But … And on May 23, 1960, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann had been captured and would stand trial in Israel. As a clear decision to exterminate had been made by his superiors, the matter was out of his hands; he felt absolved of any guilt. [72], To co-ordinate planning for the proposed genocide, Heydrich hosted the Wannsee Conference, which brought together administrative leaders of the Nazi regime on 20 January 1942. I am ready. [54], On 19 December 1939, Eichmann was assigned to head RSHA Referat IV B4 (RSHA Sub-Department IV-B4), tasked with overseeing Jewish affairs and evacuation. [213], In her 2011 book Eichmann Before Jerusalem, based largely on the Sassen interviews and Eichmann's notes made while in exile, Bettina Stangneth argues instead that Eichmann was an ideologically motivated antisemite and lifelong committed Nazi who intentionally built a persona as a faceless bureaucrat for presentation at the trial. Hannah Arendt, a German-born Jewish American political philosopher, covered the trial for The New Yorker. [48] After discussions with Hitler in the preceding weeks, on 21 September SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SD, advised his staff that Jews were to be collected into cities in Poland with good rail links to facilitate their expulsion from territories controlled by Germany, starting with areas that had been incorporated into the Reich. [132] During these days, Harel tried to locate Josef Mengele, the notorious Nazi doctor from Auschwitz, as the Mossad had information that he was also living in Buenos Aires. “I never claimed not to know about the liquidation,” he testified. After the death of Maria in 1916, Eichmann's father married Maria Zawrzel, a devout Protestant with two sons. The Final Solution of the Jewish ‘Problem’ was given direction. These are the three countries with which I have been most connected and which I will not forget. Eichmann was not the first Nazi defendant to argue obedience and adherence to the law. [74] Eichmann attended the conference, oversaw the stenographer who took the minutes, and prepared the official distributed record of the meeting. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He returned to Germany in 1933, where he joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD, "Security Service"); there he was appointed head of the department responsible for Jewish affairs—especially emigration, which the Nazis encouraged through violence and economic pressure. [122] Argentina had a history of turning down extradition requests for Nazi criminals, so rather than filing a probably futile request for extradition, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion made the decision that Eichmann should be captured and brought to Israel for trial. After living in Germany under a false identity for several years, Eichmann made his way via Austria and Italy to Argentina, where he settled in 1958. [51] He was immediately assigned to organise the deportation of 70,000 to 80,000 Jews from Ostrava district in Moravia and Katowice district in the recently annexed portion of Poland. He was a resourceful and proactive manager who relied on a variety of strategies and tactics to secure scarce cattle cars and other equipment used to deport Jews at a time when equipment shortages threatened the German war effort. As such, they constituted the foundation for the conviction of a Nazi criminal in a trial that would become a formative event in … [54] In his role as minister responsible for the Four Year Plan, on 24 March 1940 Hermann Göring forbade any further transports into the General Government unless cleared first by himself or Frank. „It wasn't in our interests for the material to be used for labor in the concentration camps to arrive … Eichmann was frightened and attempted to leave, but two more Mossad men came to Malkin's aid. Exactly 60 years ago at “Beit Ha’am” in Jerusalem began the trial of Adolf Eichmann – the Nazi war criminal who was one of the main perpetrators of the "Final Solution" for the extermination of the Jews during World War II. Adolf Eichmann listening to the verdict in his trial in December 1961. He ended up in a small village in Lower Saxony, where he lived until 1950, when he moved to Argentina using false papers he obtained with help from an organisation directed by Catholic bishop Alois Hudal. [118] In 1957, Bauer passed along the information in person to Mossad director Isser Harel, who assigned operatives to undertake surveillance, but no concrete evidence was initially found. Home Breaking News 60 years ago - desk perpetrator or mass murderer? Adolf Eichmann was in charge of the identification, assembly, and transportation of Jews in all parts of Europe that were occupied by Nazi Germany to extermination camps in German-occupied Poland, including Auschwitz, a task that he carried out with zeal and resourcefulness. [6], Otto Adolf Eichmann,[a] the eldest of five children, was born in 1906 to a Calvinist Protestant family in Solingen, Germany. [156] The chief prosecutor was Israeli Attorney General Gideon Hausner, assisted by Deputy Attorney General Gabriel Bach and Tel Aviv District Attorney Yaakov Bar-Or. [138] They arrived in Israel on 22 May, and Ben-Gurion announced his capture to the Knesset the following afternoon. