Eichmann and Sassen interview

Glossary

These 99 entries explain terms used in the interview.

Party, state, and military

The Nazi Party, German ministries, military commands, and the bodies used to govern Germany and occupied Europe.

OKWArmed Forces High Command The supreme command staff of Germany’s armed forces during the war.

What it means

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW, was the Armed Forces High Command formed in 1938. It sat beneath Hitler and above much of Germany's military command system.

The army, navy, and air-force commands kept much of their power, so the OKW wasn't a simple unified headquarters. It helped plan and issue criminal war orders.

In this interview

A speaker asks whether a border barrier east of the General Government answered to the OKW or to a Berlin border-police office.

The Army High Command was a separate body, the OKH.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 579 The speakers weigh whether an eastern border barrier came under the OKW or another central office.

    Now, when people came out of the General Government and made off eastward into Russian-occupied territory, they slipped through a barrier. Whose authority was that barrier under—the OKW (Armed Forces High Command), a central office for border-police matters in Berlin, or Poland-Frank?

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OTOrganisation Todt Nazi engineering and construction organization that relied heavily on forced labor.

What it means

Organisation Todt, or OT, began in 1938 to build the Westwall fortifications. It grew into a huge wartime building body for roads, bunkers, factories, and military works.

Under Fritz Todt and then Albert Speer, OT relied increasingly on forced workers and prisoners of war. By late 1944 most of its workforce wasn't German.

In this interview

The speakers invoke OT workers while arguing that Jewish prisoners could have been used for labor instead of being murdered.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 444 A speaker contrasts murder with forcing people into labor where OT personnel were employed.

    Yes, and that is why I come back to this: where was the benefit in killing these people? Another benefit would surely have been to put them to work where our own people from the OT (Organisation Todt) were working, instead of gassing them.

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Party Chancellery Nazi Party office led by Martin Bormann that handled party business and influence over the state.

What it means

The Nazi Party Chancellery handled central party business and links between Hitler, party offices, and the state. Martin Bormann became its head in 1941 after Rudolf Hess flew to Britain.

Bormann used the office to expand his access to Hitler and his power over domestic policy. Party Chancellery officials took part in anti-Jewish law and deportations.

In this interview

The speakers discuss Party Chancellery officials in Holland and Berlin and their part in proposed anti-Jewish measures.

The Reich Chancellery of the German state was a different office.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 699 Eichmann links the words of a draft to Reischauer of the Party Chancellery.

    …think the registrar would have put up with that. This sharpness of wording could come from Senior Government Councillor Reischauer, from the Party Chancellery of the Führer. I would think him capable of it; I know him. But that was by no means his personal view—I do not mean to say that. It was his official assignment.

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Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern TerritoriesReichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete The ministry that directed German civil policy in much of the occupied Soviet Union.

What it means

Hitler set up the ministry in July 1941 under Alfred Rosenberg. It oversaw the Reich Commissariats Ostland and Ukraine and sought German political, racial, and economic control in the occupied east.

Ministry staff worked amid overlapping power held by the SS, police, army, and occupation officials. Its officials knew about and took part in anti-Jewish persecution, forced labor, seizure, and mass murder.

In this interview

The ministry is mentioned in discussion of the Wannsee Conference, Romanian deportation plans, gas killing proposals, and messages from occupation officials in Ostland.

The ministry didn’t control all German action in the east. SS and police leaders, military commands, Reich commissioners, and local offices had overlapping powers.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 487 A ministry official is named in the Wannsee attendance list.

    So the participants were: Gauleiter Dr. Meyer and Reichsamtleiter (Reich office leader) Dr. Leibbrandt, Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories?

  2. Page 584 A ministry reply discusses the Jewish question and economic interests.

    Then a reply comes on 18 December 1941 from the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories:

  3. Page 585 The Reich Commissioner for Ostland writes to the ministry about Kube.

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WHWWinter Relief of the German People Nazi winter charity drive used for relief, propaganda, and pressure to conform.

What it means

The Winterhilfswerk, or WHW, began in 1933 as a Nazi winter-relief drive. Street and house collections, badges, and public meals made it a visible part of daily life under the regime.

The WHW worked closely with Nazi welfare bodies and the Propaganda Ministry. Its wartime campaigns continued as the Kriegswinterhilfswerk.

In this interview

A WHW letter from Posen, read during the interview, concerns bloodstained clothing bearing Jewish stars that had been given to the charity.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 346 A 1943 WHW letter protests the state of clothing sent to Posen and notes that Jewish stars remained on some garments.

    Now here is a letter from the WHW (Winter Relief) in Posen, winter 43, to the Lord Mayor of Litzmannstadt. It protests about the partly heavily stained items of clothing, even soiled with blood and dirt, made available to the WHW. It also says that the returning settlers intended to receive care from the WHW learn where the things came from and that the WHW thereby falls into disrepute. It therefore emerges clearly that the…

References

SS and police

SS branches, police bodies, mobile units, camp offices, and regional commands.

Einsatzgruppe Mobile Security Police and SD formations that carried out mass shootings behind the front.

What it means

Einsatzgruppen were mobile task forces of the Security Police and SD that followed German forces into seized territory. They carried out security duties, terror, and mass murder.

After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, four main Einsatzgruppen organized mass shootings of Jews, Roma, Soviet officials, and others. Smaller Einsatzkommandos worked beneath them.

In this interview

The speakers press Eichmann about the Einsatzgruppen in the East and his knowledge of their mass shootings.

Eichmann sometimes calls his Hungary staff a Sonderkommando and rejects the label Einsatzgruppe.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 35 The discussion turns to Ohlendorf and the killings carried out by Einsatzgruppen in the East.

    …consistently, the head of Office III in the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office). I cannot say anything more precise about the activity of the Einsatzgruppen (operational groups) in the East, because I never had anything to do with that subject in an official capacity. But perhaps what I just touched on with Höss applies here to some extent too: our willingness at that time to take on as much as possible in order to relieve…

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Einsatzkommando Subunit of an Einsatzgruppe, often used as a mobile killing unit in the East.

What it means

An Einsatzkommando was an operational detachment, often a smaller unit within an Einsatzgruppe. Its leader normally received orders through the Einsatzgruppe command line.

In the occupied Soviet lands, these units helped carry out mass shootings and other terror measures. The word could sometimes be used more broadly for a special detachment.

In this interview

The speakers discuss Einsatzkommando chiefs, their orders, and mass shootings in the East.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 141 Eichmann says Einsatzkommando leaders received orders from their Einsatzgruppe chief rather than his Berlin desk.

    Where there were commanders, I had nothing to command. The commanders were like the Einsatzkommando operational-detachment leaders; they received their orders from the Einsatzgruppen chief, and the Einsatzgruppen chief naturally had a desk officer on his staff. They received their orders from the Einsatzgruppen chief and not from Berlin. It was passed down that way in a strict chain of command from above. Otherwise a triangle…

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GestapaGeheimes Staatspolizeiamt, Secret State Police Office The central Secret State Police Office in Berlin, later RSHA Office IV.

What it means

Gestapa was short for Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt. It named only the central Secret State Police Office in Berlin.

After the RSHA was formed, the central Gestapo office became Office IV. Some official papers still used the name Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt.

In this interview

Eichmann uses Gestapa when he means the central Berlin office and its sections. He sets it above the Stapo and Stapoleit offices.

Gestapa isn't a misspelling of Gestapo.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 305 Eichmann names Gestapa as the central office led by Müller and places Stapo offices below it.

    …it was the Security Police Main Office. The Security Police Main Office included the Gestapo Office, the Secret State Police Office (Gestapa), and the Reich Criminal Police Office.

  2. Page 306 He mentions Gestapa and its regional arms as state bodies.

    …was clearly set apart by the Party and was purely a Party apparatus, with nothing to do with the state side. The Secret State Police Office (Gestapa), with its State Police offices (Stapo) and State Police headquarters (Stapoleit), and the Reich Criminal Police, with its Criminal Police offices (Kripo) and Criminal Police headquarters (Kripoleit), were purely state organizations and were also paid by the state.

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KripoCriminal Police Germany’s criminal detective police and one branch of the Security Police.

What it means

Kripo is short for Kriminalpolizei, Nazi Germany's criminal detective police. In 1936 it joined the Gestapo in the Security Police, or Sipo.

The Kripo became Office V of the RSHA in 1939. It used preventive detention to send tens of thousands of people branded as criminal or socially dangerous to concentration camps.

In this interview

The speakers place the Kripo beside the Stapo when they discuss how the RSHA joined police and SD bodies.

Kripo was the criminal-police branch, separate from the Gestapo's political police.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 305 Eichmann mentions Kripo and Kripoleit as the regional arms of the Reich Criminal Police Office.

    …is not called Gestapo; it is called Stapo. For the Reich Criminal Police Office, the subordinate extensions were the Criminal Police offices (Kripo) and the Criminal Police headquarters (Kripoleit). The Security Service Main Office consisted of several offices,

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LAHLeibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Waffen-SS unit that began as Hitler’s personal guard.

What it means

LAH is short for Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. It began as Hitler's personal SS guard and grew into a major Waffen-SS formation.

The Waffen-SS fought as an armed branch of the SS and took part in the Holocaust and other war crimes.

In this interview

The speakers mention an LAH member who said his unit had been used in anti-Jewish actions in occupied Soviet lands.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 365 A speaker recalls an LAH member discussing his unit's use in anti-Jewish actions in the occupied Soviet territories.

    …we see it in black and white. And if you ask an honest man of the Waffen-SS today, he will be able to confirm it. I remember a member of the LAH (Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler) being here once who openly admitted that his unit, from the LAH, had also been deployed in such Jewish affairs in the occupied Russian territories.

References

Order Police Uniformed German police network used for occupation, deportation guards, and mass shootings.

What it means

The Order Police, or Ordnungspolizei, joined Germany's uniformed police forces under one main office in 1936. It included urban police, rural gendarmes, and other uniformed services.

During the war, Order Police battalions guarded deportation trains, cleared ghettos, and took part in mass shootings. Kurt Daluege headed the main office for most of the war.

In this interview

Eichmann repeatedly names Order Police guards assigned to deportation trains and to guard posts.

Order Police were uniformed. The Security Police, or Sipo, worked in plain clothes.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 98 Eichmann says German Order Police detachments of twenty-four to thirty men guarded transports from Slovakia.

    …well. In this case Slovak … agencies had to gather the Jews together and carry out the loading. Once the transport train was loaded, German Order Police personnel boarded it, normally 24 to 30 men, and escorted the transport to the destination station named to me by the WEHA or, at the beginning, by the Chief of the Security Police. But before such transports could be carried out, it was necessary that

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Reich Criminal Police OfficeReichskriminalpolizeiamt, RKPA The national criminal police headquarters, folded into RSHA Office V in 1939.

What it means

The Reich Criminal Police Office led Germany’s detective police. Arthur Nebe headed it for much of the Nazi period.

In 1939 the office became Office V of the RSHA. The Criminal Police helped enforce racial and social persecution, including detention and deportation of Roma, people branded habitual criminals, and others sent to camps.

In this interview

Eichmann places it beside the Gestapo and Order Police while explaining the police structure and Nebe’s post.

The interview’s sketch of the police compresses several reorganizations. Before 1939 the office belonged to the Security Police main office. After 1939 it was RSHA Office V.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 281 Eichmann lists it in a sketch of the police offices under Himmler.

    …In those offices where the desk officer possessed executive powers, he was only the head of his office machinery. That includes the Reich Criminal Police Office, the Order Police office and the Gestapo office.

  2. Page 305 He contrasts Nebe’s criminal police office with Müller’s Gestapo office.

    …Security Police Main Office. The Security Police Main Office included the Gestapo Office, the Secret State Police Office (Gestapa), and the Reich Criminal Police Office.

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RSHAReichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office The SS and police headquarters formed in 1939 from the Security Police and SD.

What it means

Himmler formed the RSHA on September 27, 1939. It brought the Security Police and SD into one headquarters led first by Reinhard Heydrich and later by Ernst Kaltenbrunner.

By 1941 it had seven numbered offices. Office IV was the Gestapo, Office V was the Kripo, and Offices III and VI held domestic and foreign SD intelligence.

In this interview

The speakers use both RSHA and Reich Security Main Office when discussing Eichmann’s unit, its chiefs, and the boundaries among offices.

The RSHA didn’t include every SS or German police body. Order Police and the WVHA remained outside it.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 15 Eichmann locates IV B 4 in the Reich Security Main Office.

    …of land and our need to bring the problem to a solution, did the Madagascar idea arise again. I myself, as the IV B4 desk officer in the Reich Security Main Office, put the Madagascar idea to Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and the SD (Security Service)—after first presenting it to Müller, of course—and received permission to set everything useful in motion.

  2. Page 305 He mentions how the Security Police and SD main offices were brought together in the RSHA.

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SDSicherheitsdienst, Security Service The SS intelligence service, led for most of its life by Reinhard Heydrich.

What it means

The SD began in 1931 as the Nazi Party’s intelligence service within the SS. It gathered information about people and groups the Nazis treated as enemies.

The SD and Security Police entered the RSHA in 1939. Office III handled domestic intelligence and Office VI handled foreign intelligence.

In this interview

Eichmann speaks of his early SD duties, the Chief of the Sipo and SD, and the SD offices inside the RSHA.

The SD wasn’t the Gestapo and had different legal roots. In occupied land their staff and duties often overlapped.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 7 Eichmann mentions his early place in the SD and its work on Jewish affairs.

    …he spoke of the solution of the Jewish question. Soon afterward, when the Zionist association was assigned to me as a subject area in the SD Main Office, I had already begun to write “Re: Final Solution of the Jewish Question” in the files, because the Reichsführer's aim was to bring about a final solution. The term “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” has nothing to do with a physical end or the end of a physical…

  2. Page 305 He sets the party-based SD beside the state-based Security Police before their union in the RSHA.

    Originally, in 1934 or 1935, there was a Security Service Main Office. That was the Security Service of the RF SS (Reichsführer-SS). This Security Service of the RF SS (Reichsführer-SS) was brought together in the Security Service Main Office, and the SS districts and SS senior districts came under it. Alongside it was the Security Police Main Office. The Security Police Main Office included the Gestapo Office, the Secret…

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SipoSicherheitspolizei, Security Police The Gestapo and Kripo combined, led by Reinhard Heydrich from 1936.

What it means

Himmler created the Security Police in 1936 by joining the political police, Gestapo, with the criminal police, Kripo. Reinhard Heydrich led it while also leading the SD.

In 1939 the Security Police and SD entered the RSHA. They still kept different legal and staffing roots even while working together.

In this interview

The phrase most often appears in the title Chief or Commander of the Sipo and SD. The English uses SIPO, Sipo, SiPo, and Security Police.

