Judgment Read At Eichmann Trial

Press, Volume C, Issue 29695, 13 December 1961, Page 17

Judgment Read At Eichmann Trial

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) JERUSALEM, December 12. Adolf Eichmann bore responsibility for massacres in the Warsaw Ghetto, where many thousands of Jews perished, it was stated when the reading of the judgment against the former S.S. Colonel was resumed today.

The Court also found that Eichmann gave his consent for the use of gas in the extermination of jews in Eastern Europe, said Mr Justice Halevi. Yesterday the Court's three Israeli judges found Eichmann guilty of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in criminal organisations. In their judgment, which has already lasted nine hours, the Judges have stated that Eichmann held a central position in the Nazi “final solution of the Jewish problem’”—the mass extermination of millions of Europe’s Jews. Carried File Eichmann was again Impassive as he stepped into the bullet-proof glass dock and took his seat between two armed Israeli warders. He carried his usual file of papers and adjusted the microphones before sitting back to wipe his spectacles, just as he has done every time he has entered the dock He then gazed intently at Dr. Halevi as the reading continued. It was reported before the trial began that legal sources thought after hearing the first part of the judgment yesterday that Eichmann’s chances of escaping the death sentence looked slim. Several of She points which Eichmann's defence probably hoped to invoke in its plea for mitigation appeared to have been shatters*!. Eichmann’s claim that he tried to help the Jews was described in the judgment yesterday as “a lie.” His claim that be acted under orders was termed “an insult to iustice.” The 55-year-old defendant has pleaded not guilty to 15 charges. 12 of which are punishable by death. Dr. Halevi said this morning: “While the Ministry of Eastern Occupied Territories recommended that economic measures against the Jews should come first, Eichmann insisted that no such measures should impede the final solution, that is to say extermination.” Dr. Halevi cited case after case in which Eichmann, according to captured Nazi documents. turned down appeals from the German Foreign Ministry on behalf

of Jews of foreign nationality. “The accused claims all he did was relay orders, but this is not plausible.” the judgment declared. The Court also rejected Eichmann’s claim that his Department IV-B-4 of the Reich Security Office never dealt with the transport of Jews inside occupied Poland, site of the biggest Nazi extermination camps. “We do not believe this contention,” the judgment said, citing evidence from survivors that Eichmann had authority over transport of Jews inside Poland to the Auschwitz Camp.