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Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 32 and 33 -- Presentation of documents; Wellers testifies about the plight of children

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 1999.A.0087 | RG Number: RG-60.2100.045 | Film ID: 2044

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    Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 32 and 33 -- Presentation of documents; Wellers testifies about the plight of children

    Overview

    Description
    Session 32. Iranian Jews are being discussed in the reading of a document into the record by the Prosecution. This document includes Iranian Jews who practice other faiths in the extermination, to be treated the same as the Jews of Europe. The document is signed by Eichmann.

    00:03:54 A document is being read into the record by the Prosecution, signed by Eichmann, saying that as soon as transports were possible from the General Government area, children are to be included. Six transports of children are to be sent.

    00:05:37 Tape jumps. George Wellers is brought in as a witness, asked to cover his head, and sworn in. He saw the French children transported, 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. He is asked some very basic questions about himself, including his profession. He is the Director of the Physiology Research laboratory of the Sorbonne, Paris, France.

    00:08:14 Tape jumps. Wellers describes the children's transports, of these children with adults who were not their parents. They were brought into the camps in buses. He describes these young children being put into groups of 80 or so, and led to places with only mats on a dirty floor. They were too young to know their family names, and were impossible to keep track of. He describes the practice of attempting to identify the children by putting names on disks and hanging them around their necks. Soon it was realized that the children were playing with the disks, and that many exchanged them, so boys would be carrying girls names and visa versa.

    00:16:35 Tape jumps. Wellers describes the look of the children, their tattered clothes, often without buttons or with shoes missing. They were covered in wounds. They had diarrhea, and could not make it to the lavatories in the courtyard, and the chamber pots given to them were too large for small children to use. Some women who were going to be removed from the camp were chosen to wake before dawn to go and care for the children. They had nothing with which to work, but attempted to mend clothes and clean them, but had no cloth or soap. When soup arrived, there were no spoons anywhere in the camp. They had tins, but they were too hot for the children to use. They did not know to raise their voices in protest. Nobody was allowed to be with them at night. They would wake and cry, calling for their mothers. Sometimes all 120 would wake together, waking each other up with their crying. This would wake up other barracks of children, and it would continue.

    00:22:59 Tape jumps. Wellers is testifying about the Germans ridiculing the yellow badges that the Jews were forced to wear, making fakes that featured other inscriptions, and put them on their dogs and paraded them around. They were arrested, sent to camps, treated like the Jews and wore yellow stars that said "Jew-Lover" on them.

    00:25:02 Tape jumps. Wellers is testifying about a well dressed man walking through the camp, asking questions of a happy boy, who said that his parents were in the office, with his mother playing the piano. He asked if he would be leaving to rejoin his parents soon. They all knew that they were lying when they said that the children would be reunited with their parents later. They continued to lie. The boy pulled part of a ration biscuit, and said that "this half I save for mother". The German put his hand on the boy, and he burst into tears.

    00:28:44 Tape jumps. Wellers is asked about the amount of suicides in this camp. He says that there were some, but every time there was a suicide, someone had to take their place on the transport in order to maintain the shipment of 1,000 people.

    00:31:13 Tape jumps. Wellers is testifying about trucks arriving at the camps filled with furniture from the apartments of deported Jews. They had to be sorted to be given to "needy Germans". Certain objects of higher value were set aside at another warehouse, and high ranking Germans would sometimes arrive, select something, and have it sent to their house. He says that 50-60 trucks a day would arrive.

    00:35:38 Session 33. The Judges are just entering the court. They open the 33rd session of the trial. Documents are being submitted by the Prosecution. These documents describe the beginning of the transportation and the authorization to round up children and then take care of them. A secret cable from Gunter says that children should be mixed into all transports to Auschwitz. Individual transports of only children should be avoided; it should be done in stages. Documents concerning numbers of deportations are submitted.

    00:49:12 The President of Court scolds the Prosecution, demanding that they stay to the point. Documents are submitted by the Prosecution concerning the special treatment of certain peoples, their requests to not be deported, and the ordered deportation of many to the East. All of these are signed by Eichmann, or were sent to Eichmann.
    Film Title
    Eichmann Trial
    Duration
    00:57:12
    Date
    Event:  1961 May 09
    Production:  1961 May 09
    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: Milton Fruchtman
    Camera Operator: Rolf M. Kneller
    Camera Operator: F. Csaznik
    Camera Operator: J. Jonilowicz
    Camera Operator: J. Kalach
    Camera Operator: Emil Knebel
    Producer: Capital Cities Broadcasting Corporation
    Biography
    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.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English German Hebrew
    Genre/Form
    Unedited.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Good
    Time Code
    00:00:41:00 to 00:57:53:00
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 2044 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
      Master 2044 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
      Master 2044 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
      Master 2044 Video: Digital Betacam - NTSC - large
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 2044 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2044 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2044 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2044 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
    See official transcripts, published in "The Trial of Adolf Eichmann", Vol. I-V, State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem, 1994. Also available online at the Nizkor Project.
    Copied From
    2" Quad
    Film Source
    Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 2139
    Source Archive Number: VTEI 292
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:43:38
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1001362

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