Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer

by Bettina Stangneth

  Notes

  Introduction

  1. Hannah Arendt to Karl Jaspers, February 5, 1961, in Hannah Arendt and Karl Jaspers: Correspondence: 1926–1969, ed. Lotte Kohler and Hans Saner, trans. Robert and Rita Kimber (San Diego, Calif., 1992), p. 423.

  2. Answers to questionnaire for Paris Match, May 1962, BA Koblenz, All. Proz. 6/252, p. 38.

  3. I know of no publication about Eichmann in which this sentence does not appear in one form or another. Seven years ago I was fully convinced of its truth myself. One current example is the extensive study on the German Foreign Office by Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes, and Moshe Zimmermann, Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik (Munich, 2010), p. 604.

  4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes (Amsterdam, 1755), the first few sentences of part two.

  5. After the end of the war in 1945, some confusion arose about Eichmann’s forenames, and it has stubbornly persisted over the years. His name is, however, clearly verifiable. It appears not only on his birth certificate (BA Koblenz, All. Proz. 6/236) but also in official documents from the Nazi era—for example, in the records of the Central Office for Race and Settlement (BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, BDC, RuSH record Adolf Eichmann). The name Karl was the result of a conflation of his name with his father’s. Eichmann’s father, who was in the Linz telephone directory, was also a card-carrying member of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP). Eichmann’s name was also mentioned in Israel in the same breath as his father’s (Adolf, son of Karl Adolf Eichmann), and so the misunderstanding persisted. Not unusually for an eldest son, Eichmann was named after his paternal grandfather.

  6. “Meine Flucht,” p. 22, written in March 1961 in Israel. The text, which Eichmann wanted to call “On a May Night in 1945,” is quoted from the typescript according to the handwritten pagination. BA Koblenz, All. Proz. 6/247.

  7. Anyone supposing these details to be literary embellishment can find the proof of their existence in photos taken in Eichmann’s house on June 6, 1960, after he was kidnapped, and published in a number of contemporary magazines (in particular Stern, June 26–July 16, 1960). Other details are taken from the letters written by Eichmann in Israel to his family. Copies in the Israeli National Archive and in BA Koblenz, All. Proz. 6/165 and 248.

  8. Eichmann in Jerusalem was first published in New York and London in 1963 (Viking Press). The later, enlarged edition (Penguin, 1994) will be quoted here. German readers initially only had around twenty pages available to them, a shortened version of chapters 2 and 3, published in the journal Merkur. The first German edition of the book appeared in 1964 as Piper Paperback no. 35.

  9. Hannah Arendt to Mary McCarthy, June 20, 1960, in Arendt and McCarthy, Between Friends: The Correspondence of Hannah Arendt and Mary McCarthy, 1949–1975, ed. Carol Brightman (San Diego, Calif., 1996), pp. 81–82.

  10. Ibid., p. 82.

  “My Name Became a Symbol”

  1. “Meine Flucht,” p. 22, BA Koblenz, All. Proz. 6/247.

  2. The most recent and striking example is Klaus W. Tolfahrn, Das Dritte Reich und der Holocaust (Frankfurt am Main, 2008). His chap. 4.22, “ ‘Notes on the Trial Against Eichmann,’ ” which is problematic in many respects, states: “The impression Eichmann made on the world’s public rested not least on his unremarkable character and invisibility. Before the war, Eichmann was an invisible SD official, during the war he was an invisible SS officer, after the war a Nazi in hiding and, until the start of the trial, an invisible prisoner in Israel” (p. 359).

  1 The Path into the Public Eye

  1. Here Eichmann was able to use his first-hand knowledge to his advantage: in 1960–61 very little was yet known about the SD. But by the time he applied to the SD in 1934, the organization was already past its start-up phase and listed eighty-six officers besides Heydrich (according to the SS’s organizational chart from October 1, 1934).

  2. Franz Mayer, witness statement at Eichmann trial, session 17.

  3. Sassen transcript 24:2 (cited according to the 1957 Sassen discussion, as tape: original pagination).

  4. In the heads of departments’ meeting of December 18, 1937, Hagen detailed various failings in discipline and organization and set strict deadlines for improvement. Prosecution document T/108.

  5. Ernst Marcus dates his first encounter with Eichmann at November 1936. The incident he describes, however, must have taken place in November 1937, at the same time as the description of Eichmann’s behavior that follows. So Marcus is incorrect either on the occasion of their first meeting or on the year. Probably he met Eichmann before November 1937, so his date is correct and he has merely confused the occasion. Ernst Marcus, Das deutsche Auswärtige Amt und die Palästinafrage in den Jahren 1933–1939 (Yad Vashem Archive O-1/11, 1946); English translation in Yad Washem Studies 2 (1958).

