Adolf Eichmann

Z. Aharoni, Mossad (Israel's secret intelligence service): "'I have decided to accept my fate,' he said, almost to himself. He was German, and he understood what was happening. That meant he was Eichmann."

Eichmann trial prosecutor G. Bach: “He was the sort of person who would leave no impression at all if you saw him on a bus. But if something displeased him, he sometimes looked at people with terrifying eyes, like a tiger's.”

Nazi war-criminal hunter S. Wiesenthal: "Even if an absurd order had been issued to kill babies, for example, or people whose initials began with K, Eichmann would have carried it out exactly as instructed."

〈(Hitler’s voice) ‘The Jews were laughing. But now they can no longer laugh. They have realized the seriousness of the situation.’〉

[Eichmann's voice (Argentina, 1956): "If we had been able to kill all 10.3 million Jews, I would surely have said with satisfaction: 'Now we have eradicated the enemy.'"]

＜Hitler's speech: 'From now on, Austria will be a new bulwark of the German people and the German Reich.'＞

Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, and grew up in Linz, Austria.

His father's company still exists. He first worked for an oil company but was dismissed in the economic crisis.

Eichmann's voice (Argentina, 1956): "We merely obeyed orders and carried them out faithfully. As SS men who valued order, we obeyed willingly."

His superiors rated Eichmann highly: ‘Attitude toward Nazism—unconditional. Professional knowledge—excellent. Special abilities—negotiation, public speaking, organization.’

Vienna, 1938. Eichmann, the specialist, undertook the task of expelling all Jews. The Jewish quarter. Eichmann also took direct command.

[Jewish refugee from Austria: "We had to leave Vienna within twenty-four hours, so we escaped across the Swiss mountains."]

Still dissatisfied with the pace, Eichmann established an office for Jewish emigration to speed up their expulsion. There, paperwork could be completed with astonishing speed, but only in exchange for enormous sums. It was Eichmann's business venture built on deportation.

W. Stern [Willi Stern], a Viennese Jew: "He was relatively small, wore a perfectly fitted uniform, and strode about tapping his boots with a riding crop. He looked as if he could not bear to breathe air polluted by Jews for long. That was how he struck me."

Eichmann was eager to flaunt his power: a top-of-the-line limousine and a personal chauffeur. All were ornaments displaying his achievements. His loyalty to his wife appears to have been less pronounced; colleagues testified that he had several mistresses.

Reinhard Heydrich (photograph on the left), head of the Reich Security Main Office, highly valued Eichmann’s work. At one conference, he even presented Eichmann’s methods in Vienna as a model for all Germany.

Yet Eichmann responded as follows to a Foreign Ministry inquiry about the deportation of Serbian Jews.

‘That man has no connection with conscience or morality.’ (Nazi war criminal hunter S. Wiesenthal)

As the mass murder of Jews continued, leading members of the Reich Security Main Office gathered at a villa beside Lake Wannsee. The principal agenda item was the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Its chief, Heydrich, chaired the meeting.

After the meeting, Eichmann could be seen relaxing beside the fireplace with Heydrich and Gestapo chief Müller.

Jews transported like livestock. Eichmann drew up the timetables for the death trains in Berlin.

R. Gelbard [Rudolf Gelbard], former Theresienstadt concentration camp prisoner: "Whenever Eichmann came to the camp, everyone grew anxious. Usually some people would be deported to an even worse camp. Eichmann had immense power and could determine life and death at will."

For these children, Theresienstadt was merely a way station to hell. Their final destination was the Auschwitz extermination camp. In the summer of 1942, Eichmann inspected how many Jews the extermination camps could accommodate.

Eichmann's voice (Argentina, 1956): "When I saw people being burned, I could not stop trembling—I had to think about something else. Seeing that scene that day, I prayed to distract myself. I always do that when I want to escape something unpleasant. You may laugh, but I believe in God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ."

G. Bach, prosecutor at the Eichmann trial: "But I cannot believe those words. I cannot imagine someone without hatred for the victims carrying out such acts. It is simply impossible. What he did was that dreadful."

Eichmann mercilessly sent even small children to the camps. To him, every Jew was merely a number in a statistic.

On his thirty-eighth birthday, Eichmann began the task of forcibly deporting the 700,000 Jews living in Hungary.

