The True Story Behind The Hunt For Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann secured his place in the Nazi Party's "Final Solution." He acted as a ruthless bureaucrat and anti-Semite. Eichmann coordinated the transport of Jewish people to concentration camps to impress his Fuhrer. After Hitler lost WWII, Eichmann ended up in an American detention camp in Germany. Eichmann already used his escape plan by pretending to be a low-level German soldier named Otto Eckmann.He spent a few months in the POW camp as Eckmann before slipping out and fleeing to an isolated farmhouse.Eckmann served in the POW camp before slipping out and running to a remote farmhouse.

While others organized the Holocaust, Eichmann hid and plotted his next move during Nuremberg Trials. Eichmann had an edge: few outside the Nazi Party knew his real appearance. This let Eichmann move into Northern Germany's British occupation zone.This happened in the British occupation zone.There, Eichmann took on another identity: Otto Henninger. Eichmann stayed in Germany for several years. He avoided detection by making fake papers that made officials think he fled to the Middle East.

While Eichmann stayed in Northern Germany, a man in Prague filed a police report. That man claimed he saw Eichmann leave with a firearm. The judge who almost signed Eichmann's death notice changed his mind after discovering the witness's identity.The identity was the key.the identity of the witness: Karl Liebel, the brother-in-law of Eichmann's wife Vera.

Vera, who helped Eichmann's plan, stayed loyal to her husband after the war. Ultimately, Vera's work...Vera's work...toward declaring her husband deceased in hopes the search for him would end failed. Eichmann knew he could not stay in one place long if he wanted to maintain his freedom.

Jewish Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal protested when news of Eichmann's purported death spread.spread about the purported demise.In Prague, Wiesenthal spread. Wiesenthal, who served in the Ostbahn and Mauthausen concentration camps, joined Allied forces to collect war crime evidence for trials. Eighty-nine members of Wiesenthal's family died because of Eichmann and his group, including Wiesenthal's mother.

Wiesenthal conducted his own research. He proved to the Prague judge that Karl Liebel, Vera Eichmann's brother-in-law, gave testimony saying Eichmann was dead. Wiesenthal knew Nazi criminals avoiding trial often died under strange circumstances; they usually fled to other countries and changed their identities.

"My determination grew stronger the more I learned how Jews were abused," Wiesenthal wrote later about wanting to bring Eichmann and other Nazis to justice. Hopeful the information about Karl Liebel would unlock the key to ensnaring Eichmann.Wiesenthal ensnared Eichmann.Wiesenthal learned Eichmann stayed in Germany. He worked with the Hungarian government. They asked the United States to retrieve Eichmann from Germany and send him to Hungary for trial.

The Americans waited four years for the request, then they...refused it.They denied the request in 1951 because no "definite address" or details about Eichmann's crimes were given. Wiesenthal's trap failed.

Meanwhile, Eichmann found a group of post-war Nazi loyalists willing to help him stay hidden. Eichmann moved across post-war Europe, using many fake identities to move around. He used an established escape route for Nazis, maintained by helpers, border guards, non-profits, religious leaders, and government officials.for Nazis like him, one maintained by helpers, border guards, non-profit organizations, religious leaders, and government officials.Helpers, border guards, nonprofit groups, religious leaders, and government officials maintained Nazis like him.

Ricardo Klement, using his name, traveled fromGenoa, ItalyEichmann went to his new home in 1950: Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Red Cross, high-ranking Vatican officials, and an SS officer turned human smuggler named Horst Carlos Fuldner helped Eichmann. Eichmann got the blessing of Argentine leader Juan Peron to settle in his country.

A new life started in South America forAlthough he lived as Ricardo Klement on paper, Eichmann did not shy away from speaking out.Adolf Eichmann. "My heart filled with joy. The fear of being denounced vanished. I was there, and safe," Eichmann later recalled about arriving.

