 1933 and in Austria since vakia, which becomes the Ger­ 1938 were not taken into account. Lestchinsky estimates their number in Ger­ man "Protectorate" of Bohe­ many alone (including suicides) at 30-40,000. mia-Moravia. (c) There are other calculations, according to which the Jewish losses are higher Slovakia becomes an "inde­ or lower than those given in the table. pendent" state, in fact subser­ According to N. Blumenthal, the Jewish losses range from 6.5 m. to 7 m. per­ vient to Germany. All the anti­ sons 2. According to the estimate of the Anglo-American Inquiry Commission; Jewish laws in force in Germany in April 1946 the number of Jewish victims totalled 6,029,500. The Interna­ immediately become applicable tional Tribunal in Nuremberg mentioned the figure six million (this figure is to the Jews of the conquered also mentioned in the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel.) country. G. Reitlinger, in his well known book "The Final Solution" (English, transla­ 1 September: The invasion of Po­ ted in German)8 arrives at a figure which li es between four and five million land. victims. His calculations, however, are highly. questionable. Anti-Jewish riots and atroci­ 1 In his book: "The National Aspect of Diaspora Jewry," (Yiddish), Buenos Aires, ties commenced simultaneously 1955. 30 April: Lodz ghetto closed. 2 See: Nachman Blumenthal, about the number killed, six million or more? "Ghetto Fighters House Bulletin" No. 13, January 1956. 4 October: Vichy Government 3 It will appear in Hebrew immediately after the Eichmann Trial, published by Yad (France) published "Jewish re­ Washem with corrections and supplements, including, among others, the results gulations," (Statut des Juifs). of the Eichmann Trial. with the invasion of Poland, 250,000 Jews massacred in Po­ land before the end of 1939. compulsory for Jews. Shechita 15 November: Warsaw ghetto clos­ prohibited in the General-Gov­ ed. 17 September: Soviet army enters ernment. Eastern Poland. Hundreds of thousands of (The German General Gov­ Jews who had fled to the east­ ernment was the name given to 1941 ern provinces of Poland came the remaining occupied terri­ 22 January: First riots staged by under the Soviet regime. tories of Poland, after the an­ the Iron Guard in Rumania. nexation of extensive areas to 21 September: Heydrich orders es­ the Reich.) 22 January: Vichy Government ap­ tablishment of ghettos in the points "Commissioner for Jew. occupied territories and the ap­ 23 November: Establishment of the ish Affairs." pointment of Councils of Jews. first ghetto on Polish territory: Piotrkow Tribunalski. 22 June: Gennans invade Soviet 12 October: First transports of Jews Russia. from the West (Vienna and Bo­ 1940 Riots and mass murder of hemia) to Poland (Nisko). 8 February: The establishment of J ews mark the beginning of the 26 October: Forced labour made Lodz ghetto. invasion. 2 July: Pogrom in Lwow 6 November: Slaughter of 15,000 23 March: First transports of Slo­ Jews in Rovno. vakian Jews arrive in Auschwitz­ 31 july: Heydrich appointed by Birkenau. Goering to head "the final so­ 8 December: Slaughter of 27,000 lution." Jews in Riga. 1 June: Jews of France and Hol­ land ordered to wear distin­ The first paragraph of the ap­ 22 December: Slaughter of 22,000 pointment reads as follows: guishing symbol (yellow Magen Jews in Vilna. David on the breast). "In addition to the function given in the order dated Jan­ End of December: Chelmno death . 23 June: Large-scale hunt for Jews uary 24, 1939 i.e. to solve the camp opened. in Paris with a view to sending Jewish problem by emigration The camp was intended for them to death camps. and evacuation in the most ef­ the destruction of the Jews of 22 July: Death transportation of fective manner (see above) in Lodz and the surrounding dis­ Jews of ghetto Warsaw. keeping with current conditions, trict. Here use was made of gas vans. Most of the Jews sent to Tre­ I hereby appoint you to make blinka. Up to the end of Sep­ all necessary organizational, tember 300,000 Jews were dis­ practical and financial prepara­ 1942 patched. The expulsion was then tions, with a view to bringing held up for some months. about the final solution of the 20 January: Wannsee Conference Jewish problem in the European for coordination of operations 4 August:First deportation train territories under German in­ connected with execution of the from Belgium. fluence." "final solution." 10-32 August: Death deportation of Fifteen of the most important 40,000 Jews of Lwow. In the autumn months of 1941: officials in Germany participated mass massacres of the Jews in in this conference. Heydrich ex­ August to February 1943: Deporta­ the territories captured from So­ plained the reason for the con­ tion to Auschwitz of Jews of viet Russia. ference in the following terms: Croatia. These acts of murder were "As a result of the war, it 25 November: Deportation of the carried out by Einsatzgruppen proved necessary that the emi­ Jews of Norway to the camps. ("special operations squads") gration plan should be replaced organized and trained for this 17 December: Declaration of the by the deportation of the Jews allied nations that the destroyers purpose prior to the invasion of to the east, in keeping with the Soviet Russia, in keeping with of the Jewish people would be orders of the Fuhrer ... Consul­ punished. an agreement between the Wehr­ tation with all offices directly macht and Himmler. The fixed connected with this problem is method-indicating central plan­ necessary. .. in order to coor­ 1943 ning-distinguished these mass dinate methods." murders: Large pits were dug 18 January: First rising in Warsaw ("Deportation to the east" prior to the slaughter. Men, wo­ ghetto. was the euphemism used for ex­ men and children, the sick and 20-26 January: Dispatch of Jews ecution.) Mass slaughter already the aged, were made to stand from Theresienstadt ghetto to commenced-mainly in the oc­ in front of the pits, or forced to destruction in Auschwitz. cupied Soviet territories-at the enter them, after which firing end' of the summer and in the 5-12 February: First death deport­ squads shot them down. Exper­ autumn of 1941, but henceforth ation of Jews of Bialystok. iments were made to conduct full impetus was given to the the slaughter with gas vans but 13 March: Liquidation of Cracow final solution." after some time these were dis- . ghetto. In 1942 most of the Jews cap­ carded. 13 March: Opening of large cre­ tured by the Nazis in the coun­ 1 September: The destruction of matoria in Auschwitz. tries they occupied were put to thousands of Jews of Hungary, death. 15 March: First transports of Jews who had been deported to Ka­ from Saloniki and Thrace to menetz Podolsk. End of January: First deportations destruction. to "the model ghetto" of There­ A number of dates of the destruc­ sienstadt. 19 April-16 May: Warsaw ghetto rising and liquidation of the tion of communities in 1941: 16 March: Belzhetz death camp ghetto. opened. 12-13 September: Mass slaughter in 11 June: Himmler orders final liq­ 16 March: Campaign of destruc­ Dniepropetrovsk. uidation of ghettos in Poland. tion launched in the General 19 September: Destruction of the Government by regiments of 21 June: Himmler orders final liq­ Jews of Zhitomir. murderers called "Einsatz Rein­ uidation of ghettos in Soviet hardt." Russian territories. 28-29 September: Mass slaughter of In the summer months of 1942 34,000 Jews in Kiev. 21-27 June: Revolt in Treblinka most of the Jews of the Gene­ death camp. 2 October: Paris synagogues blown ral Government were transport­ 17-27 August: Liquidation of Zag­ up. ed to the death camps of Treb­ link a, Sobibor, Belzhetz, Majda­ lembie (mining region in Poland In October: Deportation of Jews nek and Auschwitz-Birkenau. in which the towns of B~dzin, Sosnowiec, Dombrowa etc. were from the Reich (to Lodz, Minsk, 17 March to 21 April: Death trans­ situated). Riga and Kovno). portation of the Jews of Lublin. End of October: Slaughters in Riga, Most of these Jews were killed 23 September: Liquidation of Vi Ina Vilna, Kovno, Dvinsk. in Belzhetz. ghetto.

