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Thomas Blatt takes on Karl Frenzel
Sobibor survivor Thomas Tovi Blatt confronts Death Camp Commandant Karl Frenzel (forced labour section) in 1983
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Thomas Tovi Blatt (left) and Karl Frenzel meet in a hotel room in Hagen Germany in 1983 |
Thomas Blatt: Here you are drinking beer. With that smile on your face you could be anybody’s neighbour, anybody’s fellow sporting club member.
But you are not anybody. You are Karl Frenzel, the SS commandant. You ranked third in the chain of command at the extermination camp of Sobibor. You were the commandant of Lager 1. Do you remember me?
Karl Frenzel: Not exactly you were a small boy then
Thomas Blatt: I was fifteen years old. I survived because you made me your shoeshine boy. Besides me nobody survived; not my father, not my mother, not my brother, none of the two thousand Jews from my town, Izbica.
Karl Frenzel: That was terrible, just terrible………
Thomas Blatt: At least a quarter- million Jews were murdered at Sobibor. I survived why would you want to speak with me?
Karl Frenzel: I would like to apologise to you
Thomas Blatt: You want to apologise to me?
Karl Frenzel: I would like to apologise. Nothing can be done about the victims. What happened - happened. We can’t change anything about that. But I would like to extend my personal apologies to you.
I am not angry with you and the other witnesses, those who already testified and those who are still to come.
Thomas Blatt: You would like to apologise?
Karl Frenzel: I can only say it again in tears. Not only am I beside myself now, no back then too. I was greatly bothered by it all.
Thomas Blatt: But you didn’t prevent any of it from happening. You took part in it.
Karl Frenzel: You don’t know what went on inside of us. You don’t understand the circumstances in which we found ourselves.
Thomas Blatt: And we, and our circumstances?
Karl Frenzel: I spent sixteen and a half years in prison. I suffered a lot and I thought long about justice and injustice.
Thomas Blatt: Were you an anti-Semite or did you do these things because you were ordered to do them?
Karl Frenzel: I was no anti-Semite but we had to do our duty. For us this was a bad time.
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Josef Cukerman |
Thomas Blatt: Duty. That’s what it always comes down to, duty. Why did you club my father to the ground immediately upon arrival? Was that your duty too?
Karl Frenzel: I don’t remember.
Thomas Blatt: Do you remember Cukerman?
Karl Frenzel: Yes, he was the cook. At one time, five or eight kilograms of meat were missing. When we searched the kitchen, the meat was found. That’s why I beat him.
Thomas Blatt: And the son?
Read more here: www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/blattfrenzel.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2012
The Bankrupt state of Holocaust Denial and Debunking!
Holocaust Denial & Debunking
A review of the bankrupt state of Revisionism, and the
insensibility of arguing with Holocaust deniers.
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In May 2009 I concluded in my H.E.A.R.T editorial stating there is little value to be found in Holocaust Denial, and even less value in debating or debunking denial. That was a little over two years ago, so where are we now?
Casually glancing through any number of revisionist websites and forums, one can find an abundance of neo-David Irving acolytes and pseudo scholars, who dedicate their time to refuting the Holocaust narrative. This isn’t a new phenomenon; it’s been going on for well over three decades, however what we are seeing more recently are the smattering of these new denial-debunker forums, that on the surface appear designed to dispute revisionist ideas and philosophy, yet in practice emulate a pugilistic event more akin to naked mud-wrestling than to any scholarly debate.
Even more disturbing is the striking similarity between actual denial sites and these new debunking forums and blogs. After painting Holocaust deniers as modern day Nazi’s, the debunkers offer little in their behaviour that lends any contrast or credibility to their own moral standing versus that of the deniers, and it is often quite difficult to tell the difference, between the two.
At least one of these controversial debunker blogs maintains extremely low, if any professional standards at all, and in most cases the discussions are quite juvenile and often quite hostile in nature.
When you visit these sites you will notice the arguments are repetitive; those who deny the Holocaust are still demanding irrefutable proof, where even the slightest error, fragment of detail, date, time, location, spelling etc. is incorrect, is then pounced upon as the evidentiary “Holy Grail” that the Holocaust is a hoax perpetrated by a global Jewish conspiracy.
