Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 21 and 22 -- Testimonies of H. Pachter, Y. Gurfein, N. Zabludowicz, L. Wells

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 1999.A.0087 | RG Number: RG-60.2100.033 | Film ID: 2032

Search this record's additional resources, such as finding aids, documents, or transcripts.

No results match this search term.
Check spelling and try again.

results are loading

0 results found for “keyward

    Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 21 and 22 -- Testimonies of H. Pachter, Y. Gurfein, N. Zabludowicz, L. Wells

    Overview

    Description
    Sessions 21 and 22. Court is not in session. Court officials interact; Adolf Eichmann enters his booth; Attorney General Gideon Hausner and Defense Attorney Dr. Robert Servatius converse; and Servatius exchanges information with Eichmann. The Judges enter the courtroom and there is a blip at 00:04.52. Witness Hirsch (Zvi) Pachter discusses Nazi treatment in Hrubieszow, a town near Chelm: "They took hold of a man... they hit [him] on the head with their rifle butts... They kept on asking each other: 'How many did you manage to kill by shooting...'"

    Blip at 00:08:19. Witness Ya'Akov Gurfein describes Nazi treatment and Jewish morale in Poland 1943. Hausner asks about Gurfein's escape to Palestine. After a blip at 00:10:56, Judge Benjamin Halevi questions Gurfein about family separation in Belzec. A man in the audience cries out, "blood hound" at the Accused; the audience member is removed from the courtroom. Witness Noach Zabludowicz is on the stand, following a blip at 00:11:51. He details repeated beatings by the Nazis; he was kicked, hit, and subjected to electric shock torture. Blip at 00:16:53. Halevi questions Zabeudowicz about specific comments from his earlier testimony.

