Dr. Robert Servatius, the West German attorney who will defend Adolf Eichmann in the Nazi’s trial here next month, expressed strong objections today to pdans to televise the trial proceedings.
He said that witnesses, reacting to the publicity of being televised, would exaggerate their roles in the European holocaust as well as their claims and charges against the former Gestapol colonel accused of directing the extermination of 6, 000, 000 Jews in Europe. Bringing up the subject at a pre-trial meeting with the three judges who will sit at the trial, Dr. Servatius contended televising the trial would be beneath the court’s dignity. The trial will open April 11.
Attorney General Gideon Hausner, who will direct the prosecution, replied that the presence of the cameras would actually force witnesses to think twice before speaking. Noting that the Nuremberg trials had been filmed, the Attorney General said that the Eichmann trial, as an event of great historical significance, required being recorded on film.
Sixth Bureau officials, it was disclosed today, have prepared charts of Eichmann’s position in the Nazi machine and surveyed his role in introducing the gas chambers and his contacts with the former Mufti of Jerusalem.
Except for Deputy Commander Avner Levy, who investigated him, and Dr. Servatius, Eichmann was not permitted to speak to anyone during his incarceration at Camp Iyar. Guards in the cell and outside the door had strict instructions not to answer his questions. Eichmann was given the regular prisoner’s ration of eight cigarettes a day, but during his questioning periods, received a more liberal ration. A doctor visited him daily. He ate the same food as his guards, the commander of the guards selecting his plate at each meal from those prepared for the guards in order to prevent attempts at poisoning the prisoner.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