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On the flip side you have the radical and often controversial revisionist debunkers who are obsessed with engaging in pointless debates, with no other purpose than to prove their own intellectual superiority, or at least what they deem to be a greater intellect than that of their opponent. Some of these debunker groups have gone to great lengths to trash the works and reputation of not only revisionists, but Holocaust memorial scholars as well.
Clearly it’s not the desire for a correct historical record that motivates the debunkers, any more than it is for their denier counterparts. Both groups have a belief structure or agenda that supersedes the factual narrative, for them it’s something far more duplicitous and corrupt, than simply setting the record straight.
Case in point; as early on as 2004 when I lead the Action Reinhard Camps Foundation, an applicant for membership, who unbeknownst to me at the time was a member of one of these perfidious debunker groups, and at the time was pressing ARC memberships to include a forum on the www.deathcamps.org website. This forum he explained would be constructed to debate with Holocaust deniers.
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After careful consideration this proposal was rejected, as pointless.
The Holocaust happened and there is nothing to debate or dispute.
ARC members felt that the best answer to combat Holocaust Denial was to memorialize the victims and teach people about the perpetrators and the events that lead to the mass murder of millions.
I later went on to create the Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team with a broader focus that the events of Action Reinhard, but do I still feel the same way?
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/essays&editorials/deniers&debunkers2.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2012
Images of the Holocaust
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The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
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See the full image gallery here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/galleries/kloogagal/index.html
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2012
Letters to London - Life and Death in the Kovno Ghetto
Dr Elchanan Elkes chairman of the Kovno Judenrat
Letters to London
1943 - the chairman writes to his children about life in the Kovno ghetto
My beloved son and daughter!
I am writing these lines, my dear children, in the vale of tears of Vilijampole, Kovno Ghetto, where we have been for over two years. We have now heard that in a few days our fate is to be sealed. The Ghetto is to be crushed and torn asunder.
Whether we are all to perish, or whether a few of us are to survive, is in God’s hands, we fear that only those capable of slave labour will live; the rest of probably are sentenced to death.
We are left, a few out of many. Out of the 35,000 Jews of Kovno, approximately 17,000 remain; out of a quarter of a million Jews in Lithuania (including the Vilna district), only 25,000 live plus 5,000 who, during the last few days, were deported to hard labour in Latvia, stripped of all their belongings. The rest were put to death in terrible ways by the followers of the greatest Haman of all time and all generations.
Some of those dear and close to us, too, are no longer with us. Your Aunt Hannah and Uncle Arieh were killed with 1,500 souls of the Ghetto on October 4, 1941. Uncle Zvi, who was lying in the hospital suffering from a broken leg, was saved by a miracle. All the patients, doctors, nurses, relatives, and visitors who happened to be there were burned to death, after soldiers had blocked all the doors and windows of the hospital and set fire to it. In the provinces, apart from Siauliai, no single Jew survives.
Your Uncle Dov and his son Shmuel were taken out and killed with the rest of the Kalvaria community during the first months of the war, that is about two years ago
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Due to outer forces and inner circumstances, only our own Ghetto has managed to survive and live out its diaspora life for the past two years, in slavery, hard labour and deprivation – almost all our clothing, belongings, and books were taken from us by the authorities.
The last massacre, when 10,000 victims were killed at one time, took place on October 28, 1941. Our total community had to go through the “selection” by our rulers: life or death. I am the man who, with my own eyes, saw those about to die.
I was there early on the morning of October 29, in the camp that led to the slaughter at the Ninth Fort. With my own ears I heard the awe-inspiring and terrible symphony, the weeping and screaming of 10,000 people, old and young – a scream that tore at the heart of heaven. No ear had heard such cries through the ages and the generations.
With many of our martyrs, I challenged my creator; and with them, from a heart torn in agony, I cried; “Who is like you in the universe, my Lord!” In my effort to save people here and there, I was beaten by soldiers. Wounded and bleeding, I fainted, and was carried in the arms of friends to a place outside the camp. There, a small group of about thirty or forty survived – witnesses to the fire.
