All language subtitles for The.Devils.Confession.S01E02.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-CMRG

ADOLF EICHMANN [speaking German]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Previously on

The Devil's Confession:
The Lost Eichmann Tapes...

Adolf Eichmann evades capture
by the Allies for 15 years,

fleeing to Argentina.

Following Eichmann's capture
in 1960,

Nazi journalist
Willem Sassen takes advantage
of the media frenzy

and sells excerpts
of the interviews
toLife Magazine.

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS:
The publication of
the Life Magazineinterview

I think
was an astonishing moment.

Almost worldwide sensation.

MAN [speaking German]

NARRATOR [in English]:
This enrages Eichmann's
family and supporters,

who demand Sassen
turn over the tapes.

SASKIA SASSEN:
When the Eichmann story
blows into the public,

the Nazis who were
still around in Argentina,

they moved against my father,

because my father betrayed,
in their eyes.

NARRATOR: But fearing
for his life, Sassen denies
knowing their whereabouts.

MAN [speaking Hebrew]

NARRATOR: Nazis have
always denied their role
in the Holocaust.

[speaking German]

NARRATOR [in English]:
After the war,
many fled Europe,

including the architect
of the Final Solution -

Adolf Eichmann.

UKI GOÑI:
He's practically the last

important Nazi who arrived

in Argentina after the war.

NARRATOR: While hiding
in Argentina,

Eichmann records
a series of interviews

with Nazi journalist
Willem Sassen,

admitting his role
in the Holocaust.

Sassen came up
with this crazy idea

that he would interview the
mastermind of the Holocaust.

This is him boasting
about what he did.

NARRATOR:
The tapes are rediscovered,
and now for the first time,

we'll hear Eichmann
admitting his crimes,

a true Nazi confession.

With so many people
seeking the tapes,

Sassen knows he needs
a safe hiding place

and gives them to an old ally
before fleeing to Paraguay.

UKI GOÑI: There was
a former Luftwaffe officer

who had also escaped
to Argentina after the war.

This man called Dieter Menge.

And Menge made a lot of money.

And Menge had
a very large house
outside Buenos Aires,

a meeting place for Nazis.

They actually had
a flag post where they raised
the Nazi flag,

they saw Nazi movies,
they toasted to the Fuührer.

Maybe he made
a deal with Sassen to sell
the tapes to somebody

and they split the money.

You have to bear in mind,
you know, these are Nazi
adventurers, ex-SS men.

These are people
who had no problem with lying

and they had no problem
with lying to each other.

NARRATOR: Menge takes no risks
and buries the tapes

in his backyard
outside of Buenos Aires.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI:
Eichmann's taped recollections
were self incriminating.

And if accepted at the trial,

Eichmann admitted
the charges against him.

NARRATOR: But Eichmann and
Sassen aren't the only ones
interested in the tapes.

Israeli Attorney General
Gideon Hausner,

knows the tapes will prove,
beyond a shadow of a doubt,

that Eichmann's
repeated claims that he
was simply following orders

are nothing more than lies.

The governments of Israel,
West Germany and the US

also have a variety
of interests that make
the very existence

of the tapes problematic.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI: The BND,
the West German foreign
intelligence service,

had great concern
about what Eichmann

had told Sassen
and would tell the Israelis.

It wasn't simply the trial
of the century.

It was the trial
of the century

at the height of the Cold War.

NARRATOR: With the
whereabouts of the recordings
still in question,

Attorney General Hausner
is forced to rely
on the excerpts

published inLife Magazine

as evidence
of Eichmann's guilt.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT:
If I were Hausner,
I would have been pleased.

Because it's showing the world
who this man was.

It's sort of tilling the soil
before we plant.

[speaking Hebrew]

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS [in English]:
You could say it simplifies

some of the work of the
prosecution

in that it complicates
any kind of defense that
Eichmann is going to mount,

because it sounds
as if he is now acknowledging

his participation
in this genocide,

and doing so without
the remotest expression
of regret.

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[in English]
Eichmann lied to 2.5 million
Jews into their own death

and we seriously believe
that we can tell

whether he is telling
the truth or not?

Forget it.

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

BETTINA STANGNETH
[in English]: Eichmann is used
to being in such a situation.

