U.S. Eagerness to Rescue Jews from Nazi Hands Reported at Eichmann Trial

The United States Government was eager to explore every possibility of rescuing the still surviving Jews of Europe near the end of the war, according to a report by Moshe Sharett to the Jewish Agency introduced today at the trial of Adolf Eichmann.

Contrary to the British refusal to act on a plea by Dr. Weizmann, (see Page 3), U. S. Secretary of State Edward Stetinius, facilitated the efforts of Ira Hirschmann, an American businessman sent by the State Department to Turkey to explore possibilities of saving the remnant of Europe’s decimated Jews from Nazi hands.

One of the sensations disclosed in the documents introduced today–which included material from the archives of the late Dr. Chaim Weizmann–was that a larger scheme existed behind the offer by Eichmann to Joel Brand, the Budapest Jewish leader, to trade 1,000,000 surviving Jews for 10,000 winterized trucks for use on the collapsing Russian front.

The documents showed that Bondi Gross, the Gestapo agent detailed by Eichmann to accompany Brand on his mission to obtain Allied backing of the “Jews for trucks” transaction, was supposed to put out feelers to Allied representatives about conditions for peace and about possibilities of a guarantee for Gestapo leaders after the war. The British were shown to have used this presumed Bondi Gross larger mission as an argument against the Brand mission, which they prevented by arresting the emissary in Alleppo, contrary to prior guarantees.

Mr. Sharett, in his memorandum, argued that on the contrary, such a peace feeler might be an instrument by which to stall further Nazi extermination as long as the Nazis hoped such negotiations were possible.

WEIZMANN CABLED APPEAL TO CHURCHILL DURING MOSCOW CONFERENCE

A cable sent by Dr. Chaim Weizmann to wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the Moscow Conference was also presented at the trial today. The cable cited the dangers threatening European Jewry and proposals to save them. According to a letter from the Prime Minister’s secretary, the matter was formally taken up and Dr. Weizmann was assured that both Britain and the Soviet Union “have in mind the danger of new persecution in Hungary and are doing what they can to avert it.”

Another document was an aide memoire submitted by Dr. Weizmann to Anthony Eden, a member of the British War Cabinet, disclosing that an urgent suggestion was made that the Allies declare their readiness to admit Jewish refugees and specifying the support of neutral countries prepared to give transit support to the refugees.

Brand’s wife also testified at the afternoon session. Describing meetings with Eichmann, she told the court that Eichmann had made it plain that she, her children and her parents would be hostages until her husband’s return from his mission. She readily identified the defendant in his glass-enclosed dock and said she had met him some 15 times.

During many of the meetings, she testified, Eichmann was asked about his unkept promises to show good faith on the “Jews for trucks” transaction by staying the renewed deportations from Hungary. He replied that this was because of the Russian advance and the need to clear the areas of “undesirable elements.” Mrs. Brand said that many of the “clearance” areas were far from the front.

Dr. Robert Servatius, Eichmann’s chief defense counsel, restricted his cross-examination of Mrs. Brand to efforts to show that Eichmann was really interested in seeing the trade of Jews for trucks go through. She declared that Eichmann obviously did not regret the failure of the Brand mission, saying “you see, nobody wants your Jews.” (See earlier report on page 3.)