The Tic

For a time last week in the small Jerusalem courtroom, it was Jew v. Jew. Stately Baron Pinhas von Freudiger (his grandfather had been ennobled by Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef), who was formerly a prominent Jewish leader in Budapest, took the witness stand. As he emotionally described his dealings with Adolf Eichmann in an effort to save the lives of Hungary's 1,000,000 Jews, a squat, burly man in a golfer's cap leaped to his feet screaming "Hypocrite! You duped us so you could save yourselves and your families! Our families were killed. You have no right to testify!"

Doorstep Murder. While police hustled the kicking, screaming man from the court, Baron von Freudiger brushed tears from his eyes. The interruption was a grim reminder of the bitterness that still ravages the Hungarian Jews who escaped Nazi annihilation. Some survivors insist that rich Jews bought their freedom by shipping poor Jews to the ovens of Auschwitz. One of the baron's colleagues. Dr. Rudolf Kastner, was denounced by an Israeli court in 1955 for his dealings with the Nazis. Later, Kastner was murdered on his doorstep by vengeful Jews.

The court pressed Baron von Freudiger to explain why he had not warned Jews in rural Hungary of scheduled deportations and the fate that awaited them. "By the time we realized what Auschwitz was, 300,000 people from Hungary had already gone," replied the baron. "What could we have done? There are people here who say they were not told to escape, but 50% of the people who tried to escape were captured and killed. And others say, 'Why did you tell them to escape?'" Snapped a judge: "I don't think that is an answer to the question."

But the fratricidal anger among Jews gave little comfort to Defendant Adolf Eichmann. Witness after witness nailed down his direct responsibility for the slaughter. Hungary's Regent-Dictator Admiral Nicholas Horthy was intimidated when a warning from the U.S. to call off Jewish deportation was followed up by a heavy bombing of Budapest, and ordered the deportation stopped. He was overruled by Eichmann. An Eichmann lieutenant proposed that Jews be deported at a rate of 3,000 a day; Eichmann--fearful that the advancing Red army might rob him of his prey--boosted the rate to 12,000 daily.

Abraham Gordon, 34, described how Eichmann was personally implicated in beating to death a Jewish teen-ager accused of stealing cherries from an orchard: "The screams lasted about ten or 15 minutes, then stopped. The door opened, and Eichmann came out. He was a little disheveled; his shirt was sticking out, and I am almost sure that I saw bloodstains. I heard Eichmann mutter two words in German, 'Ubriges Mistvolk' [superfluous garbage people]." Minutes later, the "swollen, bloody" corpse of the teen-ager was dragged away.

Scribbled Notes. Eichmann sat grey-faced and haggard through the details. Occasionally, he seemed to have difficulty breathing. His attorney, Dr. Robert Servatius, reported that Eichmann has suffered two mild heart attacks during the trial, but the government-appointed doctor says he has only an arrhythmia (an irregular pulse) caused by nervous tension. When he was accused of having beaten to death the Jewish boy, Eichmann furiously scribbled notes to his lawyer; his mouth twitched, and he ran his tongue over his teeth. At times, his facial tics seemed uncontrollable. He has obviously lost weight, and his pale blue eyes show anxiety and strain. The physical change was emphasized last week when Baron von Freudiger was asked if he could recognize Eichmann. The baron stared at the defendant for a long time, then said: "In my memory lives the image of the lieutenant colonel in a smart uniform standing with his legs astride, his hand on his holster, shouting at me from the heights of his 'master race.' But, nevertheless, I do think that is he."

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