He is fighting a war
on several fronts.

He has the judges,
the prosecution, the audience,

and he needs
to figure out his role.

Of course he chose the role
that he had already performed
for Sassen, but in reverse.

To Sassen, he always said:

"I really wasn't
a little bureaucrat!"

And it is precisely this role

of the annoyingly bureaucratic
and petty-minded guy

that he chooses to play
in court.

Eichmann in Jerusalem
is a man without a uniform.

He is a man
in a slightly oversized suit.

Eichmann knows
how to appear different,

with attitude,
posture, clothing,

glasses, and haircut.

He knows how to look harmless.

JOSE BRUNNER: Eichmann said
he was a clerk who always
cooperated

and did
what he was told to do.

The psychiatrist
who examined him said
that it was all a mask.

He didn't really try
to please people.

That was how he presented
himself to the world.

NARRATOR: To determine
his fitness for trial,

Hausner asks
for Eichmann to be evaluated
by a psychiatrist.

It was a tool,
trying to figure out
who these people are

who committed murder
on such a scale,
in such a way,

with such composure.

Maybe we can learn something
that will be of relevance
in the trial.

The psychiatrist
recounts Eichmann's childhood
as Eichmann had told him.

He said that
his father was very strict.
He would often slap him.

He was scared of his father
and he learned from his father
that he must not be weak.

He realized that he should
never show weakness

and he did everything
with such loyalty
and precision

so that any inkling
of the fear in his life
wouldn't come out.

The childhood and youth
of Adolf Eichmann lack
any aura or glamour.

He has no profession
until he enlists to the SS.

His senses tell him
that there in the SS

he will have
a significant career.

When you got
this black uniform,

everyone was looking at you

with respect, also with fear,

and you were on the top

of the pyramid
of the German people.

You were part of an elite
even if you were a worker

or had no school,

no university study,
and so on.

GIDEON GREIF: Eichmann becomes
an important man.

He has an official
car, he has a driver,
he has secretaries,

and he must have dreamt about
all of this his entire life.

His personal frustration
was the reason for the zeal
and passion

to achieve
at least one big achievement.

And this big achievement
is connected

to the persecution
of European Jews.

NARRATOR:
The Nazis were obsessed
with their racial theories

about the inferiority
of the Jewish people.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: The Nazis
had this insane belief

that a person's ethnic group
or the national group
you were part of

or the religious group
you were part of
were different,

this were the eugenics.

And he really believed

that Jews
were inherently different

from Germans.

NARRATOR: In late 1934,
Eichmann is appointed
to the new department

responsible for
Jewish affairs at the SS.

The agency is tasked
with surveillance

and terrorizing enemies
of the Nazi-German state.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: Eichmann
was devising systems

for identifying Jews,

for following Jews
in their activities,
for monitoring,

trying to work out for the SS

a systematic way
of tracking Jews.

NARRATOR:
During his conversations
with Sassen,

Eichmann takes the liberty
of disclosing

one of Adolf Hitler's
biggest secrets.

[speaking German]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Eichmann not only
tracks the Jews,

but is also responsible
for forcing them

to emigrate
to different countries.

Looking for
potential destinations,

he visits Palestine,
then under British rule,

but is quickly detained
and expelled.

In his report about the trip,

he describes
his anti-Semitic views,

which he also expresses
to Sassen.

[speaking German]

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS [in English]:
Eichmann characterizes himself
in all sorts of ways.

"Look, I was never anti-Semite

and I harbor no ill will
towards the Jewish people."

The Sassen interviews

and the Sassen tapes
gave a lie to that.

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Dr. Robert Servatius
is chosen

by the family
to defend Eichmann,

and in the interest
of staging a fair trial,

the Israeli government
agrees to pay his salary.

He is a well-known attorney
in Germany after representing

a number
of Nazi war criminals
at the Nuremberg Trials.

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS:
Servatius was a respectful
defense lawyer

at the same time that he tried
to defend his client

and he tried to rely
on the defense that his client
himself supplied.

Namely, that he was just a cog
in the machine.

BETTINA STANGNETH: Servatius
has to defend his client

and that can only be done
if you know what to expect.

