Eichmann Trial

The Trial of Adolf Eichmann was held in Israel in the early 1960s. In this trial, Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death, then executed after his appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down.

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Adolf Eichmann during his 1961 trial in Jerusalem.

Capture

Throughout the 1950s, many Jews and other victims of the Holocaust dedicated themselves to finding Eichmann and other Nazi war criminals. Among them was legendary Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. In 1954, Wiesenthal's suspicions that Eichmann was in Argentina were sparked upon receiving a postcard from an associate who had moved to Buenos Aires. "I saw that dirty pig Eichmann," the letter read in part, "He lives near Buenos Aires and works for a water company". With this (and other) information collected by Wiesenthal, the Israelis had solid leads regarding Eichmann's whereabouts. Isser Harel, the then-head of Mossad (Israeli Secret Service), later claimed in an unpublished manuscript that Wiesenthal "'had no role whatsoever' in Eichmann's apprehension but in fact had endangered the entire Eichmann operation and aborted the planned capture of Auschwitz doctor Josef Mengele." (Schachter, Jonathan "Isser Harel Takes On Nazi-Hunter. Wiesenthal 'Had No Role' In Eichmann Kidnapping." The Jerusalem Post 7 May 1991)

Also instrumental in exposing Eichmann's identity was Lother Hermann, a half-Jewish worker who fled to Argentina from Germany following his incarceration in the Dachau concentration camp. By the 1950s, Hermann had settled into life in Buenos Aires with his family. His daughter Sylvia became acquainted with the Eichmann family and romantically involved with Klaus, the oldest Eichmann son. Due to Klaus's boastful remarks about his father's life as a Nazi and his direct responsibility for the Holocaust, Hermann knew he had struck gold in 1957 after reading a newspaper report about German war criminals - of which Eichmann was one. Soon after, he sent Sylvia to the Eichmanns' home on a fact-finding mission. She was met at the door by Eichmann himself, and after unsuccessfully asking for Klaus, she inquired as to whether she was speaking to his father. Eichmann confirmed this fact. Excited, Hermann soon began a correspondence with Fritz Bauer, chief prosecutor for the West German state of Hesse, and provided details about Eichmann's person and life. Bauer knew that Germany, served by former employees of the Nazi regime, would do little to serve justice to Eichmann. He contacted Israeli officials, who worked closely with Hermann over the next several years to learn about Eichmann and to formulate a plan to capture him.

In 1960, the Mossad discovered that Eichmann was in Argentina and began an effort to locate his exact whereabouts, when through relentless surveillance it was confirmed that Ricardo Klement was, in fact, Adolf Eichmann. The Israeli government then approved an operation to capture Eichmann and bring him to Jerusalem for trial as a war criminal. He was kidnapped (against international law) by a team of Mossad agents on May 11, 1960, as part of a covert operation. He was flown aboard an El Al jet from Argentina to Israel on May 21, 1960.

For some time the Israeli government denied involvement in Eichmann's capture, claiming that he had been taken by Jewish volunteers. Eventually, however, the pretense was dropped, and then-Prime Minister David Ben Gurion announced Eichmann's capture to the Knesset (Israel's national legislature) on May 25, 1960, receiving a standing ovation in return. Isser Harel, head of the Mossad at the time of the operation, wrote a book about Eichmann's capture entitled The House on Garibaldi Street; some years later a member of the capture team, Peter Malkin, authored Eichmann in My Hands, a book that contains fascinating insights into Eichmann's character and motivations, but whose veracity has been attacked.

Trial

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Eichmann in a bulletproof glass booth during the open trial.

Eichmann's trial in front of an Israeli court in Jerusalem began on February 11, 1961. He was indicted on 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership in an outlawed organization. As part of Israeli criminal procedure, his trial was presided over by three judges instead of a jury. Gideon Hausner, the Israeli attorney general, personally acted as chief prosecutor.

The trial caused huge international controversy as well as an international sensation. The Israeli government deliberately fuelled the sensation by allowing news programs all over the world to broadcast the trial live without any restrictions. Television viewers saw a nondescript man sitting in a bulletproof glass booth while witnesses, including many Holocaust survivors, testified against him and his role in transporting victims to the extermination camps. During the whole trial, Eichmann insisted that he was only "following orders."

Convicted on all counts, Eichmann was sentenced to death on December 15, 1961, and was hanged a few minutes after midnight on June 1, 1962, at Ramla prison, the only civil execution ever carried out in Israel. His body was cremated and ashes scattered at sea, so that no nation would serve as Adolf Eichmann's final resting place.