Sipo didn’t mean all police. Order Police was a separate branch, and SD was joined with Sipo but wasn’t one of its two police arms.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 305 Eichmann names Gestapa and the Reich Criminal Police Office as the two arms of the Security Police main office.

    …was brought together in the Security Service Main Office, and the SS districts and SS senior districts came under it. Alongside it was the Security Police Main Office. The Security Police Main Office included the Gestapo Office, the Secret State Police Office (Gestapa), and the Reich Criminal Police Office.

  2. Page 306 He contrasts the state police bodies with the party-based SD.

    which were headed at that time by Brandt, Oberg, Ohlendorf and so on. Their chief in that sector was Heydrich, just as he was chief of the Security Police Main Office, which consisted of the State Police and the Reich Criminal Police. Heydrich stood over it, and his chief was the RF (Reichsführer-SS), who was chief over various main offices. There was the Order Police Main Office, itself divided into various branches,…

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Sonderkommando This word has two meanings here. Most passages mean Eichmann’s task force. In the account of the crematorium revolt, it means the forced-prisoner crematorium squad.

What it means

Sonderkommando means special detachment and was used for very different units. In Hungary, Sonderkommando Eichmann meant Eichmann's SS and police staff for deportations.

In killing centers, Sonderkommando also meant prisoner squads forced into labor at gas chambers and crematoria.

In this interview

The speakers use Sonderkommando for Eichmann's Hungary staff and later for the prisoner squad that revolted at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 60 Eichmann rejects the label Einsatzgruppe for his Hungary staff and says it was called a Sonderkommando.

    I was not a task force (Einsatzgruppe). I was a special detachment (Sonderkommando). They called it Eichmann.

  2. Page 676 A passage read aloud mentions the prisoner Sonderkommando revolt at the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria.

    The special detachment (Sonderkommando), made up of prisoners, revolted in the summer of 1944, because the prisoners concluded from various signs that now they too were to be sacrificed. They refused to leave their block and even set part of the gas chambers on fire, but the machine guns and submachine guns of the SS appeared from every direction and put the rising down in a moment. The two doctors of the special detachment…

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StapoState Police A short name often used for a state police office.

What it means

Stapo is a short form of Staatspolizei, the State Police. In the interview it usually means a regional political-police office.

These offices acted as the Gestapo's regional arms. They handled political-police duties, arrests, detention, and deportations in their areas.

In this interview

Eichmann contrasts Stapo offices below the Gestapa with Kripo offices below the Reich Criminal Police Office.

The speakers sometimes say Gestapo loosely where Eichmann insists on Stapo.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 305 Eichmann lays out the police structure and says the Gestapa's arms below Berlin were the Stapo and Stapoleit.

    One was headed by Müller, the other by Nebe. The State Police offices (Stapo) and the State Police headquarters (Stapoleit) belonged to the Gestapa as its subordinate extensions—the so-called Gestapo, but it is not called Gestapo; it is called Stapo. For the Reich Criminal Police Office, the subordinate extensions were the Criminal Police offices (Kripo) and the Criminal Police headquarters (Kripoleit). The Security Service…

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WVHASS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt, SS Economic and Administrative Main Office The SS office that ran its finances, businesses, forced labor, and concentration camp system from 1942.

What it means

The WVHA was formed in 1942 under Oswald Pohl. It joined SS economic, financial, supply, building, and camp activity in one main office.

The Concentration Camps Inspectorate entered the WVHA in March 1942. The office then controlled the camp system and the use of prisoners as forced labor.

In this interview

The English has WVHA as well as transposed or damaged forms VWHA, VW HA, and WEHA. The surrounding talk names Pohl, camps, labor, and transport destinations.

VuWHA may refer to the SS Administration and Economic Main Office that came before the WVHA.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 8 Eichmann names the WVHA beside the Chief of the Security Police and SD in a discussion of Himmler’s orders.

    …it to the RF (Reichsführer-SS), who must have given it to the Chief of the Security Police and the SD (Security Service). The head of the WVHA (SS Economic and Administrative Main Office) will have received the remaining directives personally from the Reichsführer.

  2. Page 210 He says WVHA doctors at Auschwitz selected who could labor.

    There were doctors assigned to Auschwitz by the WVHA (SS Economic and Administrative Main Office) who decided which of the people brought in could work. The bulk of them had to work, and whoever could not work inevitably marched into the gas chambers. I knew that too.

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Offices and codes

Office names, department numbers, file markings, and short forms used inside German state and SS paperwork.

GRSSecret Reich Matter A high German security classification, written Geheime Reichssache in German.

What it means

GRS abbreviates Geheime Reichssache, literally a secret Reich matter. It marked the highest German state-secrecy level and is often rendered in English as top secret.

The marking governed how a paper was handled and who could see it.

In this interview

The speakers use GRS for highly restricted papers, including a request sent to IV B 4 about a skeleton collection.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 694 A speaker says a 1942 request for aid building a skeleton collection reached IV B 4 as GRS.

    In 1942 a request was brought to Office IV B 4 as a secret Reich matter (GRS), to help build up a collection of skeletons. June 1942.

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IV B 4RSHA Office IV B 4, the Jewish-affairs and deportation unit Eichmann’s unit in the RSHA Gestapo office. It coordinated anti-Jewish policy and deportations.

What it means

IV B 4 was a unit inside Office IV, the Gestapo branch of the RSHA. Adolf Eichmann led it and its earlier forms as Nazi policy moved from forced emigration to continent-wide deportation and mass murder.

The letters and numbers show its place in the RSHA tree. IV meant Gestapo, B marked a division within it, and 4 marked the unit commonly called the Jewish desk.

In this interview

Eichmann repeatedly uses IV B 4 to define his staff, authority, files, and dealings with other offices. He uses Referat, section, Department, Office, and Amt before the code.

The unit’s name and place changed before 1941.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 15 Eichmann says he was at IV B4 in the RSHA while discussing the Madagascar Plan.

    …our own day, in our shortage of land and our need to bring the problem to a solution, did the Madagascar idea arise again. I myself, as the IV B4 desk officer in the Reich Security Main Office, put the Madagascar idea to Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and the SD (Security Service)—after first presenting it to Müller, of course—and received permission to set everything useful in motion.

  2. Page 246 He divides his unit into IV B 4 a and IV B 4 b and names their staff.

    The fundamental order, which came out in writing, came out at the outbreak of war: emigration was now stopped; no Jew was allowed to emigrate any more, and release from a concentration camp during wartime was forbidden. That meant, for the protective-custody section head in our Office IV—that was Section IV A… — IV B 4: that was the subdivision of my section. I had the subdivisions IV B 4 a and IV B 4 b.

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Kripoleit Shortened form of Kriminalpolizeileitstelle, a regional Criminal Police headquarters.

What it means

Kripoleit shortens Kriminalpolizeileitstelle, a leading regional Criminal Police office. It belonged to the Kripo side of the Security Police system.

These regional offices worked below the Reich Criminal Police Office, which became RSHA Office V in 1939. Their duties differed from the political-police duties of the Stapo.

In this interview

Eichmann uses the word once, naming the Kripo and Kripoleit as the regional arms of the Reich Criminal Police Office.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 305 Eichmann pairs Kripoleit with Kripo while setting out the criminal-police branch.

    …the Reich Criminal Police Office, the subordinate extensions were the Criminal Police offices (Kripo) and the Criminal Police headquarters (Kripoleit). The Security Service Main Office consisted of several offices,

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MKLMänner-Konzentrations-Lager, men's concentration camp Männer-Konzentrations-Lager, men's concentration camp. The interview speakers say they don't know the abbreviation.

What it means

Camp papers used MKL or M.K.L. for Männer-Konzentrations-Lager, men's concentration camp. MKL Birkenau, for example, meant the men's camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The interview quotes a paper about prisoners held in an infirmary of the MKL Auschwitz. The questioner guesses mass camp or model camp, and Eichmann says he has never heard the abbreviation.

In this interview

MKL appears in the quoted Auschwitz paper and again when the speakers try and fail to expand it.

The camp meaning is documented, but the speakers didn't know it.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 695 A quoted paper says male and female prisoners are housed in an infirmary of the MKL Auschwitz. Eichmann says he doesn't know the letters.

    the appointed staff member of this office, SS Hstf. (Hauptsturmführer) Dr. Bruno Beger, ended work on 15 June 1943 in the Auschwitz concentration camp because of the existing epidemic danger. In total, 115 persons were processed, of them 79 Jews, 2 Poles, 4 Inner Asians, and 30 Jewish women. These prisoners are housed partly separately, by men and women, each in an infirmary of MKL Auschwitz. And they are in quarantine.

  2. Page 697 The questioner guesses mass camp or model camp, and Eichmann again says he has never heard the abbreviation.

    And the term MKL —is that perhaps mass concentration camp or model concentration camp?

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Office IVRSHA Office IV, the Gestapo The Gestapo branch of the RSHA, led by Heinrich Müller.

What it means

Office IV was the Gestapo office within the RSHA. It used police powers against people the Nazi state treated as political or racial enemies.

Heinrich Müller led the office. Its many divisions covered political opponents, churches, occupied lands, Jewish affairs, protective custody, and other police duties.

In this interview

Eichmann uses Office IV, Department IV, and Amt IV for the wider Gestapo office above IV B 4.

Office IV was the whole Gestapo office. IV B 4 was one unit inside it.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 38 Eichmann says Office IV had about thirty desk officers and then explains their rank ladder.

    …I was squeezed into an office, and that office recognized established posts, not ghosts (Geister). There were about thirty section heads in Office IV. A section head is a Government Councillor or Senior Government Councillor, equivalent to Stbaf (Sturmbannführer) or Oberstbaf (Obersturmbannführer).

  2. Page 42 He contrasts the police officials of Office IV with the foreign intelligence staff of Office VI.

    …us a while to get to the bottom of it, because the people in Office VI thought themselves cleverer than the so-called stinking officials of Office IV and thought they could take our tolerance and accommodation for stupidity.

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Office VI The RSHA office for SD foreign intelligence.

What it means

Office VI was the RSHA's SD foreign-intelligence office. It built intelligence networks outside Germany and worked through agents and informants.

Office VI belonged to the SD side of the RSHA. The Gestapo was Office IV. Walter Schellenberg led Office VI for much of the war.

In this interview

Eichmann mentions Office VI asking that Jewish informants be exempted from anti-Jewish measures and moving some of them abroad.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 42 Eichmann says Office VI sought exemptions for Jewish informants and quarreled with officers in Office IV.

    No, quite the opposite. Not a week went by without Office VI asking to exempt Jew X, Y, Z… from all the measures the Reich government had decreed against the Jews, because they were to be used as informants. That was believed at first. Later I began to have misgivings. I put them to Müller, and he shared them. My permanent deputy, Günther, was beside himself with anger and constantly quarreled with the people from Office VI,…

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Office VII The RSHA office for ideological research and evaluation.

What it means

Office VII was the RSHA office for ideological research and evaluation. It gathered books, archives, and information about groups the Nazi regime treated as enemies.

Office VII belonged to the SD side of the RSHA. The Gestapo arrest branch was Office IV.

In this interview

Eichmann discusses Office VII's research duties and his earlier role in seizing and packing Jewish libraries.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 242 Eichmann mentions Department VII as a research office that gathered knowledge and handled library material.

    …the Security Police side, responsibility for that theoretically and academically working Rosenberg institute lay not with Office IV but with Office VII, which took the lead. That was quite clear, because both dealt with ideological opponents from the scholarly side. I myself came out of what later became Office VII. Office VII's principal task was to gather knowledge, and that took place in peacetime.

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Stapoleit Shortened form of Staatspolizeileitstelle, a regional State Police headquarters.

What it means

Stapoleit shortens Staatspolizeileitstelle, a leading regional State Police office. It belonged to the Gestapo side of the Security Police system.

A Leitstelle directed political-police duties over a wider area than a smaller Stapo office. Both remained below the central Gestapa and, after 1939, RSHA Office IV.

In this interview

Eichmann uses the word once, while sketching the Gestapa's regional arms.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 305 Eichmann pairs Stapoleit with Stapo below the Gestapa in his account of the police structure.

    One was headed by Müller, the other by Nebe. The State Police offices (Stapo) and the State Police headquarters (Stapoleit) belonged to the Gestapa as its subordinate extensions—the so-called Gestapo, but it is not called Gestapo; it is called Stapo. For the Reich Criminal Police Office, the subordinate extensions were the Criminal Police offices (Kripo) and the Criminal Police headquarters (Kripoleit). The Security Service…

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VuWHA Office abbreviation in the typescript, likely referring to the SS Main Office for Administration and Economy, a predecessor of the WVHA.

What it means

VuWHA points to the SS Administration and Economic Main Office, an earlier office for SS budgets, construction, supply, and business affairs. A Nuremberg exhibit lists it as the SS-Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftshauptamt.

In 1942 its duties passed into the larger WVHA under Oswald Pohl. The later WVHA took control of the concentration-camp system.

In this interview

The form appears once, when Eichmann names Sturmbannführer Opperbeck of the VuWHA as leader of a postwar camp.

It's unclear whether VuWHA here names the pre-1942 office or is a damaged later usage.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 57 Eichmann mentions Opperbeck as a Sturmbannführer of the VuWHA while discussing his postwar false identity and camp stay.

    …officers in this camp, I naturally could not go off on my own. I therefore asked the camp leader, Sturmbf. (Sturmbannführer) Opperbeck of the VuWHA (Administrative and Economic Main Office), for an officers’ conference.

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References

VWHAnormally WVHA A transposed or damaged form of WVHA in the typescript.

What it means

VWHA, VW HA, and WEHA are damaged or transposed transcript forms of WVHA. They don't name a separate office.

The WVHA was formed in 1942 under Oswald Pohl. It managed SS finances and businesses and took control of the concentration-camp system.

In this interview

The damaged forms occur in talk about Pohl, camp destinations, property taken from deportees, and duties assigned to the WVHA.

The reading is least certain where WEHA appears in a phrase about destination stations.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 34 Eichmann names Pohl while discussing Himmler's dealings with the SS economic office.

    …the RF (Reichsführer-SS) never put a single line about the physical destruction of the Jews in writing. I know that he dealt with Pohl of the VWHA (Economic and Administrative Main Office) only orally. I never received such an order, and still less could any of my Hstf (Hauptsturmführer) at the time have learned of such an order.

  2. Page 98 Eichmann's account of who named destination stations for transports has the form WEHA.

    …German Order Police personnel boarded it, normally 24 to 30 men, and escorted the transport to the destination station named to me by the WEHA or, at the beginning, by the Chief of the Security Police. But before such transports could be carried out, it was necessary that

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References

XYunnamed example or placeholder A generic stand-in for an unnamed person, office, number, or place. It isn't one fixed identity.

What it means

XY is a variable placeholder, like John Doe or so-and-so. The speakers use it when giving an example without a real name or number.

