Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive

Eichmann Trial

Adolf Eichmann Trial Collection

05/09/1961

Jerusalem, Israel

Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive & Israel State Archives

00:22:21

Session 32. George Wellers is testifying for the Prosecution. He is discussing the transport of 1000 French children, in four transports from Beaune-la-Rolande and Pithiviers transit camps (from these transit camps Jews were then transported to the killing centers in occupied Poland). The children were accompanied by 200 adults. They arrived at the camp by bus. Wellers discussing the transport beginning at 5am. He describes the children, scared and often crying, as they were forced onto railcars and sent to Auschwitz. He says he never saw these children at Auschwitz.

00:04:04 Session 38. Mordechai Ansbacher is testifying, saying that he begged to be kept with his sick mother, but was taken away on a separate transport. He describes his arrival at Dachau. He describes the SS men singing a song about the Jews being drowned. He describes the roll calls, and how long they took because a mistake was always made. He says that there was no food on the transports, and only when they got to Auschwitz did they get a loaf of bread before being reloaded onto a cattle car. 00:12:58 He describes the clothing, he took a sack to make a shirt from the cement detail. He had a very thin shirt otherwise. He had no underwear, and his shoes were wooden blocks that rubbed his feet; he did not use them. He said that they learned quickly to stick together, and if a few people could stay together, they would survive.

00:16:53 Session 39. Judge Michael Musmanno is testifying. Attorney General Hausner asks him if he talked to Goering in his investigation. He says that he did, and that Goering said he was unaware that the extermination of the Jews had hit its reported levels, and that Hitler, Bormann, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, and Eichmann did since they were directly responsible for the Holocaust. Other people close to Hitler who spoke of Eichmann were von Ribbentropp, Kaltenbrunner, Hans Frank, Schellenberg, Karl Koller, and others. He says that Hitler put Eichmann into the program of Jewish extermination (duplicate footage on Tape 2048).

See official transcripts, published in "The Trial of Adolph Eichmann", Vol. I-V, State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem, 1994. Also available online at the Nizkor Project.

English
German
Hebrew

Unedited

No

Good

1999.A.0087 Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation recorded the proceedings of the Adolf Eichmann trial in 1961. The original recording was made on two-inch format videotape. One set of videotapes contained selected portions of the trial for distribution to television stations. The "selected portions" version remained in Israel and was later turned over to the Israel State Archives. Capital Cities Broadcasting retained the set of videotapes containing the complete trial proceedings at offices in New York City until 1965, when they gave the videotapes to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. The Anti-Defamation League, in turn, gave the complete set to the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1972. With a grant from the Revson Foundation, Hebrew University transferred the two-inch videotapes to U-Matic format. During the transfer process, Hebrew University created three duplicate sets. One set was given to the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive, one to the Israel State Archives, and one set to the Jewish Museum in New York City. In 1995, the Israel State Archives transferred the trial footage to digital videoformat with a grant from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. Three subsequent digital videotape copies resulted from this transfer of footage. The Israel State Archives retained one digital copy and a second set was deposited at the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the third set of digital videotapes in May 1999.

AUSCHWITZ
BACH, GAVRIEL
CHILDREN (JEWISH)
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
DACHAU
DEPORTATION
EICHMANN TRIAL
EICHMANN, ADOLF
FALKENHAUSEN, ALEXANDER VON
FRANCE
GOEBBELS, JOSEPH
GOERING, HERMANN
HEYDRICH, REINHARD
HIMMLER, HEINRICH
HITLER, ADOLF
JEWS
JUDGE
KALTENBRUNNER, ERNST
MUSMANNO, MICHAEL
PITHIVIERS
RAILROAD CAR
RIBBENTROP, JOACHIM VON
SCHELLENBERG, WALTER
TRANSIT CAMP
TRIALS

Leo Hurwitz

Capital Cities Broadcasting

May 9,12,15 1961

Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive (SSJFA), VTEI 136

2" Quad

DigiBeta; Betacam SP; VHS

00:00:28 - 00:22:49