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/elkes-london-letter.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T
Rawa Ruska
Rawa Ruska is located in the Lwow distrit, formerly it was part of Poland, but today it is part of the Ukraine. The first Jews arrived with the founding of the town in 1624, in the 18th Century they were subjected to restrictions and to heavy taxes under the Austrians from 1772.
The town developed as a stop-over on the Lwow – Warsaw railway line, the Jewish population increased from 3,878 to 6,112 in 1910, Jewish trade centred on egg marketing abroad, but they were also prominent as furriers and hat -makers, a Jewish stoneware factory declined with the advent of porcelain utensils.In 1884 a fire destroyed 234 Jewish homes and a Baron Hirsch school was founded in 1892, reaching an enrolment of 200 within six years, following the First World War was reduced by about 1,000.
Devastating fires struck the community again in 1923 and 1932, during the inter-war years the Jewish fur trade developed considerably with markets throughout Poland. The Soviet annexation of Poland which lasted from September 1939 to June 1941curtailed Jewish communal and commercial life, with the German invasion of Russia, the Germans captured the town on the 28 June 1941.
As a foretaste of things to come the local Ukrainian militia immediately executed 100 Jews and the Germans instituted a regime of forced labour and extortion. A Judenrat was established in July 1941 and in the spring of 1942 they were concentrated into a crowded ghetto area.
Shortly thereafter Rawa Ruska, as the county town, was incorporated into the Generalgouvernement, within the Distrikt Galizien, under the control of SS-Brigadefuhrer Dr Wachter. At the beginning of the German occupation there were no anti-Jewish measures in the town, however in the surrounding smaller towns such as Niemirow, Magierow, Sokal and Kulikov, German soldiers together with Ukrainian nationalists organised anti-Jewish pogroms.
German soldiers at Rawa Ruska
As part of increasing anti-Jewish restrictions the Jews were forced to wear armbands marked with the Star of David, premises were marked with a Jewish Star of David and used by the Germans to perform forced labour.
In mid-July 1941 a Jewish Council known as a Judenrat was established with Wastenberg as the President. During this time there was no closed ghetto in Rawa Ruska, Jews were allowed to live anywhere in the town, as they could before the occupation, there were no Gestapo or SD premises in Rawa Ruska but a Krimminalpolizei (KRIPO) office was there. In August 1941 the Germans demanded monetary contributions from the Jews of Rawa Ruska, the advocate Dr Jozef Mandel opposed the Germans’ orders and refused to give them the Jews for forced labour and the money they demanded.
Members of the German Security Services (SD) from Sokal arrived in Rawa Ruska and arrested 15 members of the Jewish intelligentsia, as well as Dr Mandel. He was taken out of the town at night, as the Germans were concerned that the population might resist. As a hostage Dr Mandel was taken to Krakow where he was incarcerated in the notorious Montelupich prison, his niece Erna Weinberger, nee Hartel from Gorlice sent him a food parcel in August 1941. Dr Mandel died in Montelupich Prison from typhus circa December 1941.
Read more here: www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/rawaruska.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2011
Images from Westerbork
Westerbork Transit Camp Images
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| A garden between camp barracks at Westerbork 640 X 454 60 KB |
A Jewish woman sits at the assembly point for transport to Westerbork 637 X 452 71 KB |
A transport from Westerbork 637 X 456 57 KB |
A wedding in the camp at Westerbork 1941 637 X 448 50 KB |
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| Amsterdam, Holland, 1943, Deportation to Westerbork camp. 470 X 328 31 KB |
Arrival of Jews at the Westerbork transit camp. The Netherlands, 1942 480 X 314 51 KB |
Barracks at Westerbork 448 X 280 25 KB |
Bunks in the punishment barracks at Westerbork 637 X 395 86 KB |
See the full image gallery here: www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/galleries/westerborkgal/index.html
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2011
Hans Frank on the record in 1945
Hans Frank
Conversation with an American Officer 4 and 5 August 1945
*The following conversations took place between Hans Frank and an American Army Officer on 4 and 5 August 1945
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Frank; I was so stupid all these years. You know we are so guilty. Look here I saw the moving-pictures of those concentration camps and I saw how these people had been treated.
