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The Becher Deposit

 
Kurt Becher (12.9.1909 – 8.8.1995), was commissar of the German concentration camps in Germany, and later the chief of the economic department of the SS command in Hungary. In this capacity, he handled economic aspects of the "Blood for Goods" deal – an attempt by the Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest to save the Hungarian Jews.
Blood for Tea
On the 19th of March, 1944, the Nazis took over Hungary. After the deployment of Nazi forces in the country, Eichmann came to foresee the extermination of local Jewry. The Relief and Rescue Committee of Budapest contacted him with a proposition to "buy" the freedom of the Hungarian Jews. According to the proposed plan, a million Jews were to be transferred outside of the Nazi controlled area, in exchange for 10,000 trucks, 200 million tons of tea, 200 million tons of coffee, and two million packs of soap. Eichmann transferred the proposal to Himmler, who agreed with it. 
 
The deal never came to fruition, mainly because of Britain's refusal to negotiate and equip the enemy. But the Kastner train, that transported approximately 1,700 Jews out of Nazi Hungary (some of them in exchange for payment), was a preliminary stage of the plan.
 
The affidavit before you deals with a large sum of money, jewels, and other valuable goods to the sum of roughly eight and a half million Swiss Francs, that was collected by Becher in the early stage of the negotiations – the "Becher Deposit". According to estimates, most of the money (that according to Becher in the affidavit, was to be kept until after the War and used for "humanitarian reasons"), was never found. Kurt Becher, it should be noted, was not tried in the Nuremberg trials, but acted only as a witness. He died in 1995, aged 86. 
 
Affidavit of Kurt Becher in front of the Nurenberg Tribunal
 
,I Kurt Becher, born September 12th, 1909 in Hamburg, swear, and declare:
 
1.    When war broke out I was drafted by the state. My last rank was “Standartenfuehrer der Waffen SS”, colonel of the reserve forces.
 
2.    In March 1944, I took over the leadership of the staff of the SS headquarters based in Budapest, which dealt with horses and questions relating to horse equipment.
 
3.    Shortly after I arrived in Budapest, I began negotiations with the then Reichsfuehrer SS on the one hand, and the President of the Zionist Organization of Hungary, who was at the same time the representative of the Jewish Agency and the Joint DC, Dr. Rudolf Kasztner, on the other hand. These negotiations resulted in saving the lives of tens of thousands of Jews and politically persecuted people. Among others, two bigger, and some smaller transports, arrived in Switzerland.
 
4.    These negotiations were conducted by Himmler only on the basis of the them promising economic benefits. However, between me and Dr. Kasztner, it was agreed from the beginning on, that I would keep the contribution from the Jewish side, if possible until the end of the War, to hand it over with his agreement, as soon as possible to both organizations represented by Dr. Kasztner, the Jewish Agency and Joint DC, for humanitarian purposes. I acted on the basis of a special power of attorney, which granted me practically unlimited and exclusive rights of disposition.
 
5.    To this personal regulation on my part, I later also procured Himmler's approval, which provided me with the proper way to handle matters.
 
6.    In expectation of the upcoming transactions, in November 1944, the amount of approximately 163,000 Swiss Frs. (one hundred and sixty-three thousand) was in the hands of my staff. On the occasion of a visit by the then-general of the Waffen-SS Hans Juettner in Budapest in November 1944, I gave to his adjutant, as agreed upon, those Swiss franc notes, after I had received the promise, that they would be returned to me immediately after the conversion - there was supposedly an imminent duty to stamp Swiss franc notes. Despite several requests and inquiries by me personally, and through my paymaster, the amount was, until the surrender, not returned to me.
 
General Jettner told me repeatedly then, that he had handed the notes over to Mr. Eggen and that Eggen had transferred them to his confidant in Switzerland. He had specifically informed Eggen that the notes had to be quickly returned to me and that only I was to dispose of them. When I first met General Juettner again, after the surrender, around June or July 1946, at the internment camps “Langwasser” at Nuernberg, my General once again confirmed the facts noted above and explained to me that while Mr. Eggen brought the notes to Switzerland and told him that he did hand them over to his confidant, Eggen had not received them back after the surrender.
 
7.    Only now that I have been released without charges by the Americans, and have been put, in the meantime, in February 1948, before the denazification court by the German authorities and have been assigned to the group that was classified as exonerated, I have full and free disposition possibilities. In the context of the above mentioned facts, I declare now, that the above mentioned sum be used for humanitarian purposes as directed by Dr. Kasztner.
 
8.    In this context I handed over, just before the end of the War, the jewels, gold etc. given to me for disposal by Kasztner, to the approximate value of 2 million Swiss francs, to the co-worker of Dr. Kasztner, Dr. M. Schweiger, who I had liberated from the concentration camp Mauthausen, to be used for humanitarian purposes, as previously agreed with Dr. Kasztner.
 
9.    I request and also hereby authorize the current keeper of the amount to pay it off to Dr. C.H. Posner, director of the Palestine Office in Geneva, at Rue Petitot.
 
10.  I have carefully read through the 4 (four) pages of this Statement in the German language, and declare under oath that the above particulars are given in good faith and represent the full truth.
 
Nuremberg, April 12th, 1948
 Kurt Becher
 
Sworn to and signed before me this 12th day of April 1948, at Nuernberg, by Kurt A. Becher, known to me to be the person making the above affidavit.
 
 Benno H. Selcke. US.Civ.AGO-D 433012
Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes
U.S. War Department
 
Kurt Becher: affidavit in front of the Nurenberg Tribunal (L17\1812)

 
 
Kurt Becher's signature on the affidavit (L17\1812)