The Israel Ministry of Justice today received a $1,000,000,000 claim against Adolf Eichmann, Nazi war criminal who directed the killing of 6,000,000 Jews in Europe, whose trial is to open here early in April. The claim was addressed to the Jerusalem Criminal Court and was submitted by Dr. M. Ostrowski, noted Polish international law expert, on behalf of the widows and orphans of those murdered in Poland by the Nazis.
Eichmann’s defense attorney, Dr. Robert Servatius, planned meanwhile to leave for West Germany again tomorrow in a new bid to obtain financing of defense costs from the West German Government. The Cologne attorney contends there are precedents for such payments for the defense of Nazis charged with crimes outside of Germany. The attorney also said that if West Germany provides such aid, he would refund the $20,000 Israel has agreed to pay him, part of which has already been given to him.
Dr. Servatius and his assistant, Hebrew speaking West German attorney D. Wechten-bruch, are now meeting Eichmann daily in four to five-hour sessions preparing his defense in the trial now scheduled to open early in April. The prosecution brief handed to Dr. Servatius when the statement of the charges was published contains about 1,500 documents, ranging from one to 100 pages. Eichmann himself wrote or dictated 4,000 pages of statements to police.
Eichmann named in the statements many who took part in the mass murder of European Jews, including persons now in official positions in both West Germany and East Germany. Dr. Servatius asserted that “causing embarrassment to those who are still alive will not keep us from bringing up names in court or even calling them to testify, if necessary.”
The defense attorney said also that Eichmann, now wearing army khaki in his detention cell, was “aware that he could have been treated differently” by his captors than the promise of a fair trial and the procedure of even being allowed contact with his family.
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