SESSION XXIII
ABOUT THIS SESSION
SESSION 23 of the trial of Adolf Eichmann took place in the morning of Tuesday, May 2, 1961. It begins with an objection by Defense Counsel Dr. Robert Servatius to the testimony of Leon Weliczker Wells, which began in SESSION 22. Servatius argues that the testimony is not relevant to Eichmann personally and that it merely reiterates documentary evidence already submitted to the court. The judges overrule this objection, but caution the prosecution to limit Wells’s testimony. Wells continues his testimony, discussing his work in the Sonderkommando. Just as he did in SESSION 22, Attorney General Gideon Hausner asks Wells why the Jews did not revolt against their captors. Following the conclusion of Wells’s testimony, the prosecution submits several documents into evidence. Henryk Ross then begins his testimony about life in the Lodz ghetto, which continues in SESSION 24.
About half-an-hour of footage remains from SESSION 23. Henryk Ross’s testimony from this session has been lost, but a small portion of his testimony in SESSION 24 survives.
NOTABLE MOMENTS
00:00 - Court not in session
01:25 - Session 23 begins
02:10 - Objection by the Defense
12:51 - Testimony of Leon Wells (cont.)
13:07 - Hausner asks Wells what gave him the will to survive; Wells says it was a ‘will of responsibility’ to bear testimony of the Holocaust
15:19 - Hannah Arendt can be seen in the audience
18:38 - Wells testifies about his work in the Sonderkommando
20:35 - Hannah Arendt can be seen in the audience (far left)
25:26 - Hausner asks why the Jews did not revolt against their captors
TRANSCRIPT
Material highlighted green survives in video form.
Material highlighted pink has been lost.