Israel’s famed Sixth Bureau, set up last May to collect and prepare the evidence to be presented against Adolf Eichmann for his crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish people, was formally mustered out at ceremonies yesterday.
In its nine months of existence, the bureau collected evidence against the Nazi executioner on three continents which will be the basis for the charges Eichmann will be called upon to answer when he goes on trial in Jerusalem next month.
Inspector-General of Police Joseph Nachmias took the last parade of the bureau staff in a brief ceremony at Camp Iyar, Eichmann’s prison in the north of Israel, and thanked the men for their diligent work. The documents recording its activities and findings were described as exceeding one ton in weight.
The bureau worked through 20 departments, each concerned with one country under Nazi occupation or one land where Nazis or their victims may have taken refuge. Its investigators had German Foreign Office files and other German archives weighing more than 400 tons to sift through as well as documentary material supplied by other governments and anti-Nazi organizations. They also studied the records of the Nuremberg and other war crimes trial.
Some of the information obtained by the Sixth Bureau investigators dealing with war crimes did not involve Eichmann but other Nazi war criminals. This material was sorted out and catalogued separately. In all, the bureau questioned 120 witnesses, of whom 49 are scheduled to confront Eichmann at his trial. Commander Avraham Selinger said today that other witnesses may also be called.
The veteran police investigator said that the witnesses will be people who came into direct contact with Eichmann in Germany, Austria and Hungary and Nazi victims. He said no Nazi war criminals would be called to testify against Eichmann although their testimony in other trials may be introduced in the Jerusalem proceedings.
The catalog of the documents connected with the Eichmann trial makes a 200-page book, Commander Selinger said. Eichmann’s statement alone fills 3,564 pages bound in six volumes.
Only one man questioned Eichmann during his long detention here, Deputy Commander Avner Lev. He met with the prisoner six hours a day, almost every day. Lev’s questions and Eichmann’s answers were recorded on tape and later transcribed. The typed pages were submitted to Eichmann for correction and signature.
The interrogation of Eichmann ceased about two weeks ago when the charge sheet, the equivalent of an indictment, was presented to him.
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