American Army Officer; Who organised all those concentration camps?
Frank; Always the same gang, Himmler, Heydrich and the whole rotten clique. No opposition was possible. For me it was a real torture all these years. And the Fuhrer degraded me and threw me out. In 1942 he simply chased me away.
I was then stripped of all my offices in the Party, because I always protested against these procedures. We could do nothing…. I was thrown into a cellar and beaten up. My papers were taken away from me in Augsburg. Well, we did it too, it’s bad everywhere. What bothers me most – (Weeps)
It’s a catastrophe such as the world has never yet seen…. In the beginning all was so different. You mustn’t judge National Socialism by those concentration camps. You have to go back to the Party program of 1920 ….. if Hitler had stepped before the entire German people and had announced: When I assume the power I will set up concentration camps and rule by sheer force. But he said; When I assume the power justice will prevail. I will set up new courts and install new judges.
At the time in my capacity as his legal advisor in Leipzig I induced him to take the oath of legality; “I shall strive to come to power by legal means and after the assumption of power I shall rule by legal means. So help me God.”
I have recalled that to his mind. But you know all that so much better than I…..
And then always those speeches of Churchill preaching hatred, the Fuhrer always spoke of peace, but Churchill’s everlasting hate-speeches against National Socialism, in turn, induced Hitler to make other speeches…..
The worst thing for me was the rise of Himmler…. If it hadn’t been for the outbreak of war and for the fact that I was sitting in Warsaw as Governor General, trying to straighten out the situation there, I wouldn’t be here at all today.
As a lawyer I understand very well that it is quite difficult to bring all these men to trial. I understand that world opinion clamours for it and I assume that many hundreds of trials are in the process of preparation. What you have here in Mondorf is from the judicial viewpoint the last supreme selection.
You might well call it that and yet the original perpetrators who are connected with those atrocities are not amongst them. They are Globocnik and Kaltenbrunner and the SS leaders.
We all are worried about being extradited to Moscow, and then it would be all over. Should such an extradition be contemplated, I would ask as a favour to be questioned just once more by an American judge.
You see there are three viewpoints: The viewpoint of the enemy which sees quite understandably in Hitler and National Socialism the arch criminal who disturbed world peace etc. That is the viewpoint not only of the enemy, the Russians and Americans, but also of a majority of the German people.
That’s what many colleagues and ministers over in ASHCAN constantly forget. They are actually of the opinion that if they were released and returned to Germany, many people would say, “Thank God, you are back” I am convinced that the reverse would be the case. If today men like Streicher or Ley or any of those notorious fanatics were released they would be slain, the reason being, I think that it is too well known that they enriched themselves personally
American Army Officer; Where is your wife? Where were you arrested?
Frank; In Fischhausen on the Schliersee (Chiemsee) …. You know, I and my whole family are Catholics. I am a very devout Catholic. To me it’s a spiritual matter. I was brought up as a Catholic. I am very much upset.
Look here, I sat for five years at my reduced post over in Krakow, which was unbelievably difficult, what with the SS being granted special powers and carrying out all those dreadful atrocities. I had to put up a constant fight against those people to avert the worst. The fight against the resistance movement and the Jews. (Weeps).
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I took care of the legal matters of the Party and defended Hitler and the Party members. Politically I was never active. I confined myself to the purely legal end.
American Army Officer; Who else was with you?
Frank; Dr Fischer and several others
American Army Officer; Is Dr Fischer still alive?
Frank; I believe so. Then there was Schwarz in charge of the Party administration centres. At the time he (?) issued a report against all the parties which did not stand on the grounds of the Constitution and which desired something different. So Schaub declared, “We renounce this Weimar Constitution, we desire a different regime,” and then there was the so-called “Law for the Protection of the Republic.”
Any speaker who made any statement against the Republic or against Weimar or against anyone was brought before the judge.
American Army Officer; But did you always win your trials?
Frank; We won most of the trials …. The Party was prohibited then and was dissolved, and the SA was dissolved; then there were different incidents during the elections for the diet. In short, this was this judicial activity.
American Army Officer; And that is why you never became a professor?
