Eichmann

The director of the Jewish Department D IV B4 of the Federal Security Main Office was Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann.

Eichmann came from Linz. With Kaltenbrunner he was active in the then illegal SS in Austria; they knew each other and were friends. After Austria was annexed he became a member of the Secret Service and later on, the Gestapo. Finally, he arrived at Bureau IV of the Federal Security Main Office under Muller.

Ever since his youth Eichmann was concerned with the Jewish question and had a vast knowledge from studying all the literature about it, both pro and con. He spent quite some time in Palestine in order to learn from the source about the Zionists and the developing Jewish state. He knew the distribution of Jews and also the approximate numbers, which were kept secret even from the Jews themselves. He also knew the traditions and the customs of the Orthodox Jews and was also acquainted with the views of the assimilated Jews in the West. Based on his expertise he became the director of the Jewish Department.

I got to know him after I received the order from Himmler to exterminate the Jews. After that he came to Auschwitz to discuss all the details of the action to exterminate the Jews. Eichmann was a lively man in his thirties who always kept busy and was full of energy. He always came up with new plans and always looked for new ways, not just improvements. He was never at rest. He was possessed about the Jewish question and the Final Solution. Eichmann had to report continuously to Himmler directly and verbally about the preparations and the implementation of the individual roundups. Only Eichmann was in a position to furnish any information concerning the numbers. He could refer to almost everything from memory. His files consisted of a few pieces of notepaper with some unintelligible symbols. He constantly carried them around with him. Even his second-in-command in Berlin, Gtinther, wasn’t always able to give complete information. Eichmann was constantly on business trips and very seldom could be found in his office in Berlin.

In preparing for the Jewish roundups Eichmann had representatives in the designated countries. They knew these countries, and they had to get the necessary information for Eichmann. For example, Wisliceni was hard at work in Slovakia, Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Negotiations with the various governments of these countries were carried out by diplomatic representatives of Germany or special envoys from the foreign office. If a government agreed to hand over the Jews, they designated a branch of that government as a center. This center was responsible for the gathering and handing over of the Jews. Eichmann discussed the details with the officials of these centers concerning the transportation of the Jews and also, based on liis experiences, gave a great deal of advice on how to round up the Jews. In Hungary, for example, the minister of the interior together with the rural police carried out these roundups. Eichmann and his assistants observed the roundup operation, and they themselves participated if things were handled carelessly or if things dragged on too much. Eichmann’s staff also had to have the transport trains ready and had to determine the train schedules for the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

On Pohl’s orders I was in Budapest three times in order to determine the approximate expected numbers of able-bodied workers. There I had the opportunity to observe Eichmann in his negotiations with the Hungarian government officials and the Hungarian army. He carried himself in a resolute and correct manner. In spite of that, he was charming, obliging, popular, and welcomed everywhere. The many invitations from the heads of the various offices confirmed that. Only the Hungarian army did not like to see Eichmann. The army sabotaged delivering the Jews wherever they could, but in such a manner that the Hungarian govermnent could not interfere. Most of the Hungarian population, especially in eastern Hungary, and the rural police had anti-Jewish feelings. This meant that in 1943 there weren’t many Jews that escaped the roundups. It is possible that some were lucky and were

Able to escape over the Carpathian Mountains into Rumania.

Eichmann was firmly convinced that if it were possible to destroy the biological foundation of Judaism by the process of total extermination, Judaism would never survive the blow, since the assimilated Jews of the West, including America, were not in a position to catch up to this tremendous loss of blood, nor did they want to. It was not expected that these Jews would have more than the average number of children. What convinced Eichmann even more of this view were the efforts of the Jewish Elders of Hungary, who continuously tried to get the families with m. any children to be exempt from the extradition of the Jews. Eichmann had many prolonged conversations with this Zionist leader about all of the important questions. Furthermore, it was interesting to hear that this Jewish leader knew all about Auschwitz, the number of Jews rounded up and the selection for extermination. Eichmann’s business trips and his contacts with the bureaus in the various countries were also constantly under surveillance. The Jewish Elder in Budapest could tell Eichmann exactly where he had been and with whom he had negotiated. Eichmann was completely convinced of his task and had the deep conviction that this extermination process was necessary in order to preserve the German people from this desire of the Jews to be assimilated. Thus, he saw as his task and used all his energy to bring to reality the extermination plans of Hinunler. Eichmann was also a determined enemy of selecting able-bodied Jews for work. He saw in this a constant danger to his Final Solution plans. He was afraid of mass escapes or other developing situations. He was of the opinion that the roundups of all Jews had to be carried out as quickly as possible and then just as quickly completed as one never knew about the outcome of the war. Knowing this attitude I knew I could not get any help for Auschwitz from Eichmann. All entreaties, all complaints, and the most shocking proofs right there in the camp were not able to change his mind. He was always very quick to hide behind the order received from Himmler, which was to carry out the roundups as quickly as possible and not to let anything get in the way.

In spite of the fact that I had a good relationship with Eichmann as a comrade in arms, concerning this question we often had various differences [fights] with each other. I had to fight for each transport train that I wished to delay. Most of the time I lost. In fact, he often surprised me with unplanned transports. He just used every means to carry out the Final Solution of the Jews as quickly as possible. Every day that he won was important to him. He did not consider any difficulties at all. That he had learned from Himmler. The solution of the Jewish question was Eichmann’s life mission.