Eichmann Trial -- Session 59 -- Witness Joel Brand testifies re. negotiations with Eichmann

Session 59. Joel Brand being questioned again. 00:01:12 Cuts out, starts from beginning again - the Wehrmacht's role in the destruction of the Jews. Talk of Bandi Grosz, Hungarian Jewish quadruple agent. 00:05:22 to 00:06:32 Court has break. Between 00:06:32 and 00:10:54 The court is preparing itself. Mr. Brand is looking at "Report of the Jewish Rescue Committee" - asked by Judge Halevi to read certain pages. Brand claims the report to be untrue. 00:19:33 Brand is challenged as to why he went to Turkey, what he thought of Eichmann's deal. 00:24:45 Asked about the Hagana, the Jewish self-defense organization. 00:29:27 Discuss Jewish property and Officer Becher becoming rich by plundering Jews. 00:34:31 Judge Halevi finishes, now Brand is questioned by the Presiding Judge. Questioned on the telegraphs Brand received about the Hungarian deportations. 00:37:47 Queries over the "pleading with Jews" over numbers killed and necessity of the mission. He informed many countries and no one listened or believed what was going on. 00:41:40 Wants to hear about Lord Moyne, explains about the conversations and interrogations with the British about whether the Nazis would really let the Jews go as promised. Moyne asked "what shall I do with one million Jews?" 00:49:38 Attorney General wants to see Brand's certificate of Judenrat. Asked about other certificates which provided benefits for Jews in Budapest (ie. freedom of movement). Questioned on the exclusion of Reszö Kasztner [Rudolf Kastner], Brand negotiating with Eichmann alone whilst Kasztner spoke with Wisliceny. 00:59:33 Talks about whether Kasztner was excluded from Eichmann. 01:02:29 Dr. Servatius asked Brand why he had not mentioned the proposal to blow up installations of Auschwitz to Mr. Shertok. Brand says he did, but report isn't thorough. Reszö Kasztner (Rudolf Kastner; 1906-1957), journalist, lawyer, and Zionist leader, first in his hometown of Cluj, Romania, then after the annexation of Transylvania by Hungary in 1940, in Budapest. In 1943 he became the vice chairman of the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest of the Zionist movement. In 1943 the committee was instrumental - through the work of Joel Brand - in smuggling refugees from Poland and Slovakia into Hungary. After the Germans occupied Hungary in March 1944, the committee made contact with the SS group in charge of the future extermination program under Adolf Eichmann. Kasztner believed that in Hungary, the only avenue for rescue was negotiation with the Germans. Sums of money were paid to the SS, and Joel Brand was sent to Istanbul in May to negotiate the release of large numbers of Jews in return for trucks and other materials ("Blood for Goods"). When Brand was detained by the British and could not return as promised, his wife Hansi, and Kasztner took over direct negotiations with Eichmann. [Extract from Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, v.2] Emil Knebel was a cinematographer known for Andante (2010), Adam (1973), and Wild Is My Love (1963). He was one of the cameramen who recorded daily coverage of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem (produced by Capital Cities Broadcasting Corp and later held academic positions in Israel and New York teaching filmmaking at universities. Refer to CV in file.