  6. The surveillance photo was made available for the Eichmann trial, but the file is still classified.

  7. Joachim Prinz was given a huge send-off on June 26, 1937, when he emigrated to America. Benno Cohn, Frankfurter Rundschau, June 1, 1960; Eichmann trial, session 15. Eichmann described the event in his lecture on November 1, 1937 (published as document 16 in Michael Wildt, Die Judenpolitik des SD 1935–1938: Eine Dokumentation [Munich, 1995], p. 123) and justified his behavior again in Argentina; see “The Others Spoke,” Argentina Papers.

  8. Otto von Bolschwing denounced Ernst Marcus and Ernst Gottlieb to Eichmann, having eavesdropped on their conversation about him. Eichmann’s reaction can be found in handwritten comments on the letter. Documented and with a commentary by Günter Schubert, “Post für Eichmann,” in Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung 15 (2006), pp. 383–93, facsimile pp. 392–93.

  9. For the development of the SD and the self-image of those who worked for the Jewish Department, see the introduction from Wildt to, Judenpolitik des SD.

  10. Eichmann’s handwritten commentary on Bolschwing’s letter: see the facsimile in Schubert, “Post für Eichmann.”

  11. Progress reports from II 112, in particular that of February 17, 1937; prosecution document T/107.

  12. Minority status for Jews was repealed on May 15, 1937. Thereafter, on May 22, Eichmann traveled to Breslau to oversee the province’s implementation of anti-Jewish measures and legislation. There he had his first independent experience of registering and creating card indexes for Jews. See progress report July 6–October 5, 1937, BA Koblenz, R58/991, SD Central Office collection, II 112. See also Wildt’s introduction to Judenpolitik des SD, pp. 13–64, esp. p. 34; and David Cesarani, Eichmann: His Life and Crimes (London, 2005), p. 52.

  13. Eichmann’s contact was Paul Wurm, the editor of Der Stürmer in Berlin. Eichmann accepted Wurm’s invitation (September 2, 1937) after discussion with his superiors (August 3). They hoped that this was the way to gain access to Der Stürmer’s archive “without Gauleiter Streicher’s knowledge.” BA Koblenz, R58/565, note II-1 Six. Eichmann attended the party congress from September 5 to 9, 1937, also meeting Julius Streicher and a group of American anti-Semites who frightened even him. SS Hauptscharführer Eichmann’s duty report, II 112 v. 9/11, 1937, prosecution document T/121; identical with BA Koblenz R58/623; discussed in Magnus Brechtken, “Madagaskar für die Juden”: Antisemitische Idee und politische Praxis 1885–1945 (Munich, 1997), pp. 72ff.

  14. Sassen transcript 62:1.

  15. This encounter happened between March 15 and 25, 1938; it has not been possible to date it more accurately. There are several descriptions of the incident. Afterward Adolf Böhm had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital. See Doron Rabinovici, Instanzen der Ohnmacht: Wien 1938–1945: Der Weg zum Judenrat (Frankfurt am Main, 2000), pp. 70ff.

  16. Dr. Jehuda Brott, interview by Herbert Rosenkranz, “Advice Center of the Vienna Youth Alijah,” Jerusalem, March 22, 1977, Yad Vashem Archive O-3/3912; quoted in Herbert Rosenkranz, Verfolgung u
nd Selbstbehauptung: Die Juden in Österreich, 1938–1945 (Vienna and Munich, 1978), p. 109.

  17. On December 14, 1939, Eichmann became special plenipotentiary for the assets of the Jewish Religious Community in the Eastern March. “The Reichskommissar’s Directive for the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich,” signed by Bürkel, December 14, 1939, ÖStA, AdR Bürkel-Material, 1762/1,31; quoted in Rosenkranz, Verfolgung und Selbstbehauptung, pp. 221 and 334.

  18. See the somewhat one-sided but impressive contrary view, focusing on the role of the Gestapo: Thomas Mang, “Gestapo-Leitstelle Wien—Mein Name ist Huber”: Wer trug die lokale Verantwortung für den Mord an den Juden Wiens? (Münster, 2004).

  19. Eichmann to Herbert Hagen, May 8, 1938, prosecution document T/130; identical with BA Koblenz, R58/982, folio, pp. 19ff. Twenty-five issues of the newspaper (editor-in-chief Emil Reich) appeared, between May 20 and November 9, 1938. The censor’s direct influence is discernible.

  20. Dr. Martin Rosenbluth to Dr. Georg Landauer, May 17, 1938, in Deutsches Judentum unter dem Nationalsozialismus, ed. Otto Dov Kulka (Tübingen, 1997), p. 1:381. See also Leo Lauterbach, “The Jewish Situation in Austria. Report Submitted to the Zionist Organization,” strictly confidential, April 19, 1938, quoted in Rosenkranz, Verfolgung und Selbstbehauptung, pp. 275ff; and Israel Cohen, “Report on Vienna,” Prague, March 28, 1938, ibid., pp. 51ff.