In 1952, Eichmann's wife Vera and three sons got a travel visa to join him in Buenos Aires. After reuniting, Vera and Eichmann had another son born in Argentina in 1955. Eichmann thrived in Argentina; its government showed sympathy for exiled Nazis. He heldThere is no doubt the German government knew about Eichmann's new life in Argentina, as Eichmann's wife used legal ways to reconcile with her husband in Buenos Aires. Why the Germans did not act sooner remains a mystery. In 1958, the American CIA learned from West Germans that Eichmann lived in South America, but the agency refused to get involved.labor jobs, moving from juice farmer to mechanic to laundry worker. His family even owned a rabbit farm.

Though he lived as Ricardo Klement on paper, Eichmann did not shy away fromspeaking out.Buenos Aires had many Nazis. This allowed Eichmann to surround himself with like-minded people who did not want to share his location with those hunting him.

Eichmann went to public gatherings and joined an interview with Dutch Nazi collaborator Willem Sassen. Eichmann boasted to Sassen about coining the term "Final Solution." During one meeting, Eichmann stated, "I must first tell you: I have no regrets!"

The German government clearlyknewabout Eichmann's life in Argentina because Eichmann's wife used legal means to reconcile with her husband in Buenos Aires. Why the Germans did not act sooner remains a mystery. In 1958, theAmerican CIAlearned from West Germans that Eichmann lived in South America, yet the agency refused to get involved.

The US government did not prioritize bringing a high-ranking former Gestapo official to justice. The Americans focused instead on the Cold War and the arms race with the USSR, leaving no resources for capturing Eichmann.

Before this information reached American soil, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal faced neglect from Israeli, American, and German officials regarding his case and whereabouts for about a decade.Simon Wiesenthal allegedly told the newly-formed Israeli government about Eichmann's life in Buenos Aires.The new Israeli government in Eichmann's life in Buenos Aires. "I found him in Argentina in 1954 and told the Israelis, but they didn’t believe me," Wiesenthal shared in 1989. Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency, fired back against Wiesenthal's claim. Mossad stated Wiesenthal's information then placed Eichmann in Saudi Arabia or Japan, not Argentina.

Lothar Hermann spent most of 1935 and 1936 in the Dachau concentration camp. There, he faced regular beatings and starvation. Hermann escaped Germany in 1938 and moved to Argentina as a war refugee. Physical torture at Dachau caused Hermann to lose his sight after he fled home.

Disguised as non-Jewish Germans, Hermann started a new life with his wife and daughter Sylvia in Buenos Aires' Olivos area. In the late 1950s, Sylvia began dating Klaus Eichmann, who lived near the Hermanns. Klaus spent much time at the Hermanns' home. Klaus held anti-Semitic views and regretted that the Nazis could not exterminate all Jewish people. Klaus also boasted about his father's service in the war.

The Hermanns later...They moved outside Buenos Aires to Coronel Suarez.The case went to Coronel Suarez. Around 1957, newspapers worldwide picked up details of a prominent Gestapo officer's criminal trial in Frankfurt, Germany. Lothar Hermann readHermann read these accounts, and when Eichmann's name appeared in the proceedings, Hermann became suspicious of the boy who dated his daughter., and when Eichmann's name appeared during the proceedings, Hermann became suspicious of the boy who dated his daughter.

The Hermanns were never invited to Klaus's home when Sylvia dated Klaus. They also never met Klaus's father, which helped Hermann connect the dots. Hermann wrote to the judge overseeing the Frankfurt trial, Fritz Bauer.Hermann wrote to Fritz Bauer.Hermann wrote to Fritz Bauer, stating he believed Adolf Eichmann was his neighbor in Olivos and the father of Sylvia's former boyfriend.

Fritz Bauer wrote to Lothar Hermann. Bauer gave Hermann a general description of Eichmann. Bauer told Hermann he needed more details, like an exact address, to pursue Eichmann. Hermann and Sylvia flew back to Buenos Aires. Sylvia knocked on the door of the house she remembered as Klaus's without hesitation.