Its meaning shifts with the noun beside it. The transcript has Jew XY, envoy XY, office XY, Dr. Ing. XY, a works XY, and number XY.

In this interview

The code appears in examples about arrest, detention, office duties, travel, marriage papers, and unnamed officials.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 21 Eichmann uses Jew XY while giving a generic example of concentration camp detention review.

    …Office IV. Sending Jews to a concentration camp—that is, deciding after a State Police headquarters submitted an application concerning Jew XY, for this or that reason, for some infringement, and so on—deciding that was naturally my office's responsibility.

  2. Page 229 The phrase Jew XY appears again as a hypothetical person assigned to labor.

    …the far-left Jewish sources were gathered together and taken over in a combined transport. And if an HG could prescribe somewhere that Jew XY—stones up and down…—then it could equally well be that some office head, whether in Holland or in the Reich, ordered these Jews to this or that work. But that also means a denial of your principle: it is impossible to classify people by nation. Then it is a particular transport from…

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Ranks and titles

SS, police, party, civil-service, and military ranks that are easy to mistake for jobs or names.

BdSBefehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, Commander of the Security Police and SD A regional commander over Security Police and SD units in occupied land.

What it means

BdS was short for Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD. The post commanded Security Police and SD staff across a large occupied area.

A BdS stood below the central RSHA and worked within the regional SS and police system. Local Stapo, Kripo, and SD units could fall within his reach.

In this interview

The English translation spells it BDS. Eichmann uses it for regional headquarters in the Netherlands, Bulgaria, France, and elsewhere.

BdS and Higher SS and Police Leader were different posts, even where their territorial duties overlapped.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 609 Eichmann speaks of the BDS in the Netherlands and its duties with Regierungsrat Zoepf.

    In conclusion, I can state that the BDS (Commander of the Security Police and Security Service) always showed the greatest readiness to serve, that Government Councillor Zoepf was in no way behind him, and that the man who controlled the centre of Jewish life in Holland, namely Amsterdam, was always the right man in my eyes too. But once Zoepf had worked out the legal underpinning for Holland—that suited his particular…

  2. Page 610 He mentions a path from the BDS to Reich offices and the Higher SS and Police Leader.

    The game up there was then played in such a way that, after I sent reinforcements, Zoepf only had to smooth the way for settling the theoretical matters, through his BDS (Commander of the Security Police and Security Service) to the individual desk officers of the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Dutch territories, and to the Higher SS and Police Leader in that territory, Rauter.

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References

Brigadeführer Senior SS or SA officer rank, roughly equal to brigadier general.

What it means

Brigadeführer was a high SS or SA officer rank. It stood above Oberführer and below Gruppenführer and is often placed at general-officer level.

The same rank name could appear with SS, SA, police, or Waffen-SS service.

In this interview

The speakers apply the rank to Hans Huber, Richard Glücks, and other senior SS men.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 106 Eichmann names SS-Brigadeführer Hans Huber as head of the Vienna Leitstelle.

    He was not the commandant; he was the permanent deputy of the—of the Vienna headquarters. The head was SS-Brigadeführer Hans Huber; his deputy at that time was Dr. Rudolf Mildner.

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References

Gauleiter Nazi Party leader of a regional district, often holding great state power.

What it means

A Gauleiter headed a regional district of the Nazi Party. Hitler appointed each Gauleiter, and each answered directly to him inside the party's top-down system.

Many Gauleiter held state posts, and their power grew during the war. The party title didn't name one fixed government job.

In this interview

Eichmann names several Gauleiter while recalling Austria, local Nazi politics, and dealings over wartime measures.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 39 Eichmann recalls Gauleiter Bolleck speaking in Linz during the early Nazi movement in Upper Austria.

    …he esteemed me. Kaltenbrunner and I knew one another as children. Old Kaltenbrunner and my father were business friends. In 1931, when the Gauleiter for Upper Austria gave one of his fighting speeches in the Märzenkeller in Linz—Gauleiter Bolleck —I was there too. Bolleck was an old first lieutenant from the imperial-royal army. He then married in Linz and became an official of the Linz Electricity Company. After the…

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References

Gruppenführer Senior SS rank, roughly equal to lieutenant general.

What it means

Gruppenführer was a high SS or SA rank above Brigadeführer and below Obergruppenführer. It is often placed at lieutenant-general level.

Senior police officials could hold this SS rank along with a police grade and a separate office.

In this interview

Eichmann often refers to his superior Heinrich Müller as Gruppenführer or by the short form Grf.

Grf usually appears beside Müller or another named officer.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 29 Eichmann mentions Gruppenführer Müller as his immediate superior while discussing Müller's disappearance.

    And when everyone talks his way out of it at my expense like that, a legend forms. Journalists and the like then pick it up, and the whole thing gets blown up. Unfortunately, all my superiors are now dead or missing—that is, they were hanged, killed themselves, or are missing. Actually, only one is missing: my immediate superior, Grf. (Gruppenführer) Müller.

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References

Hauptsturmführer SS officer rank, roughly equal to captain.

What it means

Hauptsturmführer was an SS officer rank above Obersturmführer and below Sturmbannführer. It is often translated at captain level.

The rank could be written in full or shortened to Hstf or Hstuf.

In this interview

Eichmann uses the rank for his earlier career and for subordinates such as Dieter Wisliceny and Franz Novak.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 19 Eichmann corrects his memory and says he was a Hauptsturmführer when he spoke with Himmler about emigration.

    …affair. The Reichsführer-SS was seated. I made my formal report and remained standing. At that time I was either an Obersturmführer or a Hauptsturmführer, in any case a junior rank. The Reichsführer-SS asked me how many Jews had emigrated… That isn't right… That was already when I was in Austria, and already in Bohemia… It was before my posting to Berlin, when I did not yet hold office in Berlin… I was a…

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References

Higher SS and Police Leader Himmler’s senior regional commander over SS and police forces in a territory.

What it means

Himmler created the Higher SS and Police Leader post in 1937. Each holder represented his SS and police interests across a large region.

These leaders could oversee Security Police, SD, Order Police, Waffen-SS, and other units. During the war many directed deportations and mass shootings.

In this interview

Eichmann mentions reporting daily to Higher SS and Police Leader Otto Winkelmann while in Budapest.

A Higher SS and Police Leader stood above an SS and Police Leader.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 66 Eichmann says he appeared daily before Higher SS and Police Leader Winkelmann to give his account of the duties.

    I established that. I learned it through the Higher SS and Police Leader, to whom I reported daily for as long as I was in Budapest. I did not ask to be given the corresponding responses—that would have been too presumptuous; my rank was far too low in relation to the Higher Police Leader. Winkelmann communicated the response to me in a fatherly, benevolent manner. It may also be that Vesemeier told me these things. I know…

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References

Oberführer Senior Nazi paramilitary rank between Standartenführer and Brigadeführer.

What it means

Oberführer was a senior SS or SA rank between Standartenführer and Brigadeführer. It had no neat one-rank match in the German army.

An Oberführer could lead a police office, serve in the General SS, or hold another SS post.

In this interview

Eichmann recalls confronting an Oberführer in Vienna and later discusses whether Schellenberg then held this rank or Standartenführer.

Osf is a short form of the rank.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 9 Eichmann says he was a Hauptsturmführer when he confronted an Oberführer at the Vienna Jewish community building.

    When I went to the Israelite religious community, which was already ablaze, I found—I regret to have to say it—a senior leader of the General SS. I saw him or one of his men, at any rate, slam a typewriter from the religious community onto the floor. I was outraged and took the Oberführer to task.

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References

Obergruppenführer Very senior SS rank, roughly equal to full general.

What it means

Obergruppenführer was one of the highest SS or SA ranks, above Gruppenführer. It is often placed at full-general level.

Many Higher SS and Police Leaders held this SS rank together with the police grade General der Polizei.

In this interview

The speakers apply the rank to senior men such as Winkelmann and Pohl and sometimes use the short forms Ogrf or Ogruppf.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 66 A question names an SS-Obergruppenführer while discussing supervision of the Hungarian marches.

    Do you know that SS Ogrf. (Obergruppenführer) Jüttner (struck out in the typescript; handwritten replacement unclear, possibly Jüttner), together with Hoess, was assigned to supervise the march and report their observations?

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References

Oberregierungsratsenior government councillor A senior higher-civil-service rank. Eichmann pairs it with SS-Obersturmbannführer, about equal to lieutenant colonel.

What it means

Oberregierungsrat stood above Regierungsrat in the higher civil service. The title marked grade and standing, while the holder's actual duties depended on the office.

Police officials could hold this state title beside an SS rank. That dual standing was common in the system Himmler built between the SS and the police.

In this interview

Eichmann places Oberregierungsrat one step above Regierungsrat among Office IV desk officers and later speaks of police officials who also gained SS rank.

The English translation spells the plural Oberregierungsraete. Don't read the title alone as proof of a person's exact SS rank.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 38 Eichmann sets out the civil-service and SS rank pairings used for Office IV desk officers.

  2. Page 570 He says Stapo and Kripo officials could receive an SS rank because they were senior civil servants.

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References

Obersturmbannführer SS officer rank, roughly equal to lieutenant colonel.

What it means

Obersturmbannführer was an SS officer rank above Sturmbannführer and below Standartenführer. It is often translated at lieutenant-colonel level.

Adolf Eichmann held this rank during the main years of mass deportation.

In this interview

The speakers repeatedly call Eichmann an Obersturmbannführer and discuss how he reached that grade inside Office IV.

Short forms of the rank include Obstbaf and Ostbaf, sometimes damaged in the typescript.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 38 The speakers ask how Eichmann reached Obersturmbannführer and compare his SS grade with office posts.

    And now, how did you reach the rank of Obstbaf. (Obersturmbannführer)?

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References

Obersturmführer SS officer rank, roughly equal to first lieutenant.

What it means

Obersturmführer was an SS officer rank above Untersturmführer and below Hauptsturmführer. It is often translated at first-lieutenant level.

The short forms Ostf and Ostuf appear often in typed German material.

In this interview

Eichmann uses the rank for his early career, for aides, and for the false status of men after the war.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 19 Eichmann first wonders whether he was an Obersturmführer or Hauptsturmführer, then settles on the higher rank for that meeting.

    …It was a very civilian affair. The Reichsführer-SS was seated. I made my formal report and remained standing. At that time I was either an Obersturmführer or a Hauptsturmführer, in any case a junior rank. The Reichsführer-SS asked me how many Jews had emigrated… That isn't right… That was already when I was in Austria, and already in Bohemia… It was before my posting to Berlin, when I did not yet hold office in Berlin… I…

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References

Regierungsratgovernment councillor A higher civil-service rank. In this interview Eichmann pairs it with SS-Sturmbannführer, about equal to major.

What it means

Regierungsrat was a career rank in the higher German civil service, not a job description. A holder could serve in a ministry, police office, or another state body.

Nazi police officials often held a state rank and an SS rank at the same time. The pairing reflected personnel standing within that office and didn't turn the civil-service title into a military rank.

In this interview

Eichmann uses the rank for trained desk officers and names Hunsche, Surr, Zoepf, and other staff by it.

Use the SS pairing only as the interview explains it. Don't treat Regierungsrat as a fixed military equivalent in every German office.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 38 Eichmann explains the desk-officer ladder in Office IV and pairs the two civil-service ranks with two SS ranks.

  2. Page 246 He names Regierungsrat Surr and later Wuensche while describing the two branches of IV B 4.

    The one, IV B 4 a, was Regierungsrat (government councillor) Suhr, and after he left, Regierungsrat (government councillor) Wünsche. IV B 4 b was Gunster, holding that post together with his position as my permanent deputy.

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References

Reich Commissioner German civil-governor title used in occupied or annexed territories. The office varied by place.

What it means

Reich Commissioner was a broad title for an appointee given special power by the German Reich. The job and reach changed with the territory or duties.

In the occupied Netherlands, Reich Commissioner Arthur Seyss-Inquart headed the German civilian government. In other places the title covered annexation, settlement, occupation, or regional government.

In this interview

The speakers mention offices tied to the Reich Commissioner for Austria's union with Germany and the Reich Commissioner for German settlement.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 284 Eichmann says Stahlecker obtained power for the Vienna emigration office from the Reich Commissioner for Austria's union with Germany.

    …order, on my own proposal, to create a central office for Jewish emigration. Inspector Stahlecker had first obtained authorization from the Reich Commissioner for the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich. He had an authorization decree, although the State Police headquarters in Vienna would by rights have been responsible. There I was the immediate superior of the Jewish religious community in Vienna. But as head…

  2. Page 108 Eichmann mentions Gromeier's previous office under the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood.

    …Krumey. I had known Krumey for years before he was appointed my permanent deputy in Budapest, through his position as office head for the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood in Lippmannstadt. Krumey himself asked to go with me to Hungary, and he himself wanted me to have him appointed my permanent deputy and obtain permission from the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service.

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References

Reich Protector Senior German governing post in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

What it means

The Reich Protector was Hitler's senior ruler in the German-controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The office oversaw the Czech government under German occupation.

Konstantin von Neurath, Reinhard Heydrich, Kurt Daluege, and Wilhelm Frick held or acted in the post. Under them German policy brought terror, forced labor, and the deportation of Czech Jews.

In this interview

The speakers discuss the Reich Protector or deputy as the final German office for measures in Bohemia and Moravia.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 145 Eichmann places the Reich Protector or Deputy Reich Protector at the top of the approval line in Bohemia and Moravia.

    …the final authority was the French Prime Minister, Laval. He had to give his blessing, and he did give it. In Bohemia and Moravia it was the Reich Protector, or the Deputy Reich Protector. In Greece it was the Military Commander. In Croatia it was the Croatian head of state; we did have a government there. In Slovakia it was the Slovak government.

Related entries

References

Reichsführer-SS Himmler’s title as head of the SS and German police.

What it means

Reichsführer-SS was the title of the head of the SS. Heinrich Himmler held it from 1929 until the last weeks of the war.

Hitler made Himmler Chief of German Police in 1936. The combined posts placed the SS, Gestapo, Kripo, and uniformed police within his power.

In this interview

When the speakers say Reichsführer, they almost always mean Himmler, as they trace orders, meetings, and office lines.

Führer on its own may mean Hitler.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 6 Eichmann places the Reichsführer at the top of the line of superiors with whom he had direct contact.

    The Führer? No, my office was far too junior for that. The superiors I dealt with, from the top down, were the RF (Reichsführer-SS). I was summoned to him three or four times. Except on one occasion, when he was based on Prinz Albrecht Strasse, I was always summoned to his field command post. Otherwise there was the Chief of the Security Police and the SD, Heydrich, and then his successor, Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and then my…

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References

Reichsleiter One of the Nazi Party’s highest ranks, directly below Hitler in the party hierarchy.