Frank; Otherwise I should be a full professor today. My conscience is quite clear even though I couldn’t put it through, when I say to myself that my aim was the constitutional state. I wanted the Fuhrer to do it properly. At least I prevented a good deal.
It would have been much worse if I hadn’t continually struggled at the time when I was still “Reichsleiter.” I was able to help so many persons. I was in the Party and I had a high position. I could make my influence felt and for this reason Himmler strove to throw me out of this position.
And that it only succeeded in 1940 is significant. And then I was bruskly thrown out. One day the Fuhrer let it be known through Lammers. I held four important speeches publically before the students and professors at my universities, Heidleberg, Munich, Vienna and Berlin. I got up and said that Adolf Hitler hadn’t kept his word. Just imagine, I gave the four speeches in one week, otherwise they would have arrested me already. I was briefly being investigated.
American Army Officer; When was that?
Frank; That was in 1942 after the speech in Munich. I was investigated by the Gestapo and then the Fuhrer wrote me quite an indignant letter – how could I do such a thing? You are hereby degraded with prejudice as “Reichsleiter of the Party,” and since that time I have been quite an ordinary Party member.
In 1933 I became Minister of Justice in Bavaria. Then, because I spoke out against Roehm as Minister of Justice during the Roehm trial – that was the first time that Adolf Hitler had men shot without trial, and I protested against it.
I put myself in prison, in Stadelheim, just imagine the Bavarian Minister of Justice sitting in prison and I kept 200 persons from being shot. I sat in the prison and told my associates, “No one is to leave the prison.” I saved 200 SA leaders and the Fuhrer never forgave that.
The Fuhrer wanted to have 240 SA leaders shot at once, the SS platoons were there and I declared, “No I am still Minister of Justice, the prison is under my control.” And then they said, “We are fools and idiots. Why did we lock up the prisoners in a prison?”
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/trials/HansFrankTestimony.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2011
The IMT Series (H.E.A.R.T Exclusive) "The beginning of the end"
International Military Tribunal Series
Nuremberg War Crimes Trials
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What follows are a number of documents translated into English for the International Military Tribunal which tried the leading members of the Nazi Third Reich after the German surrender. We have selected a cross section of documents and affidavits in relation to the Holocaust but this is only a fraction of the documents produced for the trial, but it hopefully gives the reader a clear insight into one of the worst chapters of human history. |
The beginning of the end
PS 3363
Letter From Heydrich To The Chiefs Of All Einsatzgruppen Concerning The “Jewish Question In The Occupied Territories” 21 September 1939
The Chief of the Security Police
PP(II) -288/39 Secret
Berlin 21 September 1939
Express Letter
To the Chiefs of All Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police
Re: The Jewish Question in the Occupied Territory
With reference to the conference which took place today in Berlin, I would like to point out once more that the total measures planned (i.e. the final aim) are to be kept strictly secret.
A distinction is to be made between,
1. The final aim (which will take some time), and
2. Sections of the carrying out of this aim (which can be carried out within a short space of time.)
The measures planned require the most thorough preparation both from the technical and the economic point of view.
It goes without saying that the tasks in this connection cannot be laid down in detail. The following instructions and directives simultaneously serve the purpose of urging the chiefs of the Einsatzgruppen to practical considerations.
I
The first necessity for the attaining of the final aim is the concentration of the country Jews in the big towns. This is to be carried out immediately.
A distinction is to be made (1) between the territories of Danzig and West Prussia, Posen, Eastern Upper Silesia and (2) the remaining occupied territories. As far as possible the territories enumerated under (1) are to be cleared of Jews, but the very least to be aimed at is the formation of very few “concentration” towns.
In the territories mentioned under (2) as few “concentration” points as possible are to be established in order to facilitate later measures. Care must be taken that only such towns be chosen as concentration points as are either railroad junctions or at least lie on a railway.
It is laid down on principle that Jewish communities of less than 500 persons are to be dissolved and to be sent to the nearest “concentration” town.
This decree does not concern the territory of Einsatzgruppe 1 which, lying east of Krakow, is bordered by Polanico, Jaroslav, the new demarcation line and the former Slovak- Polish frontier. Within this territory only a temporary census of Jews need be taken. The rest is to be done by the Jewish Council of Elders dealt with below.