And Eichmann, the idiot,
doesn't tell his lawyer

that in Argentina
he gave an interview

that was
a thousand pages long.

Partially, Eichmann lied
without end.

REPORTER:
Attorney Robert Servatius
has stated

that he will withdraw from
the defense of Adolf Eichmann

if it turns out
that the claims attributed
to his client

byLife Magazine are genuine.

Servatius also added
that he would check

the credibility
of Eichmann's confession
with his brother,

Dr. Robert Eichmann,
in Linz, Austria.

Naturally, they all wanted
their friend, husband, brother

to be properly defended.

And Eichmann's extended family
was always ready to help.

They stayed in touch with him
and still lived in Austria.

But here, too,
it's unknown who

we are dealing with exactly.

The Eichmann family
in Austria, at least in part,

benefited from
their brother's career.

Eichmann's father, who joined
the Nazi party on the same day
as his son,

couldn't explain after the war
why he owned several things

that formerly belonged
to Jewish people.

And in this respect,
the family was clearly a part
of the inner circle.

NARRATOR:
Despite his misgivings,
Servatius is persuaded

by the Eichmann family
to continue defending him

and in exchange, they agreed
to cover his many expenses.

The family also passes
encoded messages

through Servatius
to Eichmann in Israel.

[Servatius speaking German
on phone]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Eichmann's personal
conferences with his lawyer

lead to a secret meeting
of Israeli cabinet members.

GADI WARSHA: The government
session focuses on

whether or not to allow
a meeting in private

between Servatius
and Eichmann.

NARRATOR: At the meeting,
it is decided that Eichmann
and Servatius

should no longer be allowed
to meet in private.

But, Isser Harel, Head of
the Israeli Secret Service,

informs everyone
that, in fact, the meetings
are being secretly recorded

and confirms that Servatius
is passing encrypted messages
to his client.

[Eichmann speaking German
on phone]

[Servatius speaking on phone]

[Eichmann speaking on phone]

GADI WARSHA [in English]:
Isser just says,
"We listened in on them

and they don't know it,"
and moves on.

[Servatius speaking German
on phone]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Hausner himself
reassures Servatius

that his attorney-client
meetings are not being
listened to.

He knows
the illegal wiretapping
might allow him

to obtain vital information
about Sassen's recordings.

[Isser speaking Hebrew
on recording]

BETTINA STANGNETH
[in English]: The "oak tree"
we are talking about

is of great significance
to Germans.

When one says
that an oak tree won't fall,

it always means that
the person shall
stand straight,

that he will overcome
what he faces,

that everything
will be resolved.

With this code,
Sassen was saying to Eichmann,

"Don't worry,
I hid the tapes."

NARRATOR: With Hausner unable
to locate the Sassen tapes,

the court's ultimate decision
on whether or not to admit

the Life Magazine article
into evidence

will be crucial to him
proving Eichmann's guilt.

[speaking Hebrew]

HANNA YABLONKA [in English]:
Eichmann is right, of course.

He claimed
that what a journalist does

with his freedom of speech

does not apply to him.

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS:
There was no way that Hausner

could actually verify

the truthfulness
of the Life Magazine article

and the court is trying
to demonstrate that look,

we are a court of law.

Even though it looks like
highly probative evidence,

we don't
really have the resources
to authenticate it

and so unfortunately
we can't accept it in
as evidence.

[speaking Hebrew]

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS [in English]:
Sassen was not about

to cooperate
with the Israelis.

The contract that he signed
with Life Magazine

permitted Lifeto supply
some of the materials

to some other
media organizations,

but specifically barred
Life Magazine

from sharing anything
with the Israelis.

So it raises the question
of how do you get hold
of this material?

[speaking Hebrew]

TIMOTHY NAFTALI [in English]:
This is a document showing

that the assistant editor
of Life Magazine

gave the CIA
an advanced copy of the text

of their article on Eichmann.

What interests Americans

is the propaganda value

of what Eichmann is saying
in Life Magazine.

They were worried
about how the East Germans

and the Soviets
would use this.

NARRATOR:
With the battle lines
of the Cold War

literally running through
the middle of Germany,

many worried about
what sensitive material

the Eichmann
recordings contained.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI: This was not
just about history.