  21. Israel Cohen in “Report on Vienna.”

  22. Tom Segev, Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends (New York, 2010), p. 12.

  23. Ben-Gurion diary, entry for November 30, 1939, Ben-Gurion Archive, cited ibid., p. 13.

  24. Short-term requirement of November 11, 1938; conference on November 12, 1938; prosecution documents T/114; identical with IMT 1816-PS (compare with IMT vol. 28, p. 499).

  25. Bernhard Lösener (Reich Ministry of the Interior and contributor to the “Nuremberg Laws”) agreed to visit, even if his subsequent report misrepresents his own role. Manuscript June 26, 1950, reprinted as “Als Rassereferent im Reichsministerium des Innern,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 9, no. 3 (July 1961), pp. 264–313. There is also evidence of visits by Heydrich and by representatives from the Reich Ministries of Finance and Propaganda.

  26. Sassen transcript 32:8.

  27. Sassen transcript 4:3, 60:2, and elsewhere.

  28. Sassen transcript 32:8.

  29. SS Gruppenführer Hinkel gave Eichmann a dedicated copy of his book Einer unter 100 000 (One in 100,000) on this occasion, which Eichmann mentioned proudly both to Sassen and in “Meine Memoiren.”

  30. The work camps at Gut Sandhof (near Waidhofen on the Ybbs) and Doppl (in the Mühltal near Linz) were active from May 1939 to December 1941 and were called “camps for the compulsory re-training of Jews in technical and agricultural jobs.” They were run by staff from the Vienna Central Office. For more on this long-overlooked step in anti-Jewish policy, see Gabriele Anderl’s groundbreaking study “Die ‘Umschulungslager’ Doppl und Sandhof der Wiener Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung,” at www.david.juden.at/kulturzeitschrift/57-60/58-Anderl.htm (2003 and 2004).

  31. Eichmann was suspected of paying too high a price when he bought his lover’s real estate; see Anderl, “Die ‘Umschulungslager.’ ”

  32. Sassen transcript, unnumbered tape, sheet 2. Also 54:12.

  33. Minutely detailed in Gabriele Anderl and Dirk Rupnow, Die Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung als Beraubungsinstitution (Vienna, 2004); and Theodor Venus and Alexandra-Eileen Wenck, Die Entziehung jüdischen Vermögens im Rahmen der Aktion Gildemeester (Vienna and Munich, 2004).

  34. Wiener Völkische Beobachter, November 20, 1938 (illustrated Sunday edition).

  35. Ladislaus Benes, in Pester Loyd, February 11, 1939.

  36. Benno Cohn, subpoena of representatives of the German Jews in spring 1939 to appear before the Gestapo (Eichmann). Reported to the meeting of the “Circle of German Zionists,” report recorded by Dr. Ball-Kaduri, April 2, 1958, Yad Vashem Archive O-1/215. Transcript of the 1958 meeting published in Kurt Ball-Kaduri, Vor der Katastrophe: Juden in Deutschland 1934–1939 (Tel Aviv, 1967), pp. 235–39. See Rabinovici, Instanzen der Ohnmacht, p. 151, though it incorrectly cites Yad Vashem no. 227 (containing the transcript for the 1940 meeting with Erich Frank). Benno Cohn emigrated at the end of March 1939, as stated in session 14f.

  37. Many times, according to the Sassen transcript 2:4 and 6:1.

  38. The Pariser Tageszeitung was the successor to the Pariser Tageblatt, which explains the confusion about this title in the memories of the people involved. The paper was published in German from the start and not, as is occasionally reported, in Yiddish.

  39. BA Berlin Lichterfelde, ZA I, 7358, A.1, 1 (former NS-archive of the MFS, ministery for state security of the GDR, German Democratic Republic: 15.5(6!), 1937. This relates to a discussion between SS Hauptscharführer Eichmann and SS Obercharführer Hagen; quoted in Venus and Wenck, Entziehung jüdischen Vermögens, pp. 48ff. Report from Heinrich Schlie to Eichmann and Lischka, March 5, 1939, Yad Vashem Archive O-51/0S0-41; quoted in Avraham Altman and Irene Eber, “Flight to Shanghai, 1938–1940: The Larger Setting,” Yad Vashem Studies 28 (2000), pp. 58–86, esp. p. 59.

  40. At the first meeting with the Jewish Council in Budapest. Eichmann admitted to Sassen that he had said this “out of a mixture of humor and sarcasm.” Sassen transcript 72:6. The Sassen transcripts are cited according to the original 1957 pagination: (tape number): (page).

