Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 14, 20, 21 and 27 -- Testimonies of Z. Grynszpan, A. Lichtman, Dr. M. Beisky, A. Kovner, Dr. J. Buzminsky
http://lod.ehri-project-test.eu/units/us-005578-irn1001078 an entity of type: Record
Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 14, 20, 21 and 27 -- Testimonies of Z. Grynszpan, A. Lichtman, Dr. M. Beisky, A. Kovner, Dr. J. Buzminsky
Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 14, 20, 21 and 27 -- Testimonies of Z. Grynszpan, A. Lichtman, Dr. M. Beisky, A. Kovner, Dr. J. Buzminsky
1961 April 25-1961 May 04, 1961 April 25
Sessions 14, 20, 21 and 27. Witness Zyndel Grynszpan describes October 28, 1938; the Nazis came to his house and arrested his entire family. They were taken to the precinct and forced to sign a certificate for deportation. He and his family were deported to Poland:"The misery was great. We had no food, we had not taken any food since Thursday, we had not wanted to eat German bread anymore and we were starving" Assistant State Attorney Ya'Akov Bar-Or questions Grynszpan on the conditions of the Zbaszyn camp. There is a blip at 00:16:35 and witness Ada Lichtman describes her father's arrest by the Nazis in Wielicza:"There were all Jews, whom they took, lying dead already... My father was also dead. And all were spread out in rows of five, one after another" Lichtman later escaped to Krakow. She moved to Mielec and was forced to do hard labor. Attorney General Gideon Hausner questions Lichtman on conditions in Mielec including forced payments to avoid deportations. He also asks her about conditions in Dubink:"they broke hands and heads of youths, and later they killed them all... I saw the mutilated bodies of the youths" Hausner requests that Lichtman's testimony be continued in the next session as she has primary accounts of the Sobibor concentration camp. During a blip at 00:45:28 to 00:45:39, there is an old movie clip of a couple embracing, and then the tape returns to the trial. Witness Judge Dr. Moshe Beisky discusses an incident in the Plaszow concentration camp:"The boy was hanged and... the rope broke. The boy... began to beg for mercy... and then he was raised a second time to the gallows, and hanged.." Hausner asks Beisky why the 15,000 observers did not charge and overtake the guards rather than just watching the hanging. Beisky replies that Hausner's question is difficult to answer; Beisky recounts his experiences, as well as the general morale among the Jews in 1943:"...After eighteen years I cannot describe this sensation of fear... this thing is ultimately a terror-inspiring fear. People stand facing machine guns, and then... no ability remains to react" A blip at 00:54:30 moves the story to witness Abba Kovner on the stand. There is another blip at 00:54:48 and witness Beisky asserts that there is no explanation for the Holocaust. After another blip at 00:55:19, Hausner questions Kovner about a man named Anton Schmid. The Prosecution also asks Kovner about 'Operation Bialystok,' and Kovner's interaction with Schmid. Kovner explains that he met with Schmid to gain knowledge about Nazi leaders, and Schmid stated:"There was one 'dog called Eichmann, and he was organizing all this" Following a blip at 00:59:19, witness Dr. Josef Buzminsky describes an incident he observed; Keidash, an SS man murdered a woman pleading for her child's life:"... [He] fired two shots into her stomach, and then he took the child in his hands and tore him apart the way you would tear up a rag"