It wasn't just about memory.
It wasn't just about justice.

It was also about politics

and foreign policy
and security matters,

and it was also about
the climax of the Cold War.

To get a sense
of where the Cold War was

at the moment of the trial,

keep in mind
that the Berlin Wall goes up

while Eichmann is on trial.

[speaking German]

TIMOTHY NAFTALI [in English]:
There were
two Germanys warring

for the right to be Germany,

but also for the right
to be the Germany

that came after Hitler.

Germans were very concerned

that this trial was going
to be a source of all sorts
of embarrassment,

demonstrating that there
are a lot of Nazis

who remained
in positions of high power
within Germany itself.

REPORTER [speaking German]

TIMOTHY NAFTALI [in English]:
The East Germans saw this

as an opportunity
to remind the world

that, yeah,
there's only one Eichmann,

but that doesn't mean
there's only one bad Nazi left

who deserves justice.

And some of them worked
for Konrad Adenauer.

NARRATOR: Konrad Adenauer
is the first Chancellor
of West Germany

after World War II,
and is charged with leading
his country

from the post-war chaos
into the modern era.

The person
with perhaps the most to lose

if the tapes are heard
during Eichmann's trial

is Adenauer's right-hand man,
Hans Globke,

who oversaw the plan
for the enforcement

of the Nuremberg Race Laws
later carried out
by Eichmann.

Hans Globke is one
of the most powerful men
in West Germany.

He is the closest advisor
to Adenauer.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI:
Now we know that as a lawyer,

a bureaucrat
in the Nazi system,

he helped draft
the Nuremberg Laws,

which established
the "legal basis"

for discrimination
against German Jews.

BETTINA STANGNETH:
Why would Adenauer employ
someone like Globke?

It was an open offer
to all German people:

We integrate all of you,
even with a Nazi past.

We're not going
to lock you all up.

You may continue working
within our establishment.

Since Israel
is trying Eichmann,

one cannot overlook
the Nuremberg Laws,

because it's obvious
that Eichmann will say,

"What do you want from me?

I applied the laws
of the Third Reich."

And who made these laws?
Hans Globke.

This was a major problem
for Adenauer.

And just as East Germany
went into overdrive

to start
pumping out propaganda,

West Germany was worried
about what Eichmann might say.

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS:
The BND was very key

in trying to make sure
that they had an ear on

what was going on in Israel,

tried to manipulate things
a little under the table.

NARRATOR:
Eichmann's connections
to not only Globke,

but other
former Nazi officials
who were integrated

into the new
West German government
could be exposed

if Sassen's recordings
are played in court.

Hausner knows that this
is against the interest
of the West German government

and therefore against
the interest of his own
government as well.

Hausner is aware
that Ben-Gurion,

against strong opposition
from within the country,

and despite
protests and riots
led by Holocaust survivors,

is negotiating
with West Germany
to support Israel.

HANNA YABLONKA: Three months
before the trial took place,

Ben-Gurion met Adenauer
in New York.

He had a clear interest
for the sake of Israel

to establish relations
with Germany.

RONI STAUBER:
It was an encounter
of vested interests -

Israel desperately
needed support

and West Germany
was in desperate need
of rehabilitation.

For someone to say
that West Germany
is different,

that it is not Nazi Germany.

I said, in the Knesset,

in the Israeli parliament,
last summer,

that Germany of today
is not the Germany
of yesterday.

The story
of the Eichmann affair
from the Israeli perspective

is a nostalgic, heroic,
a very romantic story,

how David
demanded justice from
the already defeated Goliath.

But this is nothing
but a shadow boxing,

a smoke screen
that conceals the true story.

And the true story
is the Israeli-German
nuclear project.

Once a decision is made
that Israel will launch
a nuclear project,

there are things
that have to be done.

It demands
a certain technology,

certain materials,

and first and foremost,

a lot, a lot of money.

Money that
the newly established State
of Israel doesn't have.

Very quickly, David Ben-Gurion

and Shimon Peres,
his political partner,

realize that
the way to continue
with the nuclear project

is by partnering
with De Gaulle's France

and Adenauer's Germany.

Adenauer and Strauss,
his defense minister,

put a gun on the table,
so to say.

You want us to continue
funding the nuclear project?