A...A middle-aged man answered the door. Sylvia asked, "Are you Herr Eichmann?" The man admitted he was Klaus's father. The Hermanns thought they had found their man.The man answered the door. Sylvia asked, "Are you Herr Eichmann?" The man admitted he was Klaus's father, not saying yes. The Hermanns believed they had found their man.

When Bauer confirmed Eichmann was in Buenos Aires, he sent a secret message to Mossad.Bauer sent a covert message to Mossad.Mossad thwarted Hermann's first attempt to capture Eichmann by not notifying the German government in Israel. He wanted Eichmann caught off guard. Early in 1958, Mossad sent agent Yoel Goren to Buenos Aires. Goren found no way Eichmann, a wanted Nazi war criminal, lived in a middle-class neighborhood like Olivos.

Fritz Bauer revealed Lothar Hermann's identity to Mossad to get them to rethink their plan regarding Adolf Eichmann's location. This forced Mossad's leader,Isser Harel., to send another agent to Argentina to meet Hermann in Coronel Suarez.

The agent, Efraim Hofstetter, gave.the blind Hermann.$130 and.a task.: get a copy of Eichmann's Argentine ID. Hermann reported that he thought Eichmann might be using the name Francisco Schmidt, who was listed as the owner of the house Eichmann occupied then. Mossad agents decided Schmidt was not Eichmann and started pulling back from Hermann's claims.

Bauer, angry at Mossad's stance toward Hermann, stepped in. He went to Israel. Information from a new source showed Eichmann lived in the home Hermann mentioned. Eichmann did not own the home; he was a tenant using the name Ricardo Klement.

Bauer showed his anger toward Mossad. "Any second-rate policeman could follow that lead. Just ask the nearest butcher or greengrocer and you will learn everything about Klement," hereportedly shoutedat that time.

On March 1, 1960,Mossad agent Zvi Aharoni.arrived in Buenos Aires. On March 3, he drove to Olivos by car, stopping at the two-story home on Chacabuco Street that Lothar Hermann thought was Eichmann's place. A student Mossad hired knocked, but no one answered. After looking inside, he saw the house was empty. They quickly learned the occupants moved out just weeks before.

Aharoni investigated more. He found one of the sons who lived in the house worked at an auto repair shop nearby. After following the boy for days, they found an isolated, new home on the edge of town. Aharoni felt he was getting closer; he knew the boy's name was Dieter, the same name as Eichmann's third son.

Aharoni connected the dots when he found the house Dieter kept visiting was registered under Veronica Catarina Liebl de Eichmann—also known as Vera Eichmann. Aharoni was sure Ricardo Klement was Adolf Eichmann. Aharoni secretly shot some photos of the older Eichmann from a distance to show his bosses in Israel, and they agreed.

Lothar Hermann was finally proven right. Zvi Aharoni explained about the Israeli government's delay in acting on Hermann's information, saying, "The sad truth is that Eichmann was found by a blind man and Mossad needed more than two years to believe that blind man's story."

Rafi Eitan.(pictured right) served in both Mossad and Shin Bet, Israel's internal security system. Eitan gathered a large team of both.Mossad and Shin Bet agentsMossad and Shin Bet agents converged in Argentina in early May 1960. They secretly checked Eichmann's new house and streets, gathering information and planning their move.

Mossad head Isser Harel did not want to work with the Argentine government to catch Eichmann. Knowing they had held Eichmann for a long time, Harel and Eitan planned to kidnap him.a plan to kidnapEichmann and the agents smuggled him out of the country. They hired Mossad agent Peter Malkin (pictured left) as the strong man to take Eichmann down. Malkin later confessed, "Never before in my career had I been even a little frightened. Now I was terrified of failure."

Harel used Argentina's 150th independence anniversary as an excuse. He sent a special plane from Israel to Argentina. The Argentine government thought Israel wanted representatives for the party; actually, they planned to use the plane to take Eichmann away.