What it means

Reichsleiter was one of the highest Nazi Party leadership grades. Holders led major party fields or offices and stood above Gauleiter in the party rank order.

The title wasn't a cabinet post, though some Reichsleiter also held state posts.

In this interview

The speakers use Reichsleiter for senior party men such as Martin Bormann and distinguish the title from a ministerial post.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 430 A speaker stresses that the man under discussion was a Reichsleiter but wasn't a minister.

    He was a Reichsleiter, but not a minister. He was also a state secretary, but that means nothing at all in such matters. You could have sent for Stukart, since he had even been the Reichsführer-SS's superior: he was first state secretary.

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References

RFReichsführer-SS Himmler’s title as head of the SS and German police.

What it means

RF is transcript shorthand for Reichsführer-SS, the title held by Heinrich Himmler from 1929 to 1945. It points to Himmler in the interview's SS and police passages.

As Reichsführer-SS and, from 1936, Chief of German Police, Himmler directed the SS and centralized Germany's police bodies under his power.

In this interview

The speakers repeatedly use RF when assigning an order, decision, meeting, or office hierarchy to Himmler.

RF means Himmler only where nearby names, ranks, orders, or SS offices make that clear.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 24 Eichmann uses RF while recounting a direct conversation with Himmler about concentration camps.

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References

SS and Police Leader Regional SS and police commander under Himmler. A Higher SS and Police Leader ranked above this post.

What it means

An SS and Police Leader was Himmler's regional commander for SS and police forces in a defined area. Many worked below a Higher SS and Police Leader.

The post could bring several police and SS bodies under one leader for occupation, deportation, and killings. Its reach varied by place and date.

In this interview

The speakers use the title for regional commanders such as Odilo Globocnik in Lublin.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 146 Eichmann reconstructs a letter addressed to the SS and Police Leader in the Lublin District.

    “To the SS and Police Leader, District Lublin… Glo.

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References

Standartenführer Senior SS or SA officer rank, roughly equal to colonel.

What it means

Standartenführer was a senior SS or SA officer rank. It stood above Obersturmbannführer and below Oberführer and is often translated at colonel level.

Police and state officials could sometimes receive SS ranks.

In this interview

The speakers use the rank for men such as Geschke and Huber and place it in Eichmann's account of the office promotion ladder.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 38 Eichmann places Standartenführer above the desk-officer grades while explaining promotion inside Office IV.

    …head, with the rank of Senior Government Councillor or Criminal Police Director, or of Ostbaf (Obersturmbannführer) or Standartenf. (Standartenführer). So, had Müller proposed me for promotion while I was a section head, there would have been a row among the other twenty-nine. They were civil servants, some waiting for pensions and all those things. There would have been all kinds of dissension, obstructing the work.

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References

Sturmbannführer SS officer rank, roughly equal to major.

What it means

Sturmbannführer was an SS officer rank above Hauptsturmführer and below Obersturmbannführer. It is often translated at major level.

An officer could hold the rank alongside a separate police or state post.

In this interview

Eichmann discusses Sturmbannführer as his grade and places it beside government-counselor grades in Office IV.

Short forms of the rank include Stbaf and Stbf.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 37 Eichmann explains Sturmbannführer as major and says the officer stood at the same level as his superior.

    Stbaf (Sturmbannführer), that is, a major, and of equal rank with my superior.

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References

Untersturmführer Junior SS officer rank, roughly equal to second lieutenant.

What it means

Untersturmführer was the lowest commissioned SS officer rank. It stood below Obersturmführer and is often translated at second-lieutenant level.

The transcript uses short forms such as Ustf and Untstf.

In this interview

The speakers use the rank for officers such as Mildenstein and Martin and for Eichmann's postwar false rank.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 57 Eichmann says he used the false rank Untstf while living under a false identity after the war.

    …Americans called for the so-called labor companies, and I volunteered for one. I went off as a platoon leader, having passed myself off as an Untstf. (Untersturmführer), and came to Camp Oberlagstetten in Franconia. My Ostf. (Obersturmführer) Jaenisch went with his unit to a labor camp at Beckendorf on the Danube. I entered this camp at Oberlagstetten as Lieutenant Eckmann around August 1945 and remained there until early…

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References

People and initials

People named directly or by initials, with the role that matters in this interview.

A.H.Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany.

About Adolf Hitler

What it means

Adolf Hitler led the Nazi Party and became German chancellor in 1933. After President Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler joined the presidency and chancellorship under the title Führer.

The Nazi state required soldiers and many public workers to swear personal loyalty to Hitler.

In this interview

The speakers use A.H. or AH while discussing Hitler’s orders, speeches, personal authority, and oaths sworn to him.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 5 Eichmann discusses the oath he swore to A.H. and compares it with later service oaths.

    We were loaded up on the day Hindenburg died and sent to Munich, where we took the new oath to A.H. (Adolf Hitler). The oath was of course voluntary. The second oath was to the SD (Security Service), in 1934, in the autumn of 1934, when I was ordered from the troops to the SD. And for the third time when I was ordered from the SD to the Gestapo Office. I was of course always sworn to A.H. (Adolf Hitler), but the latter two…

  2. Page 6 A questioner asks whether A.H. spoke about the Jewish question or gave orders.

    Did A.H. (Adolf Hitler) speak to you about the Jewish problem, or give you any instructions about it?

  3. Page 25 A questioner asks about Kaltenbrunner after an affair between AH and the Reichsführer became known.

    After April 25, 1945, once the affair between AH (Adolf Hitler) and the Reichsführer-SS was known, did you still have contact with Kaltenbrunner?

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References

Ernst KaltenbrunnerErnst Kaltenbrunner Austrian SS leader who became head of the RSHA in 1943.

About Ernst Kaltenbrunner

What it means

Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a senior Austrian Nazi and SS officer. In January 1943 he became head of the RSHA, which controlled the Gestapo, Criminal Police, and SD.

The International Military Tribunal found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was executed at Nuremberg on October 16, 1946.

In this interview

Eichmann presents Kaltenbrunner as Heydrich’s successor and one of his senior chiefs. He also recounts meetings with him at Alt Aussee during the last weeks of the war.

Kaltenbrunner headed the RSHA, but Müller remained Eichmann’s direct superior in Office IV.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 6 Eichmann names Kaltenbrunner as Heydrich’s successor.

    …always summoned to his field command post. Otherwise there was the Chief of the Security Police and the SD, Heydrich, and then his successor, Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and then my regular superior, with whom I dealt several times a week: that was Müller, Heinrich Müller.

  2. Page 23 Eichmann recounts speaking with Kaltenbrunner at Alt Aussee about resistance after Germany’s defeat.

    …that this was also why the Reichsführer-SS sent for me: to toughen me up once more. He wanted to make sure of me once more, because when Kaltenbrunner asked me in Alt Aussee what I intended to do now, I answered, 'I will go away and offer resistance in the mountains.' Kaltenbrunner then said, 'That pleases me.

  3. Page 25 Eichmann says he traveled from Prague to Alt Aussee to brief Kaltenbrunner.

    After April 25, 1945, once the affair between AH (Adolf Hitler) and the Reichsführer-SS was known, did you still have contact with Kaltenbrunner?

Related entries

References

GloOdilo Globocnik SS and Police Leader who directed Operation Reinhard.

About Odilo Globocnik

What it means

Odilo Globocnik was SS and Police Leader in the Lublin district and directed Operation Reinhard from 1941 to 1943. Under that program the SS and police murdered about 1.7 million Jews.

He later became Higher SS and Police Leader in the Adriatic coastal area around Trieste. His staff brought killing and deportation methods from occupied Poland into Italy.

In this interview

Glo is the frequent short form for Globocnik in passages about Lublin, anti-tank ditches, camps, deportations, and Operation Reinhard.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 315 Eichmann uses Glo while describing Globocnik's special assignment in the General Government.

    In the General Government. But Office IV was not responsible there; Glo had the special assignment. Glo did that not only in his own district but in the other districts too. That was how far Glo's arm reached. Although he was only SS and Police Leader of the Lublin district, that arm reached into the areas of the other SS and Police Leaders too, who then had to support him. All the decrees of the SS and Police Leaders—not ……

  2. Page 426 The full name Globocnik appears several times in the account of visits tied to anti-tank ditches and killings.

    …of this Hermann Göring proposal that I had to go to Prague several times. Now, the date: he was appointed in '41. If Heydrich told me that Glo was to use the anti-tank ditches on the Russian side for physical extermination, then that means we must have been in possession of those ditches. From that I conclude that at least eight weeks must have passed since the twin battles of Minsk and Białystok.

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References

H.H.Heinrich Himmler Head of the SS and German police, with central power over the camps and the murder of Europe’s Jews.

About Heinrich Himmler

What it means

Heinrich Himmler led the SS from 1929 and became chief of the German police in 1936.

He held central power over the SS, police, camp system, and mass murder of Europe’s Jews. H.H. is one set of initials used for him in the interview.

In this interview

Eichmann describes H.H. as a handwritten file mark and says papers bearing it were returned with orders to destroy them.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 25 Eichmann says a paper marked H.H. was burned.

    …I think… In any event, I got it from above… It showed hard fighting… And the Reichsführer-SS had had it in his hands, because it came signed HH. It was later burned while in my keeping. I had nothing to do with Bar…, not in Hungary either, because there was no anti-partisan fighting in Hungary at all; there was none…

  2. Page 33 Eichmann mentions a paper returned with a destroy-file note and H.H.

    …it, and gave the report to the RF SS (Reichsführer-SS). That report came back with the notation, “Taken note of; file to be destroyed. HH.” And I then burned it myself.

  3. Pages 112 to 113 Eichmann expands H.H. as Heinrich Himmler while describing a handwritten note on a secret file.

    …as a “Secret Reich Matter,” with the RF's (Reichsführer-SS's) own handwritten blue-pencil note: “The Führer has taken note. Destroy the file.—H.H. (Heinrich Himmler).” As ordered, I personally burned the file. I could also have handed it over to the Reich's enemies at the time, but then I would have become a scoundrel. Today I can try to reproduce a statistical account here without any conflict of conscience. It cannot claim…

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Heinrich MüllerHeinrich Müller Head of the Gestapo and Eichmann’s direct superior in RSHA Office IV.

About Heinrich Müller

What it means

Heinrich Müller led the Gestapo from 1939. Within the RSHA he headed Office IV, while Eichmann led section IV B 4 beneath him.

Müller helped direct political policing, deportation, and mass murder across German-held Europe. He disappeared in Berlin in May 1945, and his death or later whereabouts have never been established.

In this interview

Eichmann describes Müller as his permanent and immediate superior. He recalls frequent meetings, desk-officer conferences, travel orders, transport duties, and the flow of orders through Office IV.

The transcript spells the name both Mueller and Müller.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 6 Eichmann names Heinrich Müller as the superior he dealt with several times each week.

    …SD, Heydrich, and then his successor, Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and then my regular superior, with whom I dealt several times a week: that was Müller, Heinrich Müller.

  2. Page 10 Eichmann mentions Müller chairing weekly desk-officer conferences.

    Yes. It was like this: we had one, sometimes two, so-called desk officers' meetings a week, chaired by Müller. About twenty desk officers attended. At these meetings Müller himself raised matters of general interest, but the individual desk officers also often brought up matters they sometimes could not discuss with their chief, so naturally one heard a great deal. Conversely, reports of general interest made by an official…

  3. Page 143 The discussion places transport duties within Müller’s Gestapo command structure.

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JBJoel Brand Hungarian Jewish rescue activist who negotiated with Eichmann in 1944.

About Joel Brand

What it means

Joel Brand was a Hungarian Jewish rescue activist and a member of Budapest’s Relief and Rescue Committee.

In 1944 he negotiated with Eichmann’s staff and traveled to Turkey with the proposal later called “blood for goods,” an exchange of Jews for trucks and other goods.

In this interview

The speakers discuss Brand’s mission, his later account, and whether the goods-for-blood proposal began with German or Jewish negotiators.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 83 A questioner asks whether Joel Brand’s goods-for-blood proposal came from the German or Jewish side.

    as JB calls it—did not originate in your mind, or in the mind of anyone in the SS leadership, but perhaps arose from a Jewish suggestion…

  2. Page 207 Eichmann says a book about Joel Brand combines fiction and truth.

  3. Page 208 Eichmann continues judging Joel Brand and other Jewish political workers.

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Kurt BecherKurt Andreas Ernst Becher SS officer who handled economic dealings and ransom talks in Hungary.

About Kurt Becher

What it means

Kurt Becher was an SS officer sent to Hungary in 1944. He dealt with major businesses and property and took part in talks with Jewish negotiators, including Kasztner and Saly Mayer.

After the war, Kasztner spoke on Becher’s behalf. Becher wasn’t tried as a major war criminal and later became a wealthy businessman in West Germany.

In this interview

Eichmann discusses Becher as a rival participant in the Hungary negotiations and says Becher attended one of his meetings with Himmler. The speakers return often to who controlled each offer and transport.

Eichmann was hostile to Becher.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 20 Eichmann says Becher attended his third meeting with Himmler.

    Now I must correct myself again… Becher was present at the third conversation, and at the last conversation I was alone with the Reichsführer-SS. So I had four conversations with him; I was ordered to report to him four times. He also spoke to me in Breslau, when we had a conference in Breslau and he addressed his leadership corps there… During the greetings he also came over to me and said, as though suddenly remembering:…

  2. Page 22 The speakers discuss offers of Jews in exchange for goods and Becher’s part in the talks.

    About these matters with the Reichsführer-SS? No, not a word… At one of the few reports, yes… In fact, it was already the next report and the one after that… It was the report for which I was ordered to the Reichsführer-SS with Becher, but by then I had already been in Hungary.

  3. Page 23 Eichmann distinguishes Becher’s access to Himmler from his.

    As far as I know, the Reichsführer-SS did not do that on the last day. As far as I know, Becher was there, at the next-to-last report… I had already been in Hungary then, and the Reichsführer-SS said, 'I absolutely cannot tell the Führer that…' He meant the trade, because the Führer would probably have chopped off his fingers: the Führer had ordered the extermination, and the Reichsführer-SS had called it off. He could not…

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L.E.László Endre Hungarian state secretary involved in the 1944 deportation of Hungary’s Jews.

About László Endre

What it means

László Endre was a Hungarian Interior Ministry state secretary in 1944 and a leading organizer of ghettoization and deportation.

He worked with Adolf Eichmann’s team after the German occupation of Hungary. Hungarian offices and gendarmes carried out the roundups and transports.

In this interview

Eichmann mentions Endre as an eager Hungarian partner and says he often passed matters through him at the Interior Ministry.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 74 Eichmann names Dr. L.E. in the Hungarian Interior Ministry as a force pushing the deportations.