So do not mention the name
Hans Globke at the trial.

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS: And that
certainly was communicated

from Ben-Gurion
to Gideon Hausner.

I don't think we should be
entirely surprised

that there was some kind
of, what we might say,

cross-fertilization
between Ben-Gurion

and the Attorney General
of Israel.

RONI STAUBER: Ben-Gurion tried
to prevent the prosecutor

from submitting a document
at trial

that shows
that Globke took part

in a meeting
with Eichmann's representative

where they're talking
about seizing property.

This is
a very important document.

Hausner comes
to Ben-Gurion and says,
"I have this document."

Ben-Gurion says, "Perhaps
don't make it public."

And Hausner says,
"I can't not make it public."

And Ben-Gurion has no choice.

Then they even decide
to notify Adenauer

that such a document
is going to be presented,

which is contrary
to all legal logic.

Who does such a thing?

Ben-Gurion was well aware
of Globke's part

in phrasing
the Nuremberg Laws.

And yet, he has to take care

of the state he's responsible
for - Israel.

A couple of days
before the trial,

Hausner gives Ben-Gurion

the text
of his opening speech.

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

DEBORAH LIPSTADT [in English]:
I know many Israelis
of a certain age

who can quote
the opening paragraph

of that speech.

And Ben-Gurion makes
very few comments about it,

but just the only thing
he asks

is that wherever Hausner
refers to Germany,

he refer to "Nazi Germany."

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

[in English]
It is certainly the case
that Ben-Gurion did exercise

some influence
over the prosecution.

Ben-Gurion knew
Israel needed arms.

Israel needed
financial support of Germany.

He may have hated doing it,
but he was a practical man.

RONI STAUBER: With this trial,
Ben-Gurion also wanted to show

why Israel, why Jews,
must have the bomb.

So there won't be
another Holocaust.

NARRATOR: The story
of the Holocaust is, in fact,

the story
of Eichmann's career.

After establishing methods
to identify the Jews,

he is promoted
and sent to Austria,

which was annexed
by the German Reich

and empowered with the task
of ridding the country
of Jews.

HANNA YABLONKA:
Eichmann arrives in Austria,
and immediately,

he is establishing
his old idea

of creating
a central emigration bureau
for the Jews.

He took over
the Rothschild Palais,

a famous place for Jews.

GIDEON GREIF: There he creates
a pattern, how to get rid
of the Jews

and to force them
to leave at least some
of their property

to the Third Reich.

Meaning, an official robbery

plus deportation.

DEBORAH LIPSTADT: One of those
Jews came to the trial

and testified at the trial

that you walked into
the Rothschild Palais

with a business, with a home,

with bank accounts,
with possessions,

and as you went
from desk to desk,
you gave up these things

and you came out
at the end with permission
to leave Austria.

DR. FRANZ MAYER
[speaking Hebrew]

RONI STAUBER [in English]:
Eichmann gained power and
control.

By now, he realized
that this is the way

to promote his career
and to gain achievements.

It's his success with the Jews
that will be his test.

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[in English]
The German hierarchy
was so impressed

by the way
Eichmann handled this

that this
sort of skyrocketed him
into this organizational task.

ADOLF EICHMANN [speaking German]

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

and they confirm
what I just said.

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

HANNA YABLONKA [in English]:
Within six months
after his arrival to Austria,

Eichmann succeeds to expel
more Jews from Austria

than Germany has succeeded
in all the five years

since Hitler's rise to power.

This really caught
the eyes of the Fuührer

and soon enough,
in November of 1938,
the Kristallnacht happened.

In January, Hitler will set up

a Central Authority
for Jewish Emigration
in Germany.

Eichmann was one
of the key characters

leading to
the "Final Solution"
as we know it.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps the most damning part
of Eichmann's legacy

is his participation
in the Wannsee Conference,

where the plan
for the vicious extermination
of all Jews in Europe

is meticulously laid out.

The Conference is led
by Eichmann's commander,
Reinhard Heydrich,

head of the Reich Security
Main Office.

ELKE GRYGLEWSKI:
On 20th January 1942,

15 high ranking members
of the Nazi state

met here to discuss
in 90 minutes the organization

for systematic mass murder
of all Jews in Europe.

