Gideon Hausner the prosecutor of Adolf Eichmann, told visiting Mexican President Luis Echeverria last night that he was standing by his statement that Jews had generally been abandoned during the Holocaust, despite Echeverria’s demurrer that Mexico had been an exception. Hausner, now a Minister-Without-Portfolio, made the statement at the Vad Yashem Thursday night.
Noting Echeverria’s demurrer, Hausner told the Mexican leader that Mexico had admitted 5,000 fleeing Jews but had turned some ships with Jewish survivors back to Europe. Echeverria asked Hausner which Latin American state had admitted more Jews than did Mexico and Hausner replied immediately that the Dominican Republic had. He promised a detailed record for Echeverria to take with him.
Before Echeverria’s departure today for Amman, Hausner gave the Mexican President a dossier containing detailed information on the behavior of Latin American countries toward Jewish refugees during the Holocaust years. Hausner told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency later that “I do not make political calculations when it comes to the Holocaust.” and that he could not be influenced by the possibility that presentation of the facts might embarrass Echeverria. He said “we owe it to our six million to give the facts about them.”
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.