    Blip at 00:21:12. The court interpreter reads a document about the Final Solution signed by Eichmann. Blip at 00:28:48. Hausner questions Leon Weliczker Wells; Wells discusses his experiences with the Nazis. He participated in a small group uprising but many were shot, and the rest returned to the Janowska concentration camps. The Nazis made Wells and his fellow Jews march; Wells knew he was walking to his death: "Everybody got a shovel and we started to dig our own grave... two walked down to the grave, had to lie down and were shot." Wells continues to recount his story.
    Film Title
    Eichmann Trial
    Duration
    00:54:08
    Date
    Event:  1961 May 01
    Production:  1961 May 01
    Locale
    Jerusalem, Israel
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archives of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
    Contributor
    Director: Leo Hurwitz
    Producer: Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation
    Subject: Leon Weliczker Wells
    Producer: Milton Fruchtman
    Camera Operator: J. Kalach
    Camera Operator: Emil Knebel
    Camera Operator: J. Jonilowicz
    Camera Operator: F. Csaznik
    Camera Operator: Rolf M. Kneller
    Subject: Noah Zabludowicz
    Biography
    Leon Weliczker Wells was born in Stojanow near Lvov, Poland on March 10, 1925. At the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, Wells was in Lvov. In July 1941, the Ukrainian police who were working with the SS arrested Wells and his father. The police officers took Wells to the police station; they were severely beaten, and taken to Pelczynska Street, where other Jews were assembled. Wells and the other Jews were instructed to lay face down on the street; they remained facedown for the rest of the night as the SS men randomly chose Jews for physical abuse and death. This continued for two days; on the third day, the Nazis selected certain people for relocation, and the rest of the Jews returned home. Two days later, Nazis arrested Wells and forced him to work at the railroad, unloading ammunitions and weaponry. After returning home, Wells went into hiding; he remained in hiding until December 1941, and joined the Working Brigade on the railroad. In March 1942, Wells was transferred to the Janowska concentration camp. Wells health was poor due to horrible conditions in the camp. In May, the Nazis took a group of Jews including Wells on a death march; they were given shovels to dig their own graves. Just as Wells walked into the pit to be shot, the Nazis instructed him to return to camp and retrieve the body of an inmate who had died of sickness. On his way back to camp, Wells slipped away from his SS guard; the SS pronounced him dead, and this inattention allowed Wells to escape. Upon learning of his mother's death, Wells attempted to commit suicide, but a neighbor found him, and saved him from death. Soon thereafter, Wells traveled to Radziechow (Julag) Ghetto in an attempt to find his father and brothers. He eventually found his family, helped them to hide, and began working as a canal cleaner. The Nazis decided to liquidate the Julag Ghetto; during and after selection, Wells's father and brothers were shot, and Wells was taken back to the Janowska concentration camp. In June 1943, the Nazis gathered a group of Jews including Wells for road construction. However, instead of road-building, the Jews were placed in a Sonderkommando (Special Commando/death brigade), and instructed to cover all traces of Jewish extermination. Wells and the other Jews had to carry dead bodies to a trench and burn them; this continued for many days. In September, Wells was relocated to Krzywicki to continue covering up all traces of Jewish extermination on Pelczynska Street. In November 1943, after the liquidation of the Janowska concentration camp, Wells escaped and remained in hiding until liberation. Out of 76 immediate and extended family members, Wells is the sole survivor. He has a PhD in mechanical engineering and post-graduate work in physics. From 1950-1953, Wells worked as an associate researcher a New York University; in 1953-56, he worked as Research Director at Commerce International, an international tanker organization. In 1956-57, Wells worked as a Project Engineer at Curtis-Wright Aeronautics, and since 1957, Wells held the position of technical Director and Vice-President of Ark Projection Company. In 1961, Wells resided in New Jersey, United States of America with his wife and two children.
    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.
    Noah Zabludowicz was born in Ciechanow, Poland in 1919. After the outbreak of WWII, the Jews in Ciechanow were pushed into a ghetto. The Jews experienced horrible conditions; Zabludowicz watched as an SS officer stormed into an apartment housing three married couples, forced them at gunpoint to exchange partners and have sexual relations in front of their friends and families. In 1940, Zabludowicz began working for the Reichsdeutscher Bernhard Kessler as a driver/mechanic. Kessler helped many Jews and gave Zabludowicz an Aryan identity card with the name, Robert Zabludowicz. Zabludowicz would use this card to move freely throughout the city during the day, and put his Jewish armband on when he returned to the ghetto. One day in May, Zabludowicz offended two German soldiers by not removing his hat in their presence. The soldiers verbally abused him and chased him through the streets, but Zabludowicz evaded them. He hid, but the officers found him the next day and took him to the police station. At the police station, the SS arrested Zabludowicz, and transferred him to the Gestapo headquarters. Zabludowicz was tortured and severely beaten; a high-ranking official accused Zabludowicz of being a spy, and used electric shock torture to get Zabludowicz to confess. The Nazis did not kill Zabludowicz, though he begged for death. Instead he was transferred to Auschwitz with the rest of the Ciechanow Jews, and remained there until the end of the war. Zabludowicz was a member of the Jewish underground in Ciechanow, and continued to be active in the underground even after his relocation to Auschwitz. He assisted in every way possible, and received help in return. In 1961, Zabludowicz lived in Holon, Israel, and worked at the Electricity Corporation in Tel Aviv.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English German Hebrew
    Genre/Form
    Unedited.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Mixed
    Time Code
    00:00:30:00 to 00:54:38:00
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 2032 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
      Master 2032 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
      Master 2032 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
      Master 2032 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 2032 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2032 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2032 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2032 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Public Domain
    Conditions on Use
    To the best of the Museum's knowledge, this material is in the public domain. You do not require further permission from the Museum to reproduce or use this material.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Film Provenance
    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.
    Note
    *Intermittent white line through bottom of picture (witness camera).

    There are approximately 10 blips throughout the course of Film ID 2030:
    00:04.52 to 00:04.55
    00:08.19 to 00:08.22
    00:10.56 to 00:10.59
    00:11.51 to 00:11.55
    00:16.53 to 00:16.57
    00:21.12 to 00:21.15
    00:25.17 to 00:25.22
    00:26.36 to 00:26.39
    00:28.48 to 00:29.12
    00:32.24 to 00:32.28

    See official transcripts, published in "The Trial of Adolf Eichmann", Vol. I-V, State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 328, 333, 334, 338-340, 343, 360, 363, 364. Also available online at the Nizkor Project.
    Copied From
    2" Quad
    Film Source
    Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 1846
    Source Archive Number: VTEI 279
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:46:43
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1000356

    Download & Licensing

    In-Person Research

    Contact Us