Eichmann Trial -- Session 90 -- Cross-examination of the Accused about the origins of his antisemitism and his trip to Palestine

The camera fades in on Attorney General Gideon Hausner seated at the prosecution table looking over documents. Assistant State Attorney Ya'akov Bar-Or enters (00:01:43) and then Assistant State Attorney Gabriel Bach both men are then seated at the prosecution table. Robert Servatius enters with his aid. Adolf Eichmann, escorted by two guards, enters the booth with documents sits down (00:02:56). There are various shots of the audience and the lawyers' desks. All rise as the judges enter and are seated(00:04:51). Judge Moshe Landau opens the ninetieth session (00:05:24). Landau asks Servatius about his request to examine witnesses Zvi Tohar and Jack Shimoni. A small portion of the session is missing and the footage resumes with Hausner cross-examining Eichmann. The Attorney General asks the accused whether, after 1937, the only front on which he was active was the fight against the Jews (00:07:20). Hausner then questions Eichmann about the origins of his hostility towards the Jews, citing the alleged declaration of war that Chaim Weizmann made against Germany in 1939 (00:08:52). Chaim Weizmann was the president of the World Zionist Organization from 1935 to 1946. The footage in this section is all duplicate footage also found on Tape 2126 (beginning at 00:03:56) but is less complete than Tape 2129. Hausner asks Eichmann about his perception of the Jews as an enemy that should be annihilated/exterminated (00:11:42). Eichmann is presented with documents in which he uses this terminology. While Eichmann examines the documents, Hausner reads excerpts in German. The accused is then questioned about the planned physical annihilation of the Jews (00:16:37). Hausner questions the accused's attitude towards the Jews and his perception of the Jews as opponents (00:18:11). Hausner again mentions the alleged declaration of war by Chaim Weizmann and declares that Weizmann never made such a statement. Eichmann is asked about the fact that Dieter Wisliceny recommended him because he was a convinced National Socialist. Hausner discusses Eichmann's assertion that his superior refused to allow him to study Hebrew with a rabbi (00:24:41) and questions Eichmann's stated intent to "put soil under the feet of the Jews" (00:27:43). He quotes from a report filed after Eichmann's trip to Palestine in 1939 (00:30:01). Eichmann maintains that the report was not his, that he merely made corrections to the report, and that the goal of the trip was to understand the people and the culture and to make contacts. Hausner presses the accused to acknowledge that he made contact with Hajj Amin al-Husseini (00:31:45) and admit responsibility for the report. Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was a Palestinian nationalist who rejected Zionist claims in the middle east and had close ties to the Nazi party. Eichmann refuses to take responsibility for the report and Hausner states that he admitted to authoring the report when he was under interrogation. Hausner reads excerpts from the report in German (00:34:16). Hausner raises more questions about Eichmann's trip to Palestine (00:42:31). Eichmann is asked about the operations in Hungary and his anger towards the German Embassy for not intervening quickly enough to prevent the emigration of the Jews to Palestine (00:44:30). This last section is duplicate footage also found on Tape 2126 (at 00:07:34) but is more complete on Tape 2126. A portion of the proceedings is missing and footage resumes with Hausner questioning Eichmann about the authenticity of certain documents. This is duplicate footage also found on Tape 2126 (at 00:25:48) and Tape 2127 (at 00:00:35). The footage is more complete on Tape 2126 and 2127.