The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann by Moshe Pearlman

Author:Moshe Pearlman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2015-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

VII—THE BRANCHES FALL

THE JEWISH FATE IN THE Nazi-occupied countries of Western Europe was the same as that of the Jews in Poland, Russia and the Baltic States. Almost all were murdered. But there were two significant differences in the preliminary pattern of persecution. In Western Europe, with few exceptions, the local populations were not anti-Semitic. They were bitterly hostile to the occupying Germans. And so the Germans in these countries could not rely, as they could in Eastern Europe, on local approval of, and help in, the maltreatment of Jews. The second difference followed from the first. In Western Europe, again with the same exceptions, there were few mass killings of Jews on the spot. The Jews were usually deported to a death camp and murdered there. Another corollary to the first element is that the number of Jewish survivors was highest where the local population was actively sympathetic toward its Jewish community. This was most marked in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, with much helpfulness also being shown in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

This emerged from the documents and live testimony presented to the Jerusalem court as the evidence now moved to the activities of the accused and the Nazis in the rest of the European continent and in the Balkans. The overall pattern was standard in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway; and it was much the same in Italy, Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Greece, Bulgaria and Hungary. In most of them, a special branch of Eichmann’s office was opened to handle all Jewish affairs. In some cases, the man in charge was one of Eichmann’s high-ranking assistants; sometimes it was his immediate deputy; and, in Hungary, it was Eichmann himself. But even when he operated from Berlin, his direction was personal and close, as was shown by the prosecution documents, which contained instructions in signed telegrams and letters to his assistants in the field, minutes of his meetings with them, reports by them, and notes of telephone conversations.

The anti-Jewish campaign was begun in each country immediately after its occupation by the German army. The procedure followed the familiar master plan of September 21, 1939 for the extermination program: orders depriving Jews of civil rights; the wearing of an identification badge; the theft of their property; and, finally, their deportation to the camps of death.

The preliminary measures against the Jews were taken at once. Jewish officials in local and central government, public bodies and utilities were dismissed. Jews were ousted from economic life, forbidden contact with non-Jewish industrial business concerns. The Nuremberg Laws were duplicated. Free movement was stopped. Attendance at theaters and other places of entertainment was forbidden. Jewish children were expelled from schools. Later, Jews were prohibited from using telephones and public transport, from entering non-Jewish shops and from visiting non-Jewish homes. They were subjected to a nightly curfew.

Then came the planned operation of theft. At first, the Jews had to register all their property, fixed and movable. Then they had to sell it. They were then

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.