The greatest misfortune for the Jews was that the Hungarian authorities willingly cooperated with the Nazis.

J. Rosenblum [Jehoshua Rosenblum], former Birkenau concentration camp prisoner

G. Bach, prosecutor at the Eichmann trial: "Although German troops on the Eastern Front desperately needed reinforcements and supplies, Eichmann gave priority to deporting Jews. He reportedly told friends, 'I know our country is losing the war. But my war is still being won.' Then he went to Auschwitz and had the pace of killing increased further."

Nazi war-criminal hunter S. Wiesenthal [Simon Wiesenthal]: "On hearing that, Eichmann reportedly became extremely agitated and shouted: Why are we suddenly stopping?"

A storm of roundups of Jews swept through the capital, Budapest, too.

Tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest desperately searched for refuge. Many lives were saved by hiding places like small islands in a sea of hatred. More than a hundred sites marked with yellow stars appeared across Budapest. This Liberty Square was one of them.

Anyone whose name appeared on this list received a protective passport and shelter in protected premises. More than 100,000 Jews were saved in this way.

Nazi war-criminal hunter S. Wiesenthal: “If anyone tried to photograph him, he flew into a rage and tried to pull the film out of the camera. Apparently he sometimes paid afterward for cameras he had broken. He must have sensed that he would eventually be a wanted man.”

⟨♪⟩ Nazi Germany plays the music of death. Conducting the performance, of course, is Eichmann.

Eichmann's former associate W. Höttl [Wilhelm Hottl]: “He told me four million had died in extermination camps, and two million through killing squads and epidemics in the camps: six million in total.”

W. Höttl [Wilhelm Hottl], Eichmann's former comrade: “Eichmann complained to me: The chief did not welcome me; he merely sent me British gold coins through his adjutant. To hell with gold coins. That is not what I want. I have money. What I want is an order telling me what to do next.”

H. Lühr [Heinz Luhr], Eichmann's superior in Argentina: “His work lacked precision. You could see it clearly from the way he collected data. He simply had no ability to organize his work properly.”

H. Luhr [Heinz Luhr], Eichmann's supervisor in Argentina: "If you asked anything about his past, you never received an answer. His expression did not change, as though he had heard nothing."

After being dismissed, Eichmann again drifted from job to job: rabbit breeding, dry cleaning and factory work. He then returned to the city and lived quietly for several years as Ricardo Klement. But information from a Jewish man set Israel's secret intelligence service, Mossad, in motion.

I. Harel [Isser Harel], then head of Mossad: “We never intended to kill Eichmann. We wanted to capture him and put him on trial in Israel.”

April 1960: the Eichmann operation began. Eleven Mossad agents arrived in Buenos Aires and started preparing to capture him. Operating in unfamiliar territory was no easy task even for them, but Eichmann, too, had no way of knowing they were closing in.

Z. Aharoni [Zvi Aharoni], Mossad (Israeli secret intelligence service): “When Eichmann approached, one of our men stepped in front of him. We wanted to speak to him first before seizing him. Eichmann ran, so we chased him. After three or four meters he fell into a ditch and cried out.”

R. Eitan, Mossad (Israeli secret intelligence service): “Then Eichmann cried out: ‘Urrgh!’ (Note: a somewhat muffled voice.) That was what it sounded like.”

I. Harel [Isser Harel], then head of Mossad: “It was already around midnight when two of my men suddenly appeared at the café. They were visibly exhausted and their clothes were dirty. But the instant I saw their radiant expressions, I knew the operation had succeeded.”

Z. Aharoni [Zvi Aharoni], Mossad (Israeli secret intelligence service): “First I asked his name. The answer was Ricardo Klement. I asked further: what was your name before that? The answer was Otto Henning. That was indeed a name he had used, but we did not know it. At that rate, I thought we might never get him to admit he was Eichmann. So we asked many questions about Eichmann's personal characteristics: shoe size, neck size, clothing size, birthday, SS and Nazi identification numbers. Finally I asked: what was your name when you were born? He answered: Adolf Eichmann. He said it without any hesitation. It was the moment that could be called the ultimate climax of the operation.”

(Adolf Eichmann in court): "Let me state my opinion clearly. The massacres and plans to exterminate the Jews constitute a crime of almost unparalleled gravity in history."

(Eichmann in court): "It was my misfortune. Carrying out such atrocities was not my wish."