Jews for Trucks

At times last week, not Defendant Adolf Eichmann but Britain and its war time allies seemed on trial.

Heavy Burden. On the witness stand appeared ruddy-faced, voluble Joel Brand, 55. In 1944 Brand was a leader of the Jewish community in Budapest. Eichmann summoned him. offered to exchange 1,000,000 Jews for 10,000 winterized trucks to be supplied by the U.S. or Britain. Eichmann promised that the trucks would be used only against the Russians. Dumfounded. Brand asked who would believe in such a fantastic offer. Replied Eichmann pompously: "A German officer keeps his word." Furthermore. Eichmann promised to release 100,000 Jews and destroy the Auschwitz gas ovens as soon as the first 1,000 trucks were delivered.

Brand was dispatched to neutral Turkey and given 14 days to complete the transaction. To ensure his return, his wife and children were held hostage by the Nazis. Brand's mission ended abruptly when he was seized by the British on the Syrian frontier, taken to Cairo and intensively questioned. When he finished his story, a tall, slim man--identified to him later as Lord Moyne. British Resident Minister in the Middle East--exclaimed: "What should I do with 1,000,000 Jews?"* Eichmann's German attorney. Dr. Robert Servatius, was quick to ask whether the British did not seem to regard the acceptance of 1,000,000 Jews a heavy burden? "Burden is not the right word!'' cried Brand. "They just would not have them!''

Israeli Prosecutor Gideon Hausner then introduced a series of secret wartime documents that seemed aimed more at the Western Allies than at Eichmann. In a 1944 interview in London, Zionist Elder Dr. Chaim Weizmann begged then Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to start negotiations with the Nazis through neutral channels to get the Jews out of Europe. Eden reportedly answered that the "enemy is playing a devilish game," adding vaguely that "moreover, we have to carry America and Russia along with us." In July 1944, Weizmann urged that, as a desperate move. Auschwitz should be bombed in the hope of knocking the gas ovens out of commission. The plea was rejected because of "very great technical difficulties." Nevertheless, during that same month. Flying Fortresses based in Italy blasted a synthetic oil and rubber plant at Auschwitz.

Little Vigor. The testimony caused uneasy stirrings in London. It was pointed out that to have given the Nazis 10,000 trucks to use on the Russian front would have split the Allies just when Hitler was on the brink of collapse. In the face of tight-lipped official silence, the London Times stated that the Jews-for-trucks deal was rejected by Zionists as well as the Allies on the well-founded conviction that the Nazis could not be trusted: "Events soon hardened their suspicions. The extermination of Hungarian Jews was not halted for the two weeks that had been explicitly promised to Mr. Brand."

Adolf Eichmann's most dramatic moment took place out of court. Accompanied by Attorney Dr. Robert Servatius and two Israeli guards, Eichmann attended an evening showing of documentary films of the death camps. Chin in hand, Eichmann watched the filmed record of victims being shot and dumped into ditches, barrel after barrel of severed heads. Throughout 90 minutes, Eichmann scarcely moved--except that once he picked his nose. When the lights came on, Eichmann rose, bowed to Dr. Servatius, walked straight back to his cell, and so to bed.

* Six months later, Lord Moyne was murdered in Egypt by Jewish terrorists.

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