Eichmann Trial -- Session 98 -- Cross-examination of the Accused

The camera fades in onto Eichmann's empty booth, zooms out, and pans down across the attorney tables to show Hausner standing in the foreground. Eichmann enters the booth (00:01:55) escorted by guards. Servatius enters the frame as Eichmann arranges the set of documents on his desk (00:02:05). There are various shots of the courtroom, Eichmann, and the attorneys. Eichmann can be seen talking to the guard seated on his left (00:05:49). All rise as judges Halevi, Landau, and Raveh enter the courtroom (00:07:30). Judge Landau opens the 98th session of the trial (00:08:29). Hausner continues the cross examination of the accused (00:09:17) with questions concerning the location of his Berlin office in 1939 and whether his jurisdiction extended to the Eastern Territories when he was made section head of department IVD4 which would later be renamed department IVB4 (00:12:38). Eichmann is asked what his qualifications were in the field of evacuations if he had up until then been dealing in emigration (00:16:04). The accused testifies that his experience in Vienna, working in technical transportation matters for years, was the reason he was reassigned (00:16:21). Judge Landau asks Eichmann what the term "Eastern Territories" refers to (00:18:25) and Eichmann states that it consisted of all the Eastern provinces incorporated into the Reich with the exception of the General Government. Hausner continues the cross examination by asking Eichmann about his involvement in carrying out evacuations in the General Government, in particular the Zamosc district (00:21:10), and if the Center for Migration offices were under his control (00:23:46). Eichmann denies having control over the Center for Migration (00:23:59). Hausner continues, inquiring about the location of migration department branch offices in Posen, Łódź, and Gdansk (00:26:03), the accused's involvement in sending guidelines and instructions to these offices (00:27:11), and a series of questions on the number of people in the Zamosc district of the General Government resettled during his term in office (00:27:32). Cross examination continues with Eichmann being questioned about the cooperation between the German railway administration and the rail administration of the General Government (00:33:27). Hausner asks if he continued to deal with the emigration of Jews as head of department IVD4 (00:41:31) and when Eichmann replies that this only lasted until autumn of 1941, Judge Halevi asks why a previous document suggests that it continued into 1942 and 1943 (00:42:08). There is some confusion about whether the emigration of Jews or Poles is being discussed and Judge Landau restates Judge Halevi's question asking the accused whether in 1943 he was still handling the resettlement of Poles (00:44:52). Eichmann states that he was ordered to Germanize the Zamosc district and was, as far as he remembers, the first and last order Himmler gave on this matter (00:45:02). The Attorney General then asks the accused if Theodor Dannecker was one of his subordinates in IVD4 (00:51:03) and about his involvement with the Treuhandstelle Ost (Trustee Office East) (00:53:18). Questions continue concerning the function of the Trustee Office (00:55:14) and a meeting chaired by Eichmann in January 1940 during which their representative consulted Eichmann on deportations to the East (00:55:49). Hausner goes on to ask whether the amount of property deportees were allowed to take with them was fixed (00:57:31) and if the accused was aware that the deportees suffered during the deportations (00:58:24). Eichmann testifies that this was the case until he took over the section and it did not happen after that acknowledging any occurrences as being the result of local shortcomings (00:58:39). Hausner asks Eichmann to look at a document, written several months after he took over, indicating the conditions on the deportation were still bad (01:00:55). Eichmann states that he is familiar with the document but was not involved in round-ups and did not carry out the Stettin deportation. An English translation of Eichmann's answers and Hausner's questions for the last 45 seconds of the footage is not given. The translation can be found on Tape 2159 (from 00:00:13 to 00:01:21). 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.