Eichmann Trial -- Session 110 -- Prosecution begins closing statement

Session 110. Waiting for the Judges to enter. 00:04:29 Judges enter and Session 110 begins. 00:05:57 Hausner begins summing up his case. He says that this is the trial of one of the ghoulish personalities which history will forever remember. He reminds everyone of the struggles of the witnesses, of Auschwitz, of religious leaders being degraded, of torturous activities, of murder. He says that man cannot create a nightmare so terrible, and yet it happened, created by Eichmann. He says that after hearing all this, Eichmann got his turn, and 16 years later he does not have one ounce of remorse or regret, and speaks of the suffering of the German people. He does not believe in regret, yet believes that his oath of loyalty justifies his actions. 00:13:49 Hausner continues, saying that Eichmann denied proven facts as he poured over the documents. He has recanted his own statements and confessions. He has said that documents are forged. He dramatically asks in whose mold have these Nazis been cast? He says that they have been stripped of human compassion, unable to return to normalcy; they are so wrapped in documents and orders. He says that if there is regret, it is because their task was not completed. They could not think morally. They were enthusiastic to carry out the orders they believed in: the Final Solution. 00:21:00 Hausner, continuing, asks how this happened. He says that a hate-filled dictator can lead his followers wherever he chooses. This created a people who crushed those beneath them and obeyed those above them. These people, in the eyes of their friends and colleagues, remained normal people, even good citizens. He says that Eichmann wanted to hang himself in public as a warning to future generations, which was so different when he wrote of the Final Solution and said that he would jump laughing into the grave at the end of the world, meaning that it was all verbiage. Eichmann admitted to relapsing into his old ways while living in hiding; he would believe in racist murder though there was no leader above him. 00:27:40 Hausner, continuing, asks that when the time comes to judge Adolf Eichmann, keep in mind the connection of the evidence to the statements and accusations via the proofs that will be admitted. He says that the Holocaust DID happen, that it all did happen, and Eichmann did not dispute a single witness who told only a small fragment of what went on. Eichmann blames everyone else for this though. He references the quote of a child who asked his mother if they could cry yet, and compares the horrors to Dante's Inferno. He says that he will prove that Eichmann aided, abetted, and planned the crime committed by the SS. He was in charge of the practical application of the crimes in all sectors. 00:34:25 Hausner, continuing, says that this was not planned and committed in one night. It was in three slogans, of removing Jews from Germany, then from Poland into camps, then into the crematorium. This was all began with an open statement by Heydrich, and later Eichmann proclaimed himself the ruler of Jewish light in Austria, and his plan was to eliminate all of them. Many others would copy Eichmann's plans. 00:47:15 Hausner, continuing, says that Eichmann, by his own words, was enjoying this, felt that he was being constructive, and only after was he remotely apologetic. Tape ends midsentence.