The first witness in the trial of two of the key aides of Adolf Eichmann during the Hungarian occupation testified yesterday that he paid $280, 000 to defendant Hermann Krumey and in return received immunity passes.
Julius Link told of the extortion to the court trying former SS Colonel Krumey and former SS Lt. Col. Otto Hunsche. They are charged with complicity in the roundup and murder of 437, 000 Hungarian Jews as well as with extortion of huge sums from their victims. The witness said that he escaped to Rumania by use of the passes and that he paid the money through SS Col. Kurt Becher.
Hunsche also testified at the trial. He said that Eichmann, who directed the roundup of the Hungarian Jews, most of whom were murdered at the Auschwitz death factory, kept Hungarian Jewish leaders waiting all day in his office as a trick while he sent 1, 500 of their followers to the gas chambers. Hunsche testified that he considered this action “impolite.”
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