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Eichmann’s Lawyer Asks Postponement of Trial; May Open After Passover

February 14, 1961
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Dr. Robert Servatius, German defense lawyer for Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal who directed the mass killing of 6,000,000 Jews in Europe during the Second World War, today asked for a two-week postponement of the Eichmann trial which was scheduled to begin here on March 15.

He said he was unable to complete preparations for the trial and study the voluminous evidence by March 15. In acceding to the request, the Ministry of Justice is expected to extend the postponement until after the Passover holiday.

Mendel Scharf, the German-born Israeli attorney who will act as a consultant to Dr. Servatius on Israeli court procedure and law, announced today that he had turned over his retainer for his work on the defense case to three Israeli institutions. They are the Institute of Criminology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; the Department for Research Into the Nazi Holocaust at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan; and the Benevolent Association of Central European Refugees.

Mr. Scharf, 48, who did not disclose the amount of his fee, said that in accepting the assignment, he was motivated by the principle that Dr. Servatius, a foreign lawyer, should be afforded every assistance to conduct an adequate defense.

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