Day 17: Eichmann has Jurisdiction.

1938 August 26th. Office for Jewish Emigration, ‘Zentralstelle fur Judische Auswanderung’ established in Vienna. Decreed for the facilitating of Jewish emigration and comes under Adolf Eichmann jurisdiction.

The name of Eichmann permeates The Holocaust arena like the veritable stench of Death and Destruction. Much has been attributed to this Architect of the Genocide of The Jewish People. A radical influence of the conduct of operations against the Jews. Knowledgeable in small part about the Jews! Yet ignorant of the Fact that Genocide is crippling to the intelligence of those who seek to peruse its darker corners in order to gain sovereignty over the threshold of Life and Death of another People. Eichmann was always a small cog in a very big wheel, but his ability to command senior officials remained an invaluable asset to Hitler’s call for that final resolve.

The Final Solution sees Eichmann range throughout Europe, orchestrating the very timbre of that eventual solution, with an impunity beyond his rank, though his profile was far greater. At his Trial in Jerusalem his tone was in stark contrast to an arrogant stature on a European stage, and as he admits to the heinous nature of the Crimes he was largely guilty of progressing, there is little remorse. Forging ahead with the programme of Hitler’s Final Solutions, through varying stages leading toward the eventual Destruction of the Jews of Europe, Eichmann remained uniquely placed to decide the future of all Jews within reach of Hitler. One of the lowest ranked officials at The Wannsee Conference, it is clear his position was greatly enhanced by his Murderous expertise. When the call to annihilate 11,000,000 of World Jewry became the protocol, Eichmann was to be the auditor of the account.

“..I must state that I consider this murder ..this extermination of ..Jews ..to be one of ..most heinous crimes in ..history of mankind.” Adolf Eichmann.

1939 August 26th. Hitler guarantees neutrality of Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Sweden.

What we know of Hitler’s promises need not be contended with. Pledges were delivered which were broken. Treaties brokered were ignored. The direct involvement of Hitler’s word was a calculated ploy to ensure those guarantees placated those they were intended to deceive. What is clear, however, what Hitler fully intended, a conquest of the World to forward German expansion was a guaranteed certainty. What he had proposed all through his political infancy and burgeoning War cry was the Destruction of the Jewish People, both Territorially and finally, in the removal of the Jewish Person from existence.

1941 August 26th. more than 2,560 Zarasai Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are murdered while all 1,911 of Kaisiadory’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are also murdered. Over a 2 day period some 664 of Seduva’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children faced the same fate, as they too are murdered. Hitler flew from his Vinnitza HQ to von Kluge’s HQ at Brest-Litovsk to add his vocal presence to the advancement of the Wehrmacht East.

The scale of the Slaughter might overwhelm the conscious mind as we attempt to comprehend and even contend with such a murderous undertaking. But all the while we must reflect solely on that aspect of The Catastrophe which Facts and figures do not relate, and that is the Human dimension of what took place, what occurred and what was forced upon the Jewish People who were systematically sought out and ritually Destroyed before the altar of Hitler’s perverse demand! I was asked by a Student body once how was it best to comprehend such a huge undertaking.

As a Football fan it was easy to see, in gate attendances, a measure of what it might mean over such a loss? If we take the 2,560 Jews of Zarasai as an example and place such a travesty in and around the Football arena, the anxiety of perhaps 10,000 or 12,000 people would be heightened over the loss of those immediately affected. The grief of an entire Community has no match here though, because there will be no one to grieve from Zarasai, no one to know of the scale of Destruction, until later, and no one to express the vibrancy of those 2,560 individuals, Murdered at the behest of Hitler, discarded by the demands of a clear hatred and left to add a dimension to atrocity we seek newer terms to comprehend its horrifying conduct.

1942 August 26th. 1,000 Belgian Jews deported East while further South 7,000 Jews are arrested in Unoccupied, Vichy France. Meanwhile, 518 Parisian Jewish Children are murdered upon arrival in Birkenau.

Brought to the attention by the studious work of Serge Klarsfeld the fate of the Jewish Children of France is a grim reminder of what an obscenity resides within the Facts and figures related to The Holocaust. Belgian Jews who had lived peaceably amongst their Neighbours are trawled from their homes and brought to non-existence by the relentless wheel of Hitlerite savagery! Vichy France, who had little in common with what happened with Occupied France had to open its doors to the German demands for the transport East of all Jews with that Territory! Nowhere was safe for Jews! No Jew was safe! Not even the Jewish Children! There is a poignancy to the Fact of those who entered the Destructive process at Auschwitz, and Gisella Perl has an enlightening insight to the horrors that prevailed.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

19. Perl, Gisella I was a Doctor in Auschwitz.