  41. Anton Brunner, statement, October 3, 1945. Anton Brunner was a civilian colleague in the Central Office, unrelated to Alois Brunner; Anton Brunner was executed in Vienna in 1946. DÖW, Document 19 061/2. See Hans Safrian, Eichmann und seine Gehilfen (Frankfurt am Main, 1995).

  42. Josef Weiszl to his wife Pauline, no date, no place given (Doppl), trial of Josef Weiszl at the District Criminal Court in Vienna, Vg 7c Vr 658/46, File no. 56, from sheet 2567; quoted in Anderl, “Die ‘Umschulungslager.’ ”

  43. Witness statement from Inheritance, a documentary by James Moll (USA, 2006).

  44. Sassen transcript 40:1 and 32:8.

  45. “As I sometimes said to the important Jews, when I had them, something like: ‘Well then, do you know where you are? You’re with the Czar of the Jews. Don’t you know that, didn’t you see the Pariser Tageblatt?!’ ” Sassen transcript 72:16.

  46. During the Eichmann trial, Benno Cohn recollected the incident for a second time: “He was very upset that we had published something about him in that paper … that he was ‘der Bluthund Eichmann’ (bloodhound Eichmann)—I am using the language used at that time—‘Der Bluthund Eichmann,’ ‘blutunterlaufene Augen’ (blood-shot eyes), ‘ein neuer Feind,’ ‘Judenfeind’ (a new enemy, an enemy of the Jews). I don’t remember all the expressions, but they were very trenchant” (session 15).

  47. Benno Cohn, witness statement at Eichmann trial, session 14–15.

  48. Sassen transcript 13:5 and 6:1.

  49. Contact with the editor of Der Stürmer was motivated by business considerations. It was so uninteresting for II 112 that Eichmann evidently let the contact drop, particularly as he increasingly disagreed with Der Stürmer on the basic tactics for anti-Semitic “reconnaissance.” As a result, Wurm made contact with Franz Rademacher at the Foreign Office and had substantial involvement in the Foreign Office’s Madagascar Plan. See Brechtken, “Madagaskar für die Juden,” p. 72.

  50. Sassen transcript 6:1.

  51. Franz Novak, witness testimony for Eichmann trial, April 3–5, 1961. Eichmann had “made a certain name for himself among the Jews.” Novak blamed Eichmann’s contact with functionaries from Jewish organizations for it.

  52. No one has reconstructed this collection, for any of several possible reasons: the attractive image of the “man in the dark”; the necessary doubts cast on Eichmann’s boasts (if they were noticed in this case); and the fundamental problems of newspaper research. For this section I searched through the following German-language exile papers, from 1938 until
they folded: Aufbau (New York), Pariser Tageszeitung (Paris), and Die Zeitung (London). A card index of names and keywords exists for Aufbau, though it is neither complete nor free from errors and requires a creative research approach. For all other newspapers, one has no choice but to read through them. To date, apart from professional information in the official publications, I have found Eichmann’s name in none of the Nazi regime’s newspapers, including Völkischer Beobachter (Berlin and Vienna editions), Das Reich, Der Angriff, and Das Schwarze Korps.

  53. Sassen transcript 6:1.

  54. General Alois Eliáš charged Ministerial Adviser Dr. Fahoún with negotiating the “question of the establishment of a Central Office for Jewish Emigration … which Herr Oberfü. Stahlecker and his representative Hstuf. Eichmann had personally communicated to him.” Inventory of the Chair of the Council (PMR), SÚA, box 4018; quoted in Jaroslava Milotová, “Die Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Prag: Genesis und Tätigkeit bis zum Anfang des Jahres 1940,” Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente, no. 4 (1997), pp. 7–30, 2.

  55. Information for the Minister. Memorandum from the conference in Petschek Palais, July 19, 1939, SÚA, PMR, box 4018. Memorandum on the negotiations of the Occupation and Protectorate government regarding the Central Office for Jewish Emigration from July 19, 1939, SÚA, Prague Police Authority collection (PP), shelf mark 7/33/39, box 1903; quoted in Milotová, “Die Zentralstelle.”

  56. František Weidmann, secretary of the Jewish Community of Prague, was ordered to visit Vienna on July 20, 1939, before the government delegation, “on the instructions of Herr Hauptsturmführer Eichmann.” At the same time, a representative of the Vienna Religious Community was sent to Prague for “training.” Weekly report from the Jewish Community of Prague, covering July 23–29, 1939, prosecution document T/162.

  57. Stanislav Kokoska, “Zwei unbekannte Berichte aus dem besetzten Prag über die Lage der jüdischen Bevölkerung im Protektorat,” Theresienstädter Studien und Dokumente, no. 4 (1997), pp. 31–49.