    Jews, although Dr. LE, or Dr. Jenen (?) in the Hungarian Interior Ministry, was always pushing with the greatest impatience for the so-called speeding-up of the solution of the Jewish question in Hungary and would not even let me have my night’s rest. I do not mean that in a hostile sense, but in a friendly one, because he was one of the best friends I ever had in my life. Rather, the essential point was to tell our enemy at…

  2. Page 92 A quoted passage says Eichmann promised L.E. that no deported Jew would return alive.

  3. Page 94 Eichmann says he smoothed matters with Hungarian officials through State Secretary L.E.

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Reinhard HeydrichReinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich Chief of the Security Police and SD, and Eichmann’s senior chief until 1942.

About Reinhard Heydrich

What it means

Reinhard Heydrich led the SD and helped Heinrich Himmler bring Germany’s political police forces under SS control. He became chief of the Security Police and SD and, in 1939, the first head of the RSHA.

Heydrich directed central parts of Nazi persecution and mass murder. He chaired the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. Czechoslovak agents attacked him in Prague in May 1942, and he died on June 4.

In this interview

Eichmann repeatedly names Heydrich as his senior chief and says Heydrich passed on Hitler’s order to kill Europe’s Jews. The speakers discuss Heydrich’s character, authority, death, and place in the RSHA.

Eichmann’s account shifts blame upward and often presents spoken orders that can’t be verified from the interview alone. His descriptions of Heydrich’s private reactions are personal assertions.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 5 Eichmann names Heydrich as the chief who gave him room to study Jewish and Zionist affairs.

    …the contrary, it pleased me enormously, it gripped me, that I was allowed to work on these matters. You must not forget that I had a chief, Heydrich… that under him I had extensive opportunities to occupy myself with religious scholarship, that I pursued religious scholarship for two years, and that he also sent me to the Near East, which helped me greatly to perfect my knowledge.

  2. Page 6 Eichmann says Heydrich told him that Hitler had ordered the killing of the Jews.

    No, it was a Führer order. Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and the SD (Security Service), told me that the Führer had now ordered the liquidation of the Jews. At that time that was law, because, as you know, the Führer's words had the force of law. That applied to all German members of the national community.

  3. Page 36 The speakers begin a long discussion of Heydrich’s career and personality.

    Please tell us something more about Heydrich’s life and career, and also about your personal relationship with each other.

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Rezső KasztnerRezső Kasztner, also known as Rudolf or Israel Kasztner Hungarian Jewish rescue activist who negotiated with Eichmann and Becher in 1944.

About Rezső Kasztner

What it means

Rezső Kasztner helped lead Budapest’s Relief and Rescue Committee. After Germany occupied Hungary, he negotiated with Eichmann’s staff and later with Kurt Becher.

A train carrying 1,686 Jews left Budapest in June 1944. Its passengers were held at Bergen-Belsen before reaching Switzerland in two groups. Kasztner’s wartime choices and his postwar testimony for Becher later became the center of a bitter court dispute in Israel.

In this interview

The speakers repeatedly read or answer Kasztner’s account of the Hungary talks, marches, transports, and dealings with Eichmann’s staff. Eichmann also recalls speaking directly with him.

The transcript spells the name Kastner.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 5 Eichmann says he made the same ideological remark to Kasztner and Richard Löwenherz.

    Yes, I said that to Dr. Richrad Loewenherz in Vienna, with whom I had countless conferences, and also to Dr. Kastner. I told both of them that I could imagine nothing else, given my entire disposition toward the national idea: if I were not German but a Jew, I would be the most committed Zionist they could imagine.

  2. Page 47 Eichmann discusses Kasztner’s view of his role in Hungary.

    …would certainly have had no small influence, let us send the master down; he is to do it himself. They sent me down, and the outcome was that Dr. Kastner said it was a misfortune for Hungarian Jewry that they had sent me of all people to Hungary, who had known how, thanks to my organizational ability and my ability to push things through, to transport away half a million in so short a time despite the difficult transport…

  3. Page 92 The speakers read a passage in which Kasztner mentions tense talks with Eichmann and his staff.

    ‘The adjutants listen in silence; Wunsch and Novak are nervous and impatient, Krumey and Wi have neutral expressions. Several times it seems to me that Eichmann wants to give in’—that is what Kastner says… ‘Then he is seized by another fit of rage’

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Rolf GüntherRolf Günther Eichmann’s standing deputy in RSHA section IV B 4.

About Rolf Günther

What it means

Rolf Günther worked in Eichmann’s RSHA section and became his standing deputy. His duties covered anti-Jewish policy, deportation, and contact with IV B 4 staff outside Berlin.

He remained in the section while Eichmann traveled or worked in Hungary. He died in U.S. custody in August 1945, apparently by suicide.

In this interview

Eichmann repeatedly mentions Günther as his deputy. He says Günther received Müller’s orders, argued with Office VI, dealt with advisers, and stepped into transport talks.

The transcript’s Guenter and Günther forms often name Rolf Günther, but Hans Günther led the Prague Central Office for Jewish Emigration.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 25 Eichmann says Günther met him in Salzburg after receiving an order from Müller.

    …no longer received me, but where I pressed the matter forcefully—it concerned the places at the Brenner… I then returned to Salzburg and met Günther at the Salzburg State Police. He reported that during my absence he had received an order from Müller to go to Salzburg with the founding files and deposit them somewhere in the mountains there. The founding files were the files of the then Prussian Minister President H.G.,…

  2. Page 42 Eichmann mentions Günther as his permanent deputy and recounts his dispute with Office VI.

    …as informants. That was believed at first. Later I began to have misgivings. I put them to Müller, and he shared them. My permanent deputy, Günther, was beside himself with anger and constantly quarreled with the people from Office VI, until the responsible section heads there became alert and cautious. It took us a while to get to the bottom of it, because the people in Office VI thought themselves cleverer than the…

  3. Page 581 Günther and Novak are named in talks with the Reich Transport Ministry.

    Yes—Hstf. (Hauptsturmführer) Novak can testify to how I kept pressing that little man to procure transport trains. I was being pressed from above as well, and Novak met with a stubborn no from the R.V.M. (Reich Transport Ministry). I often had to intervene myself, and Günther too, so that we could get somewhere.

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Rudolf HössRudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss Commandant of Auschwitz for much of the camp’s expansion and killing program.

About Rudolf Höss

What it means

Rudolf Höss was commandant of Auschwitz from 1940 to 1943 and returned for a major role in 1944. Under his command, Auschwitz grew into the largest Nazi concentration and killing camp complex.

Höss testified after the war and wrote about the camp while held by Polish authorities. Poland tried and executed him at Auschwitz in April 1947.

In this interview

The speakers discuss Höss’s Nuremberg testimony, his relationship with Eichmann, camp command, and the number murdered at Auschwitz. Eichmann praises him personally while disputing parts of his testimony.

The transcript spells the name both Hoess and Höss. Don’t confuse him with Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s former deputy.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 34 The speakers introduce Höss’s testimony about deaths at Auschwitz.

    What about Höss’s testimony at Nuremberg concerning the two and a half million Jews who are supposed to have been liquidated in his camp?

  2. Page 35 Eichmann praises Höss and rejects the total attributed to his testimony.

    Yes, there are two possibilities. I knew Höss, for I esteemed him very highly as a very decent comrade. He did his duty as anyone else would have done. He was a model family man, a holder of the Iron Cross from the First World War. He spent several years in the penitentiary for National Socialist activities. It was Höss who once told me that the RF (Reichsführer-SS) had watched the entire extermination operation and had…

  3. Page 132 A longer personal and career sketch of Höss begins.

    [Typed prompt: Question: Personal impressions of Höss?]

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Theodor DanneckerTheodor Dannecker Eichmann aide who worked on anti-Jewish measures and deportations in several countries.

About Theodor Dannecker

What it means

Theodor Dannecker worked in Eichmann’s section and became its adviser in occupied France. He pressed French and German offices to carry out arrests and deportations.

He later worked in Bulgaria, Italy, and Hungary. U.S. forces captured him in December 1945, and he died by suicide in custody.

In this interview

Eichmann names Dannecker as his man in Paris and uses him to explain how IV B 4 advisers worked with German envoys, police chiefs, and local governments.

The typescript sometimes spells the name Danecker.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 47 Eichmann lists Dannecker in Paris beside advisers in Bratislava and Athens.

    In Bucharest I had Hstf. (Hauptsturmführer) Richter stationed there. He was the counterpart of Wi.. in Pressburg, Dannecker in Paris, and Burger in Athens. What my representatives achieved there with the local governments, for instance the Romanian government, I no longer know today. In any case, it is certain that every one of the officers subordinate to me at that time was given the most precise directives to take with him.…

  2. Page 48 Eichmann says he visited Dannecker or ordered him to Berlin.

    …him to report to me. With Richter that happened about every … months, twice, once. With Wi, once every two months. I went to Paris to see Dannecker myself, or I ordered him to come to me. In short, I ordered these men, who were subordinate to me and for whose practical effectiveness I was responsible, to report at whatever intervals seemed appropriate to me.

  3. Page 51 The speakers examine whether Dannecker had direct police power in France.

    Here is an example. A Jew of German nationality has somehow managed to smuggle himself out of Germany and arrives in France. Did your representative Dannecker, for example, then have police power over him? Could he arrest him, or did he have to obtain the help of the Higher Police Leader or of a police office in the occupied territory?

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WiDieter Wisliceny SS officer in Eichmann's Jewish-affairs unit and a witness at Nuremberg.

About Dieter Wisliceny

What it means

Dieter Wisliceny worked in Eichmann's Jewish-affairs unit and held posts in Slovakia, Greece, and Hungary. He took part in deportation policy and in talks with Jewish rescue groups.

After the war Wisliceny testified about Eichmann at Nuremberg. A Czechoslovak court sentenced him to death, and he was hanged in Bratislava in 1948.

In this interview

Wi is the interview's normal short form for Wisliceny. Eichmann spends many pages attacking his testimony and recalling their shared duties.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 28 Eichmann names Hauptsturmführer Wi as a Nuremberg witness against him.

    …to be wanted now; that is clear. In the first Nuremberg trial, the way our highest leaders were treated, Judge Jakson summoned my Hstbaf. Wi., whom I had in Czechoslovakia, as a witness. He told the fairy tale there about the alleged five million Jews whom I am supposed to have killed, and then Jakson said…

  2. Page 232 The full name Wisliceny appears in talk about negotiations during the last phase of the war.

    No, in practice too—apart from individual cases, of course. They had my own negotiating partners killed. It was not Wi or Krumey who caused that; my own Günther took them away from me. And in Vienna it is Ebener who is responsible for Stoffen's death. Ebner could not forgive me for one thing: Stoffen had passed on information to me concerning the Vienna State Police.

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Places and occupied regions

Cities, annexed land, occupation zones, and names imposed by German policy.

General Government German occupation regime in central and southern Poland, outside land annexed to Germany.

What it means

Nazi Germany set up the General Government on October 26, 1939, in occupied Polish land that it hadn’t annexed directly.

Hans Frank headed it from Kraków. German policy there brought forced labor, ghettoization, deportation, and mass murder.

In this interview

The speakers repeatedly compare deportations in the General Government with the Reich, Hungary, and the Warthegau. Eichmann also denies responsibility for deportations inside it.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 75 Eichmann compares events in Hungary with what had happened in the General Government.

    …alone a firearm. That was why the RF (Reichsführer-SS) sent me personally to Hungary: so that the kind of disaster that happened to us in the General Government could not arise there. By 24 December, at 3 p. m., there was nothing left except the small units that had to allow themselves to be encircled, in accordance with the RF’s order. There were no police offices left; the Hungarian Gestapo was gone, the Hungarian…

  2. Page 115 Eichmann lists illegal migration from western Europe and the General Government.

    Illegal emigration was naturally substantial from France, Holland, Belgium, the so-called General Government, but also from the occupied Russian territories, Slovakia, Hungary, and, for a short time, Romania. According to Allied statements, 2,100,000 Jews were found alive in 1945 in Germany’s former sphere of power, naturally including the so-called Greater German Reich itself, as well as Bohemia and Moravia. That leaves a…

  3. Page 140 Eichmann says he wasn’t responsible for deportation within the General Government.

    …case. I wasn't allowed to. I wasn't responsible for it. I was responsible for deportation. I wasn't responsible for deportation within the General Government; I wasn't responsible for the movement of the masses onto Russian soil; I wasn't responsible for the movement of the masses down in the Serbian area. I did have a man stationed in Belgrade, though, didn't I? No, then I am mistaken—I'm confusing it with Athens.

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Litzmannstadt German occupation name for Łódź, also used for its ghetto.

What it means

German troops occupied Łódź in September 1939, annexed it to the Warthegau, and renamed it Litzmannstadt.

The Germans forced about 160,000 Jews into the Łódź ghetto in 1940. Deportations from the ghetto went to Chełmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In this interview

Eichmann mentions traveling through Litzmannstadt toward a killing site and later mentions an office there in a passage with a damaged place name.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 30 Eichmann places a Warthegau trip near Litzmannstadt and discusses the gassing of Jews.

    …anti-tank trenches dug by the Russians, he sent me to the Warthegau. I no longer know where it was; in any event, it was not very far from Litzmannstadt. According to Müller, Jews were supposed to have been gassed there, or were to be gassed there. I always say this at the outset: Müller did not give such orders. He had nothing to do with it.

  2. Page 31 Eichmann says he drove to Litzmannstadt and then continued to a named killing site.

    …a precise official, and if he did not have everything presented to him at once, concentrated and in detail [?], he grew impatient. I drove to Litzmannstadt. Where I went I do not know, probably to the State Police headquarters there, and I also cannot say at the moment whether Krumey was already in Litzmannstadt at that time. I then drove out to the place they named to me, and some fellows or other had been at work there.…

  3. Page 108 Eichmann mentions an office in “Lippmannstadt,” a damaged or mistaken form of the city’s German name.

    …my permanent deputy in Budapest, through his position as office head for the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood in Lippmannstadt. Krumey himself asked to go with me to Hungary, and he himself wanted me to have him appointed my permanent deputy and obtain permission from the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service.

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Old Reich Germany within its pre-1938 borders, excluding land annexed later.

What it means

Altreich, translated here as Old Reich, meant Germany inside its previous borders before the Nazi annexations of Austria and Czech land.

Nazi officials used the distinction to separate the older German area from additions such as the Ostmark and Protectorate.

In this interview

The speakers contrast the Old Reich with annexed Austria and the Protectorate while tracing Eichmann’s jobs, population counts, and policy.

The boundary implied by Altreich could vary with date.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 18 Eichmann quotes an article that moves from the Altreich to the Ostmark and then Bohemia and Moravia.