II
Jewish Council of Elders
1. In every Jewish community a Jewish Council of Elders is to be set up which, as far as possible, is to be formed from persons in authority and rabbis who have remained behind. Up to 24 male Jews (according to the size of the Jewish community) are to form the Council of Elders.
It is to be made fully responsible, within the meaning of the word, for the exact and punctual carrying out of all instructions issued or to be issued.
2.In the event of the sabotaging of such instructions, the strictest measures are to be announced to the Council.
3.The Jewish Councils are to undertake a temporary census of the Jews – if possible arranged according to sex (ages (a) up to 16 years, (b) from 16 to 20 years, and (c) over) and according to the principal professions – in their localities, and to report thereon within the shortest possible period.
4.The Council of Elders are to be advised of the days fixed and the appointed times of the evacuation, the possibilities of evacuation, and finally the evacuation routes. They are then to be made personally responsible for evacuation of the Jews from the country. The reason for the concentrating of Jews in the towns is to be that Jews have to a very great extent participated in franc-tireur attacks and pillage.
5.The Councils of Elders in the “concentration” towns are to be made responsible for the suitable accommodation of the Jews from the country. The concentration of the Jews in the towns will probably, in the interests of general security, call for certain regulations in these towns, e.g. that certain quarters of the town be altogether forbidden to the Jews; that in the interests of economic necessity, they be forbidden to leave the Ghetto, forbidden to go out after a certain hour in the evening etc.
6.The Council of Elders is to be made responsible for the suitable feeding of the Jews during their transportation to the towns. No objections are to be made if the departing Jews take their movable possessions with them, as far as this is technically possible.
7.Jews who do not comply with the order to move to the towns are, in certain cases to be given a short respite. They are to be advised of the most strict punishment if they do not comply with this time limit.
III
All necessary measures are, on principle, always to be taken in the closest agreement and co-operation with the German civil administration and the competent local military authorities.
When carrying out this action care is to be taken that the economic security of the occupied territories suffers no damage.
The needs of the army are to be the first consideration, e.g. it will hardly be possible, to begin with, to avoid leaving behind Jewish traders here and there who, for lack of other possibilities, must definitely remain behind for the provisioning of the troops. In such cases, however, the speedy Aryanisation of these industries is to be aimed at, in agreement with the competent local German administrative authorities, and the migration of the Jews completed.
It goes without saying that Jewish branches of industry and trade which are vital to the life of the community, the war effort, or the Four Year Plan must be maintained in order to safeguard economic interest in the occupied territories. In such cases, also, the quickest possible Aryanisation is to be aimed at and the migration of the Jews completed.
Finally, the food question in the occupied territories is to be taken into consideration. For example, if possible, land belonging to Jewish settlers is to be farmed with their own by the neighbouring German or Polish peasants, in an official capacity, so that the gathering in of the harvest still in the fields or the continued cultivation can be safeguarded. With regard to this important question, contact is to be made with agricultural expert consultants of the chief of civil administration.
In all cases where the interests of the security police on one hand and the German civil administration on the other are not in agreement, the individual measures in question are to be reported to me as quickly as possible before their execution and my decision awaited.
IV
The chiefs of the Einsatzgruppen will report to me continually regarding the following circumstances:
1.Census of Jews in their districts (if possible in the above –mentioned groups). The numbers are to be divided into Jews who will be migrating from the country and those who are already in the towns.
2.Names of towns selected as “concentration” points.
3.The time limits set for the migration of the Jews to the towns.
4. Summary of all Jewish branches of industry and trade which are vital to the life of the community, the war effort, or the Four Year Plan.
If possible the following facts are to be established:
a. The type of undertaking (together with estimate of the possibility of the adaptation of the undertaking to one vital to the life of the community, the war effort, or the Four Year Plan)
b. Which of these undertakings it is most urgent to Aryanise (to avoid damage of any kind)? How is it proposed to effect the Aryanisation? Germans or Poles (this decision is dependent on the importance of the industry).
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The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
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Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2011
The Eichmann Trial - Eichmann in Budapest
Adolf Eichmann in Budapest
Avraham Gordon
Eichmann Trial - Session 54
Jerusalem 26 May 1961
State Attorney Bach: Your Honours, our next witness is Avraham Gordon.