EIKE STEGEN: The house
that we know as the house
of the Wannsee Conference

was an SS hotel.

People come here
to spend leisure time,

to take a swim in the lake
that we know as Wannsee,

and then the house
was also used

for talks and conferences.

We know that the men
were invited here

to have the talk
on the "Final Solution
of the Jewish Question"

as they put it
in the invitation,

accompanied by breakfast.

They had food.
They had alcohol.

Eichmann refers to "cognac."

GIDEON GREIF: The session
lasted 90 minutes.

It's astonishing
to see a group of 15 people
discussing the murder

of millions of Jews
and nobody's concerned,

as if they're talking
about moving a table

from one side of the room
to the other side.

[speaking German]

[in English]
The decision for systematic
mass murder is closely related

to other decisions
of dominating the whole world,

wanting to keep the world
free of Jews.

The "Final Solution,"
or what most people call
the "Holocaust,"

takes place only at the end
of the Holocaust,
from late 1941,

when Nazi Germany changes
its policy

from forced emigration
to a total annihilation.

ITAI BAR: Once the Nazis
invade the USSR,

they realize
that they have to tackle

huge numbers
of Jews and Communists

and largely everything
they hate.

They conclude
that the solution
must be immediate.

So they begin to murder.

And while murdering,
they realize

that it creates difficulties

for their troops,
mostly mentally.

The negative effect
of the murdering
on the soldiers

forced the Nazis
to find another solution.

The new solution came
in the form of organization
and order.

There is a German proverb...

"There must be order."

GIDEON GREIF: It is a big
operation, millions of Jews
have to be transported

to the place of death.
How do you organize it?

And here is the man who knows
how to do it professionally.

[speaking German]

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

[in English] In most
of the movies that were made
on the Wannsee Conference,

you would rather see him
sitting aside,

only taking notes.

That is what
he himself claims.

The topic that is being talked
about is his topic.

ELKE GRYGLEWSKI:
Eichmann was in charge of
organizing the deportations,

of coordinating activities.

He's the one
preparing the numbers.

This very famous page six

of the minutes that summarizes

all European countries
where the line is drawn

and 11 million European Jews
are mentioned

that are going to be
deported and killed.

So that is Eichmann's role.

Eichmann later ensures
that explicit words

like "murder" or "execution"
will not be mentioned

since he's very much aware
of the need of secrecy.

One of the mechanisms
that makes it easier

for the German society,
for the German institutions

and even, in part,
for the rest of the world,

not to be aware
of what's going on.

There is a word

that is used in this document

and that is the word of
"behandelt" - the treatment.

They would be
suitably treated.

At that point of time,
for most of the perpetrators,

to my knowledge,
is clearly understood
as killing.

Eichmann writes the protocol
of the Conference

and sends it
to the relevant offices.

Then he
carries out the decisions
of the Conference,

being sure that this is what
the angel of history

has asked him to do.

[speaking German]

LAWRENCE DOUGLAS [in English]:
Eichmann is something
of a logistical mastermind

and he wants to make sure

that he is highly successful
in the deportations,

and he does this
with full awareness

that the result of deporting
these Jewish persons

to these killing centers
is that they're going
to be killed.

[speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

GIDEON GREIF [in English]:
Adolf Eichmann visited
Auschwitz many times.

He went there
to inspect and to be sure

that his instructions
are being carried out.

He even had some
improvement suggestions.

We know this
from the camp commander,
Rudolf Hoöss,

who welcomed him there
each time.

[speaking German]

GIDEON GREIF [speaking English]:
He was asked by some
cabinet ministers

of the German Nazi government
to make them a personal favor

and release
some important Jews

who have made
some important inventions

for Nazi Germany.

Nothing helped.

He always said,
"I make no exceptions."

He was... there's a saying
in Hebrew, "Meshuga ladavar."

He was crazed to kill

every Jew he could find.

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

[speaking German]

DEBORAH LIPSTADT [in English]:
If Hausner had had access
to the tapes,

that he could have played
the tapes in the trial,

then the next question
he would have asked
Eichmann was,

were you lying then
or are you lying now?