    …since 1935. Now, from 1935 to 1945, in those ten years, I had 1,000 discussions with Jewish and non-Jewish bodies—not only in Germany, in the Old Reich (Altreich), in the Eastern March (Ostmark), in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, but in many territories where we exerted our influence at the time. I was known everywhere. I had to concern myself with every single detail, with matters of principle. Jewry had simply…

  2. Page 96 Eichmann compares the Old Reich with the Protectorate.

    That was how it was in virtually all territories where the Jewish question was to be brought to a solution, whether the Old Reich, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, or the various areas of Europe we controlled and influenced. Everywhere there was a struggle against intervention. Even the Rechtsmarschall and Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan, H. Goering, repeatedly intervened personally for Jews and obtained…

  3. Page 114 An unidentified speaker lists population totals for the Old Reich, Austria, and the Protectorate.

    Old Reich: 500,000.

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Ostmark Nazi-era name for annexed Austria, from 1938.

What it means

Nazi Germany annexed Austria in March 1938 and first renamed it Ostmark.

The new name erased Austria’s separate state identity. In 1942 the regime replaced it with names for the Alpine and Danubian districts.

In this interview

The speakers use Ostmark for annexed Austria while discussing Jewish offices, foreign currency, and the areas in which Eichmann worked.

The name Ostmark also had older meanings.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 9 Eichmann discusses foreign-currency duties and Jewish functionaries in Austria, which he calls the Ostmark.

    No. This preliminary work—obtaining foreign currency and the like, corresponding with foreign missions in Austria, or the Ostmark, or abroad—was exclusively the work of the Jewish functionaries. That was what I had appointed them for. They were decent people, largely Zionists who wanted to emigrate anyway.

  2. Page 18 Eichmann lists the Reich, Ostmark, and Protectorate as successive areas of duty.

    …ten years, I had 1,000 discussions with Jewish and non-Jewish bodies—not only in Germany, in the Old Reich (Altreich), in the Eastern March (Ostmark), in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, but in many territories where we exerted our influence at the time. I was known everywhere. I had to concern myself with every single detail, with matters of principle. Jewry had simply grown accustomed to it—I read it in the…

  3. Page 117 Eichmann mentions the Vienna Israelite Religious Community as an umbrella group in the Ostmark.

    …the director of the Israelite Religious Community in Vienna, the umbrella organization for all Jewish organizations working in the Ostmark at the time, Dr. Kastner of Budapest, Dr. Eppstein of Berlin, and many others often had discussions with me that were more than merely frank. I told them more than once that I knew no racial hatred and rejected so-called Stürmer methods.

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Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia German-occupied Czech lands under this official name from 1939 to 1945.

What it means

Nazi Germany created the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia after occupying the Czech lands in March 1939.

German rulers kept a limited Czech government under occupation. Reinhard Heydrich later held the post of acting Reich Protector and drove terror, forced labor, and deportation of Czech Jews.

In this interview

The speakers list the Protectorate with the Reich and Ostmark while tracing Eichmann’s areas of duty and comparing anti-Jewish policy across regions.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 18 Eichmann lists the Reich, Ostmark, and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia as stages in his career.

    …1,000 discussions with Jewish and non-Jewish bodies—not only in Germany, in the Old Reich (Altreich), in the Eastern March (Ostmark), in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, but in many territories where we exerted our influence at the time. I was known everywhere. I had to concern myself with every single detail, with matters of principle. Jewry had simply grown accustomed to it—I read it in the various foreign…

  2. Page 83 Eichmann traces a line through the Reich, Austria, and the Protectorate.

    All of them, everyone. Hungary was not the first time, no. It goes back into the Reich, back to Austria, into the Protectorate.

  3. Page 96 Eichmann compares interventions in the Old Reich and Protectorate.

    That was how it was in virtually all territories where the Jewish question was to be brought to a solution, whether the Old Reich, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, or the various areas of Europe we controlled and influenced. Everywhere there was a struggle against intervention. Even the Rechtsmarschall and Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan, H. Goering, repeatedly intervened personally for Jews and obtained…

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Warthegau Polish land annexed to Germany and governed as Reichsgau Wartheland.

What it means

The Warthegau, formally Reichsgau Wartheland, was annexed Polish land ruled as a Nazi German province after the 1939 invasion.

It included Poznań and Łódź, renamed Litzmannstadt. German rulers expelled Poles and Jews, built ghettos, and murdered Jews at Chełmno.

In this interview

Eichmann discusses a trip near Litzmannstadt, killing totals, and the removal of Poles for German settlement in the Warthegau.

Warthegau and Wartheland are two names for the same province.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 30 Eichmann says Müller sent him to the Warthegau near Litzmannstadt, where Jews were being or were to be gassed.

    …that Globocnik had been given the task of killing the Jews and burying them in the anti-tank trenches dug by the Russians, he sent me to the Warthegau. I no longer know where it was; in any event, it was not very far from Litzmannstadt. According to Müller, Jews were supposed to have been gassed there, or were to be gassed there. I always say this at the outset: Müller did not give such orders. He had nothing to do with it.

  2. Page 115 Eichmann gives a killing estimate for the General Government and Warthegau.

    Killed in the so-called General Government and the Warthegau: approximately 200,000.

  3. Pages 224 to 225 Eichmann discusses the removal of Poles and German settlement in the Warthegau.

    …the refugee party—all this although it was known that Krumey was SS OSTPF, that he evacuated the Poles and carried out the settlement in the Warthegau; all this when it was known that he had been my permanent deputy in Hungary. That point could not have been suppressed. And when I put all this together with the statement he made to the Jew Brandt … that Brandt goes on to write: all that was missing was for Krumey to click…

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Camps and ghettos

Concentration camps, killing centers, ghettos, and detention sites discussed by the speakers.

BełżecBełżec killing center An Operation Reinhard killing center in occupied Poland where German authorities murdered about 434,500 Jews.

What it means

The SS built Bełżec in occupied Poland as the first fixed killing center of Operation Reinhard. It began mass gassing in March 1942.

German and Trawniki-trained guards murdered about 434,500 Jews there, as well as an unknown number of Roma and Poles. Very few prisoners survived.

In this interview

The typescript uses Belzec and the damaged form Belschek. The speakers group it with other sites while arguing about gas killing, camp activity, and who knew what.

Bełżec was a killing center, not simply a concentration camp.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 484 The speakers list Bełżec with other killing centers.

    …spot. Yesterday two blabbermouths were shot.” Then he explained to us: “At present, 17 August 1942, we have three installations in operation: Belschek, on the Lublin–Bemberg railway line, D. line, maximum daily capacity 15,000 people; Treblinka, east of Warsaw, maximum capacity 25,000 people; Sovibor, also in Poland, maximum capacity 20,000 people. Meidaneck, near Lublin, is now being prepared. The first three

  2. Page 583 A camp passage uses the damaged Belschek form.

  3. Page 666 The site returns in a discussion of mass killing.

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MajdanekLublin concentration camp, commonly called Majdanek A concentration camp near Lublin used for forced labor and mass murder, including gas killing.

What it means

The SS established the Lublin concentration camp, commonly called Majdanek, on the edge of Lublin in 1941. It held Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, and prisoners from many countries.

Prisoners died through forced labor, hunger, disease, shootings, and gas. Majdanek was tied to Operation Reinhard but wasn’t one of its three purpose-built killing centers.

In this interview

The transcript uses Majdanek and Meidaneck while the speakers sort labor camps, concentration camps, and killing sites. Their categories shift from passage to passage.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 319 Eichmann invokes camp workshops while arguing about a site’s purpose.

  2. Page 484 Majdanek appears in a list of camp and killing sites.

    …capacity 15,000 people; Treblinka, east of Warsaw, maximum capacity 25,000 people; Sovibor, also in Poland, maximum capacity 20,000 people. Meidaneck, near Lublin, is now being prepared. The first three

  3. Page 583 The speakers return to Majdanek in a camp discussion.

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SobibórSobibór killing center An Operation Reinhard killing center in occupied Poland where German authorities murdered at least 167,000 people.

What it means

The SS built Sobibór in occupied Poland as one of the three Operation Reinhard killing centers. Mass gassing began in spring 1942.

German and Trawniki-trained guards murdered at least 167,000 Jews there. Prisoners staged an uprising on October 14, 1943, after which the SS dismantled the camp.

In this interview

Sobibór appears once in the English as the damaged form Soviber, in a list with Treblinka, Bełżec, and Majdanek.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 484 The damaged form Soviber appears in a list of camp and killing sites.

    …on the Lublin–Bemberg railway line, D. line, maximum daily capacity 15,000 people; Treblinka, east of Warsaw, maximum capacity 25,000 people; Sovibor, also in Poland, maximum capacity 20,000 people. Meidaneck, near Lublin, is now being prepared. The first three

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TheresienstadtTerezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia German ghetto and camp at Terezín, used for imprisonment, transit, forced labor, and propaganda.

What it means

The SS set up the Theresienstadt ghetto in the Czech fortress town of Terezín in late 1941. German authorities sent many elderly and prominent Jews there, along with Jews from the Protectorate and other countries.

Tens of thousands died there from hunger, disease, and harsh conditions. German authorities deported many more from Theresienstadt to killing sites and camps farther east, chiefly Auschwitz.

In this interview

Eichmann discusses the planning, naming, guard arrangements, food, prominent prisoners, foreign visits, and deportations connected with Theresienstadt. He repeatedly uses softened names such as old people’s home.

The softened words in the interview reflect SS language and Eichmann’s defense. Theresienstadt was a ghetto and camp, not an ordinary retirement home or self-governing Jewish town.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 14 Eichmann lists Theresienstadt among territorial ideas discussed before mass deportation.

    …dead… So when emigration stalled—we will talk later about why it stalled—I thought about it, when the various attempts came to me, such as Theresienstadt, such as the Lublin district. Boehm writes in his Jewish State that Herzl had tried everything, had even gone knocking on the Sultan's door; he had wanted to negotiate with Kaiser Wilh. (Wilhelm). Herzl stirred up heaven and earth for the Jews, and in his distress…

  2. Page 23 The speakers discuss prominent Jews held there and possible releases.

    Yes, we had quite a number of very prominent Jews in Theresienstadt, and quite a number of very prominent Jews in the concentration camps too. I think Léon Blum was still there… There were plenty of names. I had a few Austrian generals who were Jews; I had a whole lot of people, some of whom had also been former Reich ministers—… were. There were plenty. I could easily have assembled the 100.

  3. Page 54 Eichmann mentions the road through the ghetto, guards, and food deliveries.

    …there were some party districts (Gaue) where the Gauleiter were particularly radical. They ordered the removal, and those people then came to Theresienstadt only at the very end, but only if the German-blooded partner had died. If the German-blooded partner was still alive, he had to remain in his apartment, because no German-blooded partner was sent to Theresienstadt. If the German-blooded partner had not died, the Jew was…

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TreblinkaTreblinka I labor camp and Treblinka II killing center A German camp site in occupied Poland whose Treblinka II killing center murdered about 925,000 Jews.

What it means

The Treblinka site held two separate German camps. Treblinka I was a forced-labor camp. Treblinka II, opened in 1942 under Operation Reinhard, was built for mass murder.

German SS and police staff, assisted by guards trained at Trawniki, murdered about 925,000 Jews and an unknown number of Roma at Treblinka II, chiefly with engine exhaust in gas chambers.

In this interview

Treblinka comes up with killing centers, gas, Franz Stangl, and the speakers’ attempts to sort camps by purpose. The interview sometimes uses the place name without stating which Treblinka camp it means.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 318 The speakers place Treblinka in a discussion of camps and mass killing.

  2. Page 484 Treblinka appears beside other killing centers.

    …1942, we have three installations in operation: Belschek, on the Lublin–Bemberg railway line, D. line, maximum daily capacity 15,000 people; Treblinka, east of Warsaw, maximum capacity 25,000 people; Sovibor, also in Poland, maximum capacity 20,000 people. Meidaneck, near Lublin, is now being prepared. The first three

  3. Page 666 The speakers return to Treblinka while reviewing camp evidence.

    …figures for the various extermination sites. That means adding together the total of those exterminated in the death camps, Belsec, Treblinka, So… and Auschwitz, and adding to that the chaotic extermination operations in the open air that were carried out in the Soviet Union. After such very exact investigation the Polish commission for war crimes established in the years 45/46 the following totals for the four…

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Laws, plans, and events

Laws, orders, conferences, pogroms, deportation plans, and wartime programs.

Commissar OrderGuidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars A 1941 German military order to kill captured Soviet political commissars.

What it means

The German armed forces sent the Commissar Order before the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. It told troops to separate Soviet political commissars from other prisoners and kill them.

The order was part of a war planned around racial and political murder. Its text targeted commissars, while German forces and SS and police units also murdered Jews and other people on far wider grounds.

In this interview

The questioners connect the order to early mass shootings and argue that Eichmann used it as cover for killing Jews. Eichmann rejects that account while accepting parts of the timing.

The order didn’t direct the murder of every Soviet Jew. The interview sometimes blends it with the wider mass shootings that followed the invasion.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 395 The questioner links the order to a plan to kill Jews, which Eichmann denies.

    In this Commissar Order, Eichmann saw an opportunity to annihilate the rest of Jewry as well.

  2. Page 396 The speakers place killings in Soviet land under the order.

    At this time no Jews are being annihilated outside Russian territory. They are being annihilated on Russian territory on the basis of the Commissar Order.

  3. Page 398 They discuss it as a stage before later extermination policy.

    Second, before deportations from Europe and mass annihilations began in the summer of 1942, there were preliminary stages triggered by the Commissar Order.

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Four Year Plan Nazi economic program begun in 1936 to prepare Germany’s economy and armed forces for war.

What it means

Hitler put Hermann Göring in charge of the Four Year Plan in 1936. Its aim was to give Germany the raw materials, industrial capacity, and labor needed for war within four years.

The post gave Göring wide power across economic ministries and occupied industries. As Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, he also sent the July 31, 1941 order directing Heydrich to prepare a total solution of the so-called Jewish question in German-controlled Europe.

In this interview

The speakers use the Four Year Plan both for the economic program and for Göring's powerful office. Eichmann says Göring could intervene across state branches, protect favored Jews, and give Heydrich formal authority over the Final Solution. The plan wasn't a Jewish-affairs body, but Göring's post put him in the chain of orders.

Commissioner, Delegate, and Plenipotentiary are translation variants for Göring's title here. Don't turn the Four Year Plan into an SS office or treat every intervention as part of one fixed policy.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 44 Eichmann says Göring could enter every branch of government through his Four Year Plan post.

  2. Page 246 He says the Four Year Plan office helped some Jewish art and gem dealers obtain privileged status.

  3. Page 422 The questioner reads Göring's July 1941 order to Heydrich about a total solution of the Jewish question.

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Madagascar PlanPlan to deport European Jews to Madagascar A 1940 German proposal to deport millions of European Jews to Madagascar under German police control.

What it means

German officials revived older antisemitic proposals to remove Europe’s Jews to Madagascar after France fell in 1940. Foreign Office and SS planners imagined a vast forced deportation under German control.