 Eichmann listens to testimony at his trial in 1961 |
Presiding Judge: Do you speak Hebrew?
Witness Gordon: Yes, I speak Hebrew.
[The witness is sworn.]
Presiding Judge: What is your full name?
Witness: Avraham Gordon.
Presiding Judge: Please reply to Mr. Bach's questions.
State Attorney Bach: Mr. Gordon, were you born in Hungary?
Witness Gordon: Yes.
Q. In Budapest?
A. Yes.
Q. In what year?
A. In 1927.
Q. Where were you in 1944?
A. I was in Budapest. I was at school in the sixth grade of the Gymnasium ( Secondary School) - this corresponds to the tenth grade in Israeli terms.
Q. Do you remember 19 March 1944?
A. It was a Sunday, the day on which the German army occupied Hungary and also entered Budapest.
Q. How did this affect your studies?
A. In the following two weeks our studies went on, and thereafter, a general closure of all the schools in Hungary was declared. We finished the school year and after that classes were stopped and also the air-raids began. This was the reason given for ceasing all teaching in Hungary that year.
Q. Did the studies of all pupils cease?
A. Of all.
Q. Not only of the Jewish pupils?
A. No - all of them.
Q. Were you living with your family?
 German troops occupy the city of Budapest |
A. Yes. I was staying in the district of Buda, Quarter No. 1.
Q. Who were the members of your family?
A. My father, my mother, my brother, my grandfather and grandmother.
Q. When were the Jews ordered to wear the yellow Shield of David?
A. As far as I remember, it was on 5 April. This is the date I recall.
Q. Do you remember receiving, on one of those days, a certain order from the German authorities?
A. That was about a week before Hitler's birthday, on 12 or 13 April. I think that this order came from the Jewish Council, with the approval, and by order, of the German security services.
Q. What was the order?
A. It was stated in the order that we were to report on the Schwabenberg in the morning for labour service.
Q. What was the Schwabenberg?
A. Before the War Schwabenberg served as a resort place, and it had many private villas. When I arrived, I found most of the headquarters of the German army there.
Q. You say there were private villas there?
A. There were private villas, and hotels.
Q. Were there also Germans in the occupying army?
A. Yes. There were many German soldiers.
Q. And did you report for labour service?
A. I reported, and I was referred to a Jewish engineer named Kolbach.
Q. Only you, or were there other Jews as well?
A. When I came to the Schwabenberg, I found between one hundred and one hundred and fifty other Jews.
Q. Were they all about your age, or were there also people of other ages?
A. Most of them were young people under the age of 18, but there were approximately 20-30 older persons, about the age of 50.
Q. Please tell the Court what happened after you reported to Mr. Kolbach?
A. They detailed us to various types of work. They were drilling two tunnels there, one in the direction of the Eden Hotel which was opposite the Majestic Hotel and the other leading to the Majestic Hotel. We did not know exactly the uses to which these tunnels were to be put. We thought they would serve as shelters and as arms depots.
Q. Arms depots and shelters for whom?
A. For the German army.
Q. You say that you reported to Kolbach. Was he in charge of this work?
.jpg) (pre-war) photos of villas at Schwabenberg |
Q. How long were you engaged in this work?
A. I was engaged in this work for approximately one month.
Q. When was this, roughly? From when to when?
A. It was in 1944, from the middle of April to the middle of May 1944.
Q. And throughout this time, you worked at the same place?
A. They also sent us to so-called outside jobs. We worked both at the Eden Hotel and also at the sanatorium, and once or twice I was also sent to work in the building of the Hungarian Political Police. The building of the Hungarian Political Police was near the Majestic Hotel.
Read more here: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/trials/eichmann-in-budapest.html
The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
www.HolocaustResearchProject.org
Copyright Carmelo Lisciotto H.E.A.R.T 2011
Vienna Image Gallery
Images of the Holocaust in Vienna
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| A Jewish man forced to paint anti-Jewish graffiti on a shuttered storefront. Vienna, Austria, March 1938. 480 X 321 44 KB |
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