4 1 October: Rescue of Jews of A PLAN TO SAVE 5,000 JEWISH CHILDREN WHICH FAILED Denmark, who were threatened with dispatch to death camps. The majority were transport­ ed by members of the Danish underground to neutral Sweden. 14 October: Revolt inSobibor death camp. 18 October: First dispatch of Jews from Rome to Auschwitz. 1944 19 March: Horthy agrees to hand over Hungarian Jews to Nazi police for deportation. 15 May: The dispatch of 380,000 Jews of Hungary most of them to Auschwitz for destruction. 24 July: Russian army captures Lublin-Maidanek concentration camp.

25 July: Evacuation of K 0 v n 0 ghetto. 5 September: Evacuation of Lodz ghetto. 6 October: Revolt of the Jewish "Sonder-Kommando" in the Auschwitz camp. End of October: Last "selection" for gas chatp.bres in Auschwitz. December: Trial of Majdanek crim­ inals in Lublin. 26 November: Himmler orders de­ struction of gas chambres and crematoria in Auschwitz.

1945 16 January: Liberation by the Rus­ sian army of 800 Jews of Chens: tochov, and 870 Jews of Lodz. 17 January: Liberation of m 0 r e than 80,000 Jews of Budapest by the Russian army. This document dated May 14, 1943, 20,000 aged persons but to "Germans is signed by Eberhard von Thadden, of the age of fertility, under forty years 6-10 April: Evacuation of 15,000 Officer for Jewish Affairs in the Inland of age." Jews from the "smaIl camp" of Buchenwald. (Most of them B Department of the German Foreign 3. Should permission be given to the died en route.) Ministry. Thadden informed his super· departure of Jewish children from Ru­ ior, on the basis of a conversation with mania and other Balkan countries, it 15 April: Allied armies enter Ber- gen Belsen camp. - Eichmann, about Himmler's attitude to­ should not be without recompense but The liberating armies found wards "the request of allied countries in keeping with paragraph 2. 40,000 prisoners still alive and to dispatch Jewish children from Ru­ Thadden quoted this characteristic 15,000 dead(most of them Jews) mania and German occupied territories remark of Eichmann: "Incidentally, it Thousands of others died in the in the east." He enumerates three points: is essential to conduct these negotiations first days after the liberation. 1. Opposition in principle to emigra­ with dispatch, seeing that the time is April: Evacuation of a number of tion of children; coming when as a result of our mea­ other camps (Sachsenhausen, 2. Consent to the departure of 5,000 sures against the Jews the departure of Oranienburg, Ravensbriick). Pri­ Jewish children from the occupied ter­ 5,000 Jewish children from the eastern soners forced to wander aimless­ ly. Most of them slaughtered by ritories in the east will be given only terri tories will no longer be possible the SD en route. on condition that in return German in­ from the_ technical point of view." The ternees held abroad be repatriated to true import of this euphemism is that 30 April: Suicide of Hitler. the Reich at a ratio of 4 to 1, in other there would not be 5,000 Jewish child­ 7 May: Germany surrenders. words-20,000- Germans. It must be ren alive. 23 May: Himmler commits suicide. stressed that the reference was not to The project was not carried out.

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