NARRATOR: With Hausner
still unable to get his hands
on the tapes,

he presses Eichmann
to admit to his culpability

in the extermination
of the Jewish people.

Here, on the tapes,
Eichmann clearly admits

to the deceptive techniques
used by the Nazis

to make
the gas chambers appear
like innocent shower rooms.

[speaking German]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Still unable to get Eichmann

to admit his guilt
in open court

or locate the whereabouts
of the tapes,

Hausner finds
another solution.

He drops a bombshell
on the defense,

shocking everyone
in the courtroom

by miraculously
introducing copies
of the actual transcripts

that Sassen has made
of his interviews
with Eichmann.

GIDEON HAUSNER [speaking Hebrew]

DEBORAH LIPSTADT [in English]:
The transcripts of the tapes
become available,

and not just the transcripts,
but the transcripts

with corrections
in Eichmann's handwriting.

Because Sassen
transcribed the tapes,

gave them to Eichmann
and said, "Go over them

and see
if there's anything wrong."

And you have his corrections
in his handwriting.

So this
was firsthand evidence.

BETTINA STANGNETH: When you
want to sell such a document
around the world,

while everybody is talking
about the issue of Nazis
on the run,

it's not such a smart idea
to put thousands of pages
in a heavy suitcase

and take it for a trip.

It's heavy!

Nowadays, it can be
a PDF file on our cellphones,

but in those days, it was
several kilos of luggage.

Very noticeable,
large, and heavy.

It could have been stolen.

So Sassen did what
any smart person would do.

He made copies, backup copies.

That means
he simply took pictures.

NARRATOR: One of these copies
reaches Gideon Hausner,

who never reveals
how he obtained

the transcripts
of the Sassen recordings,

taking the secret
to his grave.

But we do know
that Nazi hunter
Simon Wiesenthal

was in touch with Hausner
during the trial

and may have assisted
in procuring the evidence.

[speaking German]

RENEÉ BIENERT [in English]:
Individuals like
Simon Wiesenthal

made those former
Nazi criminals

being concerned
and not sleeping well,

fearing of being uncovered.

I heard this story
that his landlady came

and saw over his shoulder

what documents
he has on his desk

and there was
the name "Eichmann."

And she said, "Oh, Eichmann,
I know his parents.

They have
their Electricity Store
just around the corner."

NARRATOR: Wiesenthal reveals
that the transcripts reached
the Eichmann family in Linz.

BETTINA STANGNETH: So Eichmann
was entitled to a copy,

and Sassen
brought this copy to Linz,
to Eichmann's brother.

And as far as we know,
he kept it in his desk,

where it remained
for quite some time

until it occurred
to someone to break
into Robert Eichmann's house

and steal the document.

There's a possibility
that by this occasion

Wiesenthal received
one of these copies

since, I mean,
he was very well networked.

UKI GOÑI: You had
Eichmann's handwritten notes.

You had 80 something pages,

so it was obvious
that these were real.

We didn't need
tapes to justify
that they were real.

MOSHE LANDAU [speaking Hebrew]

NARRATOR [in English]:
Hausner dodges the questions

about how he got
the transcripts.

The evasiveness is calculated

As he begins to realize
his trial strategy
may be starting

to interfere with the secret
Israeli nuclear agenda.

On the next episode
of The Devil's Confession:
The Lost Eichmann Tapes...

Can Eichmann and Servatsius
find a way

to keep the transcripts
out of the trial

or will the court allow them
to be admitted as evidence?

BETTINA STANGNETH:
Eichmann plays full risk
and is 100 percent sure

that the tapes
will never be heard.

Because he knows
what else is on these tapes.

NARRATOR:
In the meantime, Hausner
makes the historic decision

to call to the witness stand
Holocaust survivors...

So they can
directly confront Eichmann

with the horrors
he inflicted on them.

[speaking Hebrew]

NARRATOR [in English]:
As Hausner presses
to get the tapes,
he suddenly is confronted

with the ghost
of the Nuremberg trials.

And even more secrets
that the Israeli government

would rather keep buried
in the past.

RONI STAUBER: Gideon Hausner's
great fear

was that quarrels
amongst the Jews would enter
into this trial.

NARRATOR:
As the trial continues,
will Hausner be able

to overcome
these mounting obstacles?