SESSION LXII
ABOUT THIS SESSION
SESSION 62 of the trial of Adolf Eichmann took place in the afternoon of Thursday, June 1, 1961. The session begins with the resumption of the submission of documentation on Nazi activity in Hungary, including the ‘foot-march’ from Budapest organized by Eichmann in late 1944. Via transcribed testimony, Kurt Becher states that he secured an order from Himmler to stop the ‘foot-march’, but that Eichmann ignored it and allowed it to continue. After some time, Zvi Henryk Zimmerman—a Krakow ghetto survivor now in the Israel parliament—testifies. Following his testimony, Leslie Gordon (not to be confused with prior witness Avraham Gordon) testifies, recalling his internment and deportation from Budapest. He describes a meeting with Eichmann and identifies him in the courtroom, drawing Attorney General Gideon Hausner’s ire by saying he “looks much better than he should.” Following his testimony, documents are submitted on an April 1944 conference of the directors of Jewish sections in the German Foreign Ministry.
The vast majority of SESSION 62 has been lost, including the entirety of Zimmerman’s testimony. The roughly thirty minutes of surviving footage are presented here.
NOTABLE MOMENTS
00:00 - Submission of documents on Hungary (cont.)
02:54 - Via written testimony, Kurt Becher recalls the ‘foot-march’
05:04 - Becher states that Eichmann defied Himmler’s orders to end the ‘foot-march’
07:15 - Becher recalls a confrontation between Himmler and Eichmann
08:25 - Testimony of Leslie Gordon
09:19 - Gordon recalls the family members deported with him, saying only he survived
14:04 - Gordon describes digging graves for mass executions
19:36 - Gordon recalls a mass execution
23:17 - Gordon describes the behavior of SS men during mass executions
26:26 - Gordon recalls an encounter with Eichmann
28:44 - Asked to identify Eichmann, Gordon says he “looks much better than he should”
TRANSCRIPT
Material highlighted green survives in video form.
Material highlighted pink has been lost.