The plan depended on German control of sea routes and never became practical. It wasn’t free settlement or a rescue plan. It envisioned coercion, seizure of property, police control, and deadly living conditions.

In this interview

Eichmann presents Madagascar as an early political and territorial answer and uses it to argue that Final Solution once meant something other than killing. The speakers discuss offices, population figures, shipping, and the plan’s collapse.

The plan changed across drafts and was never carried out.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 14 Eichmann lists Madagascar among territorial proposals.

    Now Wi… claims in his statements that you were commissioned in August to draw up a Madagascar plan?

  2. Page 15 He mentions talks among the SS, Interior Ministry, and Foreign Office.

    …watched to ensure that its own powers were not bypassed in any way. I believe that at least fifteen to twenty large meetings about the Madagascar project took place at my office, each attended by about twenty to twenty-five people, to give you some idea of the intensity of the work. Through the lawyers I had at my disposal, I had a proper draft law drawn up, together with a Triampel, for the resettlement and…

  3. Page 17 The speakers discuss the proposal’s population and transport problems.

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Nisko PlanNisko and Lublin deportation plan An early SS plan that deported Jews to the Nisko area of occupied Poland in 1939 and 1940.

What it means

In October 1939, Eichmann’s office began deporting Jews from Vienna, Moravian Ostrava, and Katowice to the Nisko area by the San River. Deportees were forced to build a camp under harsh conditions.

The transports stopped after several months amid conflict among German offices and shifting occupation plans. Many deportees were driven across the German-Soviet boundary or left without shelter and food.

In this interview

Eichmann mentions selecting Nisko, planning a strongpoint, arranging transports, and blaming Hans Frank for ending the project.

Nisko names a town, a camp, and a wider deportation scheme.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 388 The questioner outlines Eichmann’s transit camp and deportations.

    Eichmann formed the plan to deport the Jews from Reich territory, the Protectorate and Austria to Poland, on the assumption that the Polish territories would sooner or later be an independent state again. So he quickly organized a transit camp in Nisko on the San and wanted to deport the Jews from Vienna, Brünn and Mährisch Ostrau there.

  2. Page 389 Eichmann mentions picking Nisko near the German-Soviet boundary.

    I came to the San. I saw a blown-up railway bridge, wide, endlessly wide country from horizon to horizon, shaped somewhat like a plateau, with the San, that mighty carrier of water, in front of me. As an initial base I had the village of Nisko, a sizeable village right on the boundary between the Russian sphere of interest and the German sphere of interest.

  3. Page 393 He says Hans Frank stopped the project.

    …Solution for him. Whether that was any more pleasant, I do not know. The whole thing would have gone differently if Frank had not torpedoed Nisko on the San. Whether he torpedoed it himself or it came from another quarter, I do not know. For Frank it was a great struggle at the time, against Heydrich, against Himmler and against me too.

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Nuremberg LawsReich Citizenship Law and Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor Two 1935 laws that stripped Jews of citizenship rights and banned marriage or sexual relations between Jews and people classed as German-blooded.

What it means

The Nazi government announced the two Nuremberg Laws on September 15, 1935. Later decrees defined who counted as Jewish or of mixed ancestry through grandparents and descent.

The laws formed a base for exclusion from public life, jobs, marriage, and legal protection. German authorities extended related rules across annexed and occupied lands in different ways.

In this interview

The speakers invoke the laws when discussing who counted as Jewish, mixed marriages, exemptions, the Jewish star, and how Eichmann’s office processed policy.

Nuremberg Laws can mean narrowly the two September 1935 laws or broadly their later decrees.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 6 The speakers distinguish the laws from a Führer order.

    And this body of law on which your work rested—was that the Nuremberg Laws No. 35?

  2. Page 155 The laws are used to define a mixed-marriage exemption.

  3. Page 272 A draft marking policy uses the laws to decide who must wear the star.

    …all Jews of German nationality living in Reich territory are to be marked. Now comes point two: who in particular is to be covered. Now the Nuremberg Laws are brought in: who counts as a Jew subject to the marking requirement? Then the borderline cases come up, and then it says: in case of non-compliance, punishment…

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Wannsee ConferenceJanuary 20, 1942 meeting at Wannsee in Berlin A meeting where senior German officials coordinated the murder of Europe’s Jews, which was already underway.

What it means

Reinhard Heydrich convened fifteen senior SS, party, and state officials at a villa in Wannsee on January 20, 1942. He asserted RSHA control and sought the cooperation of ministries across German-ruled Europe.

The meeting didn’t begin the Holocaust or decide whether to kill Europe’s Jews. Mass shootings and killing at Chełmno were already underway. The meeting coordinated duties and discussed categories, deportation, labor, and exemptions.

In this interview

Eichmann mentions invitations, participants, notes, the revised minutes, Heydrich’s language, and his role as secretary. He uses gaps in memory and the meeting’s language to dispute what was said aloud.

Don’t describe Wannsee as the moment the murder decision was first made. Its importance lies in coordination and in the surviving minutes Eichmann helped prepare.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 13 The speakers first place Wannsee in the development of policy.

  2. Page 139 Eichmann discusses the meeting and its words.

    Perhaps I can jog your memory by reminding you of the famous Wannsee meeting on 20 May 1942. At that meeting the question of the Jews deported from Hungary and Yugoslavia was also discussed, and it was decided there that these Jews were to be transported to eastern Poland.

  3. Page 239 The speakers review Eichmann’s part in the meeting and its minutes.

    But Heydrich was surely entrusted with the Jewish question in some way at the Wannsee Conference or at other conferences?

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Persecution and deportation

The language of exclusion, forced movement, imprisonment, seizure, and mass murder, including words used to hide what was happening.

Aryan and AryanizationArisierung is the German word for Aryanization Aryan was a false Nazi racial category. Aryanization meant taking Jewish property and transferring it to non-Jews.

What it means

Aryan began as a language-history label, not a biological race. Racial writers turned it into a false idea of a superior people. Nazis used Aryan and non-Aryan to divide those included in German society from Jews and other people they excluded.

Aryanization meant the coerced transfer or seizure of Jewish businesses, homes, property, and livelihoods for non-Jewish buyers or the state. It wasn’t an ordinary sale. Discriminatory laws, threats, forced departure, and state theft stripped Jewish owners of free choice and fair value.

In this interview

Most uses describe people as Aryan or non-Aryan, including Christians with Jewish ancestry, mixed marriages, ancestry certificates, and camp prisoners. Only a few use Aryanization, in questions about Foreign Office staff. The speakers use Nazi racial categories as if they described real biology.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 233 Eichmann discusses so-called non-Aryan Christians and marriages to people classed as Aryan.

    …personally and said, 'But leave my Catholics alone.' In all the other countries too, in France as well, in Germany. Those were the so-called non-Aryan Christians. They even had an association in which this rabble was registered, and they were not touched at all. We would have burned all ten fingers.

  2. Page 408 He refers to an Aryan certificate used to prove ancestry.

    The number was small, though there were a few more after the proof of Aryan ancestry. You cannot put a percentage on it. There were probably more in Austria than in the Old Reich.

  3. Page 689 The questioner asks about Foreign Office Jewish-affairs officers and Aryanization advisers.

    Do you know that the A.A. (Foreign Office) had a Jewish-affairs officer and an Aryanisation adviser?

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Central Office for Jewish Emigration SS-controlled office that coerced Jews to emigrate and stripped their assets.

What it means

The SS and police opened the Vienna Central Office for Jewish Emigration in August 1938. It brought police, finance, tax, currency, and Jewish community duties into one coercive assembly-line system that forced Jews to leave while taking much of their property.

The Vienna office used money taken from wealthier Jews to finance forced emigration and became a model for offices in Prague and Berlin. As escape routes closed, Nazi policy shifted from forced emigration toward deportation and mass murder.

In this interview

Eichmann says he proposed the Vienna office, directed it, stood over the Jewish community, and held unlimited authority in emigration matters. He mentions state and Jewish workers processing people on an assembly line while finance and currency offices handled their money. He casts this as orderly aid and separates it from Gestapo coercion, even though the offices worked together.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 9 Eichmann mentions the Vienna office during the November pogrom and stresses its Jewish card files.

    … really no idea. Perhaps it came from Ley. I experienced it in Vienna at the time. I had my office on Prinz Eugen Strasse, and the Central Office for Jewish Emigration was there. That evening, when the affair apparently began, several Jewish functionaries came to me and asked me to protect them. I offered them the office, and they spent the night there. My guard was posted outside the palace both by day and by night.

  2. Page 284 He says he directed the office, held unlimited authority in emigration matters, and placed state and Jewish workers on one assembly line.

    …As desk officer of the inspector of the Security Police and the Security Service, I had received the order, on my own proposal, to create a central office for Jewish emigration. Inspector Stahlecker had first obtained authorization from the Reich Commissioner for the Reunification of Austria with the German Reich. He had an authorization decree, although the State Police headquarters in Vienna would by rights have been…

  3. Page 316 He says finance, economics, and currency offices handled the emigrants' monetary assets.

    Yes and no. Registration only in the form of—let us say, paperwork. Soon after the Central Office for Jewish Emigration was established in Vienna, the Jews, when they were ready to emigrate, ordered their shipping containers and packed their three- or four-room apartments into them. There was not much to register apart from the monetary assets. But those were dealt with by the Chief Finance President and the other interested…

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Mischling Nazi legal category for someone classed as having both Jewish and non-Jewish ancestry.

What it means

Mischling was a Nazi legal label for people classed as having both Jewish and non-Jewish ancestry. Under the Nuremberg Laws, one Jewish grandparent normally meant second degree and two normally meant first degree, though religion and marriage could move a person into the legal class of Jew.

The state used the label to control citizenship, marriage, duties, schooling, and family life. Officials later debated forced divorce, compulsory sterilization, deportation, and how people in each degree would be treated within the Final Solution.

In this interview

The questioner reads policy papers that divide Mischlinge into first and second degrees and weigh deportation against sterilization. Later pages discuss forced divorce and Party Chancellery pressure. Eichmann says the topic was too complex for him, then repeats Nazi blood ideas when speaking about a cousin.

Mischling is a Nazi racial and legal label. It has no biological basis and isn't a neutral word for anyone today.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 492 The questioner reads rules for first- and second-degree Mischlinge and a proposal pairing evacuation with compulsory sterilization.

    …plan; a prerequisite for clearing up the problem is also a solution to the questions of mixed marriages and persons of mixed descent (Mischlinge).

  2. Page 699 The speakers discuss forced divorce, Security Police ancestry findings, and Party Chancellery pressure.

    …forced divorce. The divorce decree then depends only on the finding that one spouse is fully Jewish or of mixed descent in the first degree (Mischling ersten Grades). The Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service makes this finding—whether one spouse is fully Jewish or of mixed descent in the first degree—and the public prosecutors’ offices are bound by it.

  3. Page 708 Eichmann applies the label to his cousin and repeats Nazi ideas about blood across generations.

    Well, I thought to myself, thank God, she's of mixed ancestry (Mischling). My personal attitude toward people of mixed ancestry had always been very positive, because I told myself, a person of mixed ancestry keeps getting better in terms of blood. Of course, if he went abroad, he could also, in the negative sense, under the Nuremberg laws, become a full Jew again. But then it was abroad, and I wasn't responsible for it. And…

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Reich Central Office for Jewish EmigrationReichszentrale für jüdische Auswanderung An SS-led central office formed in 1939 to speed forced Jewish emigration and seizure of property.

What it means

Hermann Göring ordered the office formed in January 1939 after the Vienna model. Reinhard Heydrich led it through the Security Police and SD.

It joined police pressure, tax and currency controls, travel papers, and Jewish communal bodies into a coercive process. As emigration closed during the war, the same staff and methods fed into deportation policy.

In this interview

The office is named in a quoted account of the centralized drive to force Jews from Reich land.

Don’t confuse this Reich office with the prior Central Offices for Jewish Emigration in Vienna, Prague, and Berlin.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 489 A quoted passage dates its founding and names the Security Police and SD chief as its head.

    Reich territory was undertaken more vigorously and systematically. By order of the Reichsmarschall, a Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration was established in January ’39, and its direction was entrusted to the Chief of the Security Police and the Security Service.

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Schutzhaft (protective custody)Schutzhaft literally means protective custody Gestapo detention without court review, often followed by indefinite confinement in a concentration camp.

What it means

Schutzhaft sounded as though the police were protecting someone. In practice, it let the Gestapo imprison people without a warrant, charge, trial, or meaningful appeal. The supposed protection was protection of the Nazi state from people it treated as enemies.

A Schutzhaft order often sent a detainee to a concentration camp for an indefinite period. The Gestapo used it against political opponents, Jews, religious dissenters, gay men, resistance members, and many other targeted people.

In this interview

The English translation has protective custody, never Schutzhaft. Eichmann describes it as a threat against lawyers who helped Jews, as a Gestapo section, and as a paperwork route to the camp system. He uses office divisions to argue that his Jewish-affairs section didn’t control the detention decision, though the same police system linked arrest, camp confinement, labor, and deportation.

Schutzhaft didn’t mean custody for the prisoner’s safety.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 96 Eichmann says lawyers who intervened for Jews were threatened with immediate protective custody.

    …him that henceforth, on Berlin's instructions, any legal professional caught intervening on behalf of Jews was to be taken immediately into protective custody. That stopped it abruptly.

  2. Page 190 He mentions the protective-custody section inside Office IV and its link to transfers from camps.

  3. Page 278 He mentions a protective-custody order with a six-month review date.

    In accordance with the inquiry of such-and-such a date, under the circular decree of such-and-such a date, the Jew so-and-so is to be taken into protective custody, with the … or a review date of half a year.

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Sonderbehandlung (special treatment)Sonderbehandlung literally means special treatment A Nazi code phrase that often meant killing, though a few settings used it for exceptional privileged treatment.

What it means

Nazi police and SS offices often used Sonderbehandlung in place of a direct word for killing. The mild words helped hide violence from victims, outsiders, and people reading official papers without inside knowledge.

The phrase could occasionally describe an unusual privilege or separate detention for a prominent prisoner. Codes such as Sonderbehandlung 14f13, however, named organized killings against camp prisoners judged unable to work.

In this interview

Eichmann says, “Special treatment was killing,” then explains that the phrase replaced shoot, hang, or kill. In the same exchange he gives a different example involving prominent prisoners housed in better quarters.

In anti-Jewish police and deportation settings, killing is often the right reading.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 279 The speakers discuss an approval path through which a Jewish detainee could be handed over for special treatment.

    …the Jew so-and-so was committed because he was found engaging in a race-defiling act. Under decree such-and-such, the question is put whether special treatment is to be carried out.

  2. Page 383 Eichmann directly says special treatment meant killing, then gives a rarer example of privileged detention.

    Special treatment was killing.

