Evening star., 1961-05-17
Letters Link
Eichnlann 10
Properly Grab

OOO
JERUSALEM, May IT (AP).
Adolf Eichmann was de-
scribed in court today as the
spark plug of the Nazi ma
chinery that confiscated So bill
lion worth Of Jewish property
in Europe.
The Israeli prosecution of
the Gestapo leader assigned to
Jewish affairs" in the Third
Reich produced a pile of so
documents, linking Eichmann
to the most minute details of
the property gobble-up.
1t was Eichmann, Deputy At
torney General Ya'akov Bar'or
said. who directed the precise
methods devised to strip the
Jews Of all they had and even
to make it appear legal in Ger
man eyes.
Letters Tell Procedure
Letters from Eichmann to
Gestapo offices in Nuremberg,
Wuerzburg. Kiel, men,
Prague, Vienna and other
major centers outlined the pro-
cedures and in some cases
contained admonitions against
laxity.
HOne letter complained that
some Jews were known to have
got rid Of some personal pos
sessions when they knew they
were to be transported else
where and Eichmann asserted
this must stop"
The confiscation is the les
ser charge against Eichmann,
compared to the broad indict-
ment that he supervised the
determination of 6 million Jews.
The prosecution gave this
phase Importance to show that
the property seizure was a
definite sign that the Gestapo
and the Nazi IS Elite Guard
were well aware the victims
never would survive.
Jews Declared StateIeSs
The documents illustrated
this system:
A Jew would be ticketed for
deportation and sent to an
assembly" center. There, by
orders from Eichmann's office,
a local member of the courts
would read out a decree that
Jews were enemies of the
Reich"
The victim would be informed
that he could retain only his
identity card. a watch and a
wedding ring. Later. even these
were seized.
Those deported east were de-
clared stateless as soon as
trains in which they were
crammed crossed the frontier
Of the "Old Reich. AS stateless
Jews, they had no rights of any
kind under Hitler's DEGREES.
AS part Of the legal facade.
the Jews were told they would
have to pay for their own trans
port. These sums were de-
posted theoretically with the
"ReichSvereinigung"- the as
sociation the Nazis forged out
of all the disbanded Jewish or
ganizations. In truth, the pro-
secution pointed out from the
documents, the funds went to
an account w" which was
completely at Eichmann's dis
posal."
Eichmann MeticuIous
The defendant, said Mr..
Bar'or, was so meticulous to
operate within the written Nazi
regulations that one one oc-
casion he asked the Foreign
Office for advice on treating
Jews Of foreign nationality
seized in occupied lands such as
Holland and France. He called
it an urgent" matter and he
got back a reply which said in
effect the nationality problem
could in general be ignored.
Mr.. Bar'or submitted an esti-
mated 80 official German
letters seized by the Allies after
the war.
In one letter addressed to the
Nazi secret police in Duessel-
dorf in 1941, Eichmann ex-
pressed interest in the seizure
Of art treasures from Jewish
homes $50 that they could be
made available for sale"
Mr.. Bar'or said Eichmann, in
pre-trial Interrogation, claimed
that his letter was motivated
by Luftwaffe Boss Hermann
Goering, who had a peculiar
liking for art treasures"
Mr.. Bar'or said part Of the
proceeds from the sale Of the
Jewish art treasures were used
to finance the Lebensborn
baby farms" at which the SIS
sired children by healthy n-
married German girls.