SESSION LXX
ABOUT THIS SESSION
SESSION 70 of the trial of Adolf Eichmann took place in the morning of Thursday, June 8, 1961. The session begins with the testimony of Raya Kagan, who continues the prosecution’s chapter on Auschwitz. She testifies about her experiences there, including working to register prisoners’ deaths. Esther Goldstein then testifies regarding her own Auschwitz experience, identifying herself and a number of acquaintances in a series of photographs taken in the camp. Finally, following a recess, a series of documentary films are entered into evidence by the prosecution via screening them in court without the audience present. These same films were pre-screened the previous night in the so-called SESSION 69.5.
Although much of the footage from SESSION 70 has been lost, the approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes of surviving material is presented here, including the entirety of Goldstein’s testimony.
While many sessions of the Eichmann trial contain disturbing testimony, this session contains extremely graphic images as well, including corpses and mass graves. As a result, the video of this session can only be viewed on YouTube when signed into the account of a user who is at least 18 years old.
The original films screened during this session can be viewed here:
• ‘Night & Fog’: On DVD via the Criterion Collection or streaming on Max
• Belsen after liberation: Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3 | Video 4
NOTABLE MOMENTS
0:00:00 - Testimony of Raya Kagan
0:00:55 - Kagan recalls recording fake causes of death for prisoners
0:09:54 - Kagan confirms that SS men were given a daily quota of dead prisoners
0:23:41 - Testimony of Esther Goldstein
0:25:42 - Goldstein identifies herself in a photo of Auschwitz prisoners
0:26:11 - Close-up of the aforementioned photo
0:31:21 - Hausner comforts Goldstein as she becomes emotional
0:52:03 - Recess
0:57:00 - Hausner chats with Servatius
0:57:21 - Session 70 resumes
1:03:18 - Servatius raises reservations with specific scenes from the films to be screened
1:08:34 - Hausner responds to Servatius’s objections
1:12:19 - Film screening: Einsatzgruppen mass execution
1:15:06 - Film screening: ‘Night & Fog’ (excerpts)
1:29:46 - Film screening: ‘Death Mills’
1:41:00 - Film screening: Belsen after liberation
1:46:56 - Hausner apologizes for subjecting the Court to such graphic footage
1:47:26 - Court is adjourned
TRANSCRIPT
Material highlighted green survives in video form.
Material highlighted pink has been lost.