Harel and Eitan thought of other plans if flying failed. One option was a long sea journey. The other was sending Eichmann. Harel also gave Eitan open handcuffs, telling the spy to tie himself to Eichmann and ask to go to the Israeli Consulate if Argentine police got involved.

By May 1960, Eichmann worked at a local Mercedes Benz factory. He used public buses to go to and from work. Two cars full of Mossad and Shin Bet agents headed towardhis bus stopahead of Eichmann's usual 7:40 PM arrival. It was May 11th. The bus arrived, but Eichmann was gone. By 8 PM, they still had no sign of him.

Five minutes later, Eichmann appeared on the unpaved, barren road leading to his home. Agent Peter Malkin said, "Un momentito, senõr," before grabbing Eichmann. With Zvi Aharoni driving, the crew got the stunned Eichmann to a safe house. Once Eichmann knew what happened, he quickly broke.

"Under which name were you born?" Aharonilater recalledasking him. "Adolf Eichmann," he answered suddenly.

Eichmann and the Israeli agents who caught him stayed inthe safe houseuntil they boarded the special Israeli airplane out of Argentina. There, they collected as much testimony from Eichmann as possible. Mossad and Shin Bet worked closely with Israeli officials, supposedly in Argentina to celebrate independence, to get Eichmann on the plane the representatives were using.

Mossad hiredan Israeli anesthesiologistDr. Yonah Elian gave Eichmann a sedative before the flight. He did not knock Eichmann out; Dr. Elian gave him just enough to make him woozy. Eichmann wore an airline uniform and played a sick crew member. Agents got him on the plane without the Argentine government knowing. The plane took off fine.

While other Nazi war criminals faced trials in German courts, the Israelis wanted to try Eichmann.Israel wanted to try Eichmann in its own court.Israel viewed this as a controversial decision. Argentina claimed Israel infringed its sovereignty and broke its laws against abduction. The uproar ended quickly, though, considering Eichmann's crimes and his boasting in Argentina.

In Jerusalem, waiting for trial, Eichmann wrote during his free time. He produced over 8,000 pages of notes, handwritten or typed.Eichmann produced over 8,000 pages of notes.Eichmann wrote notes ranging from autobiography to letters for family. He built a justification for his Holocaust role. This differed from the anti-Semitic talk he shared in Argentina. Eichmann acted like a cog in the machine, doing what he was told.

Hundreds of journalists came to Israel in 1961 for Eichmann's trial. Television broadcast the trial, and the world watched with tension. Over 100 Jewish Holocaust survivors gave testimony.Over 100 Jewish Holocaust survivors gave testimony.Holocaust survivors shared stories of their terrible experiences at the trial. Eichmann wore thick black glasses and a suit, listening from a glass box, showing no emotion.

Eichmann acted like a bureaucrat who finished assigned tasks out of duty. He claimed he did not directly order any murders or deaths. He stated, "I only handled train schedules and technical details of evacuation transports."Eichmann claimed this.The trial of Eichmann was the first time it aired completely on television.

Eichmann's presentation during the trial caused political theorist and Jewish-German refugee Hannah Arendt to coin the term.Hannah Arendt coined the term.Eichmann looked and acted like a meek clerk, not a brutal butcher. He was the banality of evil.

Everyone expected Eichmann's guilty verdict. Still, Israeli courts set a new standard by sentencing the Nazi to death.Israeli courts sentenced the Nazi to death.The trial pushed the new Israeli judicial system to its limits. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's prime minister then, opposed the death penalty. Still, he made an exception for Eichmann.

The trial deeply affected Jewish people globally, but Jews in Israel felt it most strongly. Eichmann's life ended.Eichmann's life ended.He died by hanging on May 31, 1962.His death occurred on May 31, 1962.Eichmann spoke.He spoke his final words.He spoke in German:He spoke in German:

Long live Germany. Long live Argentina. Long live Austria. These are the countries I associated with most and will not forget them. I had to follow the rules of war and my flag. I am ready.