  3. Page 640 The questioner reads a police passage joining special treatment with the mass removal of Jews.

    With effect from 23 June 1943, all Jewish residential districts could be dissolved. The district of Galicia is therefore free of Jews, apart from the Jews in … under the control of the SS and Police Leader. Jews still apprehended individually are given special treatment by the Order Police or the gendarmerie deployed there. By 27 June 1943, a total of 434,329 Jews had been resettled.

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Umsiedlungresettlement or relocation German for resettlement. Nazi usage could hide forced deportation to ghettos, labor camps, or killing centers.

What it means

Umsiedlung has an ordinary meaning of resettlement or relocation. Nazi population policy used it for many forced moves, including transfers of Poles, Czechs, ethnic Germans, and Jews.

In anti-Jewish writing, especially “resettlement to the East,” the word often hid deportation and mass murder. The apparent promise of labor or a new home helped deceive victims about the purpose of the transports.

In this interview

The German word itself doesn’t appear in the English translation, but resettlement appears often, for literal population moves and as a euphemism. The main passages say evacuation was later paraphrased as resettlement and describe resettlement to Poland as public camouflage for mass murder.

An English resettlement passage doesn’t show that the German typescript said Umsiedlung.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 383 The speaker says evacuation was later paraphrased as resettlement.

  2. Page 398 The questioner says mass murder was hidden from the public as resettlement to Poland.

  3. Page 640 The questioner tests whether a mass resettlement passage means the Jews were killed.

References

Versippung Kinship or family ties, including through marriage. In Nazi racial language, the word was used for family connections to Jews. Here the speakers discuss claims about Heydrich's ancestry.

What it means

Kinship or family ties, including through marriage. In Nazi racial language, the word was used for family connections to Jews. Here the speakers discuss claims about Heydrich's ancestry.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 670

    Second, concerning the Jewish family connections (Versippung) of his superior, the chief of the Security Police and the Security Service, Reinhardt Heydrich. When the author of this book relies on the statement of a master baker from some place X, who is said to have known of a gravestone bearing the name "Sarah Heydrich", and concluded from it that Heydrich must have been at least a half-Jew, because after the marking order…

References

Movements and foreign bodies

Political movements, Jewish groups, relief bodies, and foreign police or state agencies.

Arrow Cross Hungarian fascist and antisemitic movement that seized power in October 1944.

What it means

The Arrow Cross was a Hungarian fascist and violently antisemitic movement led by Ferenc Szálasi.

After a German-backed coup in October 1944, its government ruled Hungary and its militias terrorized, robbed, deported, and murdered Jews in Budapest.

In this interview

Eichmann discusses Arrow Cross formations and camps, and he sometimes mixes the movement with Hungarian officials who held different posts.

One passage wrongly places László Endre at the head of the Arrow Cross. Ferenc Szálasi led the party.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 60 Eichmann names the Hungarian Gendarmerie and Arrow Cross formations as Hungarian executive forces.

    …not German police offices that were in charge. Rather, the Hungarian executive authorities, consisting chiefly of the Hungarian gendarmerie, Arrow Cross formations, and so on, solved the Jewish questions themselves. What they carried out locally, in Hungary, was, first, outside my knowledge, although I was informed of one event or another, informed after the fact…

  2. Page 61 Eichmann discusses camps that he says Arrow Cross groups established.

    …Police Leader, or even me, everything it carried out or intended to carry out in the way of internal political measures. Which camps these Arrow Cross organizations, which camps the Hungarian police in the individual counties, which camps the Hungarian gendarmerie in the individual counties established, had occupied, or dissolved, I do not know. It was none of my concern. What mattered to me was that Hungary should be…

  3. Page 64 Eichmann wrongly places László Endre at the head of the Arrow Cross while discussing a planned Budapest ghetto massacre.

    …force. Even the seed of an incipient revolt would, and I say this too, have been nipped in the bud with lightning speed. I also know that the Arrow Cross, with Dr. L. Enderee at its head, would have been ready sooner rather than later to liquidate this Budapest ghetto in an unparalleled bloodbath.

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CICCounter Intelligence Corps U.S. Army intelligence branch whose officers questioned Eichmann after the war.

What it means

The Counter Intelligence Corps was the U.S. Army’s wartime counterintelligence branch. Its agents worked with Army units and investigated espionage, sabotage, and security threats.

After Germany’s defeat, CIC officers screened and questioned prisoners and people of intelligence interest in the U.S. occupation zone. CIC officers questioned Eichmann while he lived under a false name.

In this interview

Eichmann uses CIC for American interrogators in Ansbach and elsewhere. He speaks of them with contempt and says he tried to stay ahead of their questions.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 34 Eichmann says an alleged written extermination order could only have arisen “in the brain of a sick CIC Jew.”

    …like this: “My dear Eichmann, the Führer has ordered the physical destruction of all Jews.” That can only have arisen in the brain of a sick CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) Jew. The truth is, in any case, that the RF (Reichsführer-SS) never put a single line about the physical destruction of the Jews in writing. I know that he dealt with Pohl of the VWHA (Economic and Administrative Main Office) only orally. I never…

  2. Page 36 Eichmann says he thought he was cleverer than the CIC officer questioning him.

    I was always lucky enough to be just a shade cleverer than the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) officer questioning me. But had they caught me back then, I would probably have taken a great deal upon myself that was not chargeable to my account at all. In the expectation that a) my life is confused verwirrt anyway—which would not have been so bad, because I would have given it for Germany—but that b) I might have been able to…

  3. Page 57 Eichmann recalls CIC questioning in Ansbach and his effort to secure discharge before suspicion returned.

    In the meantime the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) interrogated us in Ansbach, where we were taken. When I could roughly work out at what time the administrative process, if any suspicion about me had arisen at all, might return to Ansbach or Oberlagstetten (as corrected) for further handling, I decided to discharge myself. Since there were, I believe, nine or eleven officers in this camp, I naturally could not go off on my…

References

GPUState Political Directorate Name used here for the Soviet political police, though GPU was formally an earlier 1920s agency.

What it means

The GPU was the Soviet State Political Directorate. It took over the former Cheka’s functions in 1922.

The name properly belongs to the early Soviet political police. Later speakers sometimes used GPU as a broad label for Soviet security officers.

In this interview

Eichmann says a GPU commissar met his party during a wartime journey through Soviet-held land and arranged an escort through a corridor.

The speaker in 1957 uses GPU for a wartime Soviet officer, years after the formal GPU name had changed.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 389 Eichmann says a GPU commissar received his party and arranged its guarded passage through Soviet-held land.

    …descriptions of the terrain, and Stahlecker got into the car. We drove off together and looked at everything. Then we drove to the … line. A GPU (Soviet political police) commissar received us, and after we had talked very pleasantly for a while, a Siberian rifle unit … received orders to escort us through the Russian corridor so that we would be spared any possible unpleasantness, because we were travelling in full…

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References

Hungarian Gendarmerie Hungary’s rural police force, central to concentrating and deporting Jews in 1944.

What it means

Hungarian gendarmes helped confine Jews in transit ghettos and force them onto deportation trains in 1944.

From May 15 to July 9, 1944, gendarmes working with German SS deportation staff sent about 440,000 Jews from Hungary, most to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In this interview

Eichmann repeatedly names the Hungarian Gendarmerie while discussing roundups, camps, deportation trains, and forced marches.

Eichmann often shifts blame to Hungarian forces. German SS officers planned and directed the deportations.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 60 Eichmann says the Gendarmerie and Arrow Cross were the main Hungarian executive forces.

    …that in Hungary it was not German police offices that were in charge. Rather, the Hungarian executive authorities, consisting chiefly of the Hungarian gendarmerie, Arrow Cross formations, and so on, solved the Jewish questions themselves. What they carried out locally, in Hungary, was, first, outside my knowledge, although I was informed of one event or another, informed after the fact…

  2. Page 61 Eichmann discusses camps that the Hungarian Gendarmerie established.

    …political measures. Which camps these Arrow Cross organizations, which camps the Hungarian police in the individual counties, which camps the Hungarian gendarmerie in the individual counties established, had occupied, or dissolved, I do not know. It was none of my concern. What mattered to me was that Hungary should be cleansed of those elements whose continued presence, according to the Reichsleiter above me, could make it…

  3. Page 63 Eichmann says he discussed a forced-march plan with senior Hungarian Gendarmerie officers.

    …would have to be subtracted, not Austria, Burgenland; that may come to about 180 kilometers. I discussed the plan with the commander of the Hungarian gendarmerie. He entrusted the details to his responsible desk officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ferenczy of the Hungarian gendarmerie. The daily marches were divided up. At first there were more kilometers each day; they were then reduced, and I believe the head of the column must…

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References

Jewish Council Jewish body forced by German authorities to relay and carry out orders. Forms and powers varied by place.

What it means

German rulers imposed Jewish councils in ghettos and required them to carry out German orders.

Council members also tried to keep food, housing, health care, and other community services going. Their choices were made under coercion.

In this interview

The speakers refer to councils in several cities while discussing ghetto leadership, local notices, flight from Budapest, and dealings with German offices.

Each city or ghetto had its own council, with its own name, leaders, and room to act.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 46 Eichmann says ghetto conditions depended on the Jewish Council of Elders, local leaders, and German guards.

    Conditions in the individual ghettos may have been worse in some and better in others. It depends, first, on the intelligence of the so-called Jewish Council of Elders or the Jewish ghetto leadership, and, second, on the intelligence and ability of the person in charge of guarding it. That is also why supplies were better in some and worse in others. Where they were worse, local friction may have arisen. Warsaw is an…

  2. Page 93 Eichmann says the Budapest Council of Elders told him that members had fled.

    …Hungary when I did it the other way round: Jews from Hungary to Romania for illegal emigration. Some people also bolted, some members of the Council of Elders from Budapest, and I then said: ‘Why investigate? They are gone.’ The Jewish Council of Elders came to me with long faces, told me they had bolted, and expected their punishment.

  3. Page 169 A questioner mentions a Jewish Council warning the Horthy cabinet and later being summoned by Eichmann.

    …had long been forbidden by the Hungarian side, he tried, with B., to smuggle 15,000 Jews from internment camp Ki… out of the country. The Jewish Council immediately notifies Horthy’s Cabinet Chancellery, and the train is brought back. So it was only an apparent success.

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References

Reich Association of Jews in Germany Compulsory Jewish umbrella body through which the Gestapo controlled German Jewish communal life.

What it means

The Reich Association of Jews in Germany was a compulsory umbrella body for Jewish communal life under Nazi policy.

It ran schools, welfare, and emigration work under Gestapo orders, and German control tightened as persecution deepened.

In this interview

The speakers discuss Paul Eppstein, Vienna’s Josef Löwenherz, Jewish statistics, and the Reich Association’s dealings with Eichmann’s office.

The speakers sometimes use the German name, Reichsvereinigung.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 288 Eichmann discusses Paul Eppstein, head of the Reich Association, and their interrogations and talks.

    …inspector Krugmann's office, at the interrogations he had to conduct on the authority of his desk officer, I met Eppstein, the head of the Reich Association for Jews in Germany. I also came into contact with other offices, and I found this very convenient. Not only could I help the Gestapo office through my theoretical knowledge, but personally I had expected a great deal from these discussions, to broaden my knowledge of…

  2. Page 299 Eichmann contrasts a French Jewish council with the Reich Association and Vienna community.

    …yes-men, like, for example, the Jewish council in the eastern European district. The French Jewish council held a middle position between our Reich Association in Germany and the Jewish religious community in Vienna. I would almost put it on a level with Prague. For those people representing the Reich Association in Germany—this Dr. Eppstein, the man who negotiated with you—he was not someone who simply took orders. Neither…

  3. Page 362 Eichmann says he commissioned the Reich Association to prepare a statistic.

    …under its director, Dr. R. Löwenherz. So you will concede that these figures are correct, because they are Jewish figures. I commissioned a Reich Association with a statistic for the Old Reich.

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References

WRBWar Refugee Board U.S. agency created in 1944 to aid people threatened by Nazi persecution.

What it means

President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board by Executive Order 9417 on January 22, 1944.

The board, led by the secretaries of State, War, and Treasury, planned rescue and temporary refuge for people threatened by the Axis powers.

In this interview

A questioner asks about Kurt Becher’s attempt in Zurich to speak with American WRB representatives and obtain a pledge tied to 20 million Swiss francs.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 62 A questioner links Becher’s Zurich talks with the American WRB to a proposed financial pledge.

    …with an attempt Becher made on those very days in Zurich, Switzerland, to enter into discussions with certain authorities of the American WRB (War Refugee Board), specifically a pledge from … of the American foreign minister concerning payment of twenty million Swiss francs. So that we place things correctly in time, does that now fit with this …?

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References

Money, equipment, and technical short forms

Currencies, companies, weapons, standards, and other technical short forms.

EKIron Cross German military decoration. EK I means Iron Cross First Class.

What it means

The Iron Cross was a German military decoration awarded in more than one war and class.

EK I means Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse, or Iron Cross First Class. Here it means the 1914 award, since the man was a First World War veteran.

In this interview

Eichmann says a man was a First World War soldier and earned the Iron Cross First Class.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 132 Eichmann says a First World War soldier had earned EK I, the Iron Cross First Class.

References

Unresolved short forms

Damaged or unexplained short forms whose meaning remains unclear.

IMD Unresolved code in the phrase “IMD 7 S.” Its full form isn’t known.

What it means

IMD appears once, in the damaged sequence “IMD 7 S.” No full name appears with it.

The surrounding exchange treats it as a number or file-like mark. The letters aren’t enough to tie it to a known office.

In this interview

An unidentified speaker reads out “IMD 7 S.” The rest of the line is unclear.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 529 An unidentified speaker reads a damaged sequence as “IMD 7 S.” The words that follow are unclear.

    IMD 7 S…

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T.U. An internal sheet that circulated in Amt IV. Its full name isn’t securely known.

What it means

The speakers describe T.U. as short sheets containing several telegram-style items.

They say the sheets circulated through Amt IV, with desk codes written beside items. No one gives the initials’ full name.

In this interview

Eichmann and the questioner describe T.U. sheets that circulated among Amt IV desks with IV B 4 and other desk codes written in the margins.

Transcript passages

  1. Page 11 Eichmann mentions T.U. sheets with telegram-style items, circulated among departments and marked IV B 4.

    All the saboteurs, all that rabble, such as we saw on July 20. I read it in so many things: the Red Orchestra, the press review, T.U., and whatever else there was. Some of these T.U. sheets were also sent to me. A conversation was set out there in telegraphic wording, and one such T.U. contained perhaps three, four or five matters. What concerned me was marked IV B 4.

  2. Page 498 Eichmann mentions T.U. sheets in a white folder circulating through Amt IV with desk codes in the margin.

    [Another description of the circulation of the T.U. sheets.]

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