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. He held a series of low-paying jobs until finding employment at Mercedes-Benz, where he rose to department head. [47], Within weeks of the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, Nazi policy toward the Jews changed from voluntary emigration to forced deportation. The plan was stymied by Hans Frank, governor-general of the occupied territories, who was disinclined to accept the deportees as to do so would have a negative impact on economic development and his ultimate goal of Germanisation of the region. Once Eichmann finally was behind bars in Jerusalem in 1960, Israel prepared for the trial. [13] He left without attaining a degree and joined his father's new enterprise, the Untersberg Mining Company, where he worked for several months. [117] Hermann then sent his daughter on a fact-finding mission; she was met at the door by Eichmann himself, who said that he was Klaus's uncle. [145] The assertion that the CIA knew where Eichmann was and withheld that information from the Israelis has been challenged as "ahistorical. By the time the transports were stopped in July 1944, 437,000 of Hungary's 725,000 Jews had been killed. Otto Adolf Eichmann[a] (/ˈaɪxmən/ EYEKH-mən,[1] German: [ˈɔto ˈʔaːdɔlf ˈʔaɪçman]; 19 March 1906 – 1 June 1962) was a German-Austrian[2] SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust—the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" in Nazi terminology. Visitors included Hermann Goering, Heinrich Himmler, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and Baron Leopold von Mildenstein. He was cremated and his ashes were thrown to the sea, well beyond the Israeli three mile limit. The documents also revealed that both agencies had used some of Eichmann's former Nazi colleagues to spy on European Communist countries. [80] Specific deportation orders came from his RSHA superior, Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller, acting on Himmler's behalf. [97], Eichmann, resentful that Kurt Becher and others were becoming involved in Jewish emigration matters, and angered by Himmler's suspension of deportations to the death camps, requested reassignment in July. He later came to consider this as his big break. Some authors maintain that his father's name was Karl Adolf, for example, In September 1939, this department was renamed Section IV B4 of the. [52][51] Many of the deportees were driven by the SS into Soviet-occupied territory and others were eventually placed in a nearby labour camp. [23] In late December, when this unit was dissolved, Eichmann was promoted to SS-Scharführer (squad leader, equivalent to corporal). At the war's conclusion, Eichmann's father returned to the family and had a company in Linz. A special panel of three judges in the Jerusalem District Court presided over the proceedings, and the prosecution team was headed by then-Attorney General, Gideon Hausner. [27][28][e] Eichmann's transfer was granted in November 1934. The cabinet decided to recommend to President Ben-Zvi that Eichmann not be granted clemency,[200] and Ben-Zvi rejected the clemency petition. Eichmann even professed personal discomfort at hearing about the workings of a gassing installation: “I was horrified. [41] They prepared a report on their visit, which was published in 1982. At the infamous Wannsee Conference (1942) Eichmann received his orders. He stated that he disagreed with the vulgar anti-Semitism of Julius Streicher and others who contributed to the periodical Der Stürmer. [54] Within a few days of his appointment, Eichmann formulated a plan to deport 600,000 Jews into the General Government. He said that he subscribed to Jewish periodicals and had bought the Encyclopedia Judaica. He also drew up plans for a Jewish reservation, first at Nisko in southeast Poland and later in Madagascar, but neither of these plans were ever carried out. On the night of May 31, 1962, he was taken from his cell and hanged. "I was not a responsible leader, and as such do not feel myself guilty. After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Eichmann and his staff arranged for Jews to be concentrated in ghettos in major cities with the expectation that they would be transported either farther east or overseas. [104], In 1948, Eichmann obtained a landing permit for Argentina and false identification under the name Ricardo Klement through an organisation directed by Bishop Alois Hudal, an Austrian cleric then residing in Italy with known Nazi sympathies. Klaus arrived not long after, however, and addressed Eichmann as "Father". He initially found work in the forestry industry and later leased a small plot of land in Altensalzkoth, where he lived until 1950. The people they were sent to rescue refused to leave, so instead the soldiers helped evacuate members of a German field hospital trapped close to the front. The screaming and…I was much too shaken and so on.” He averred that he had continued to oversee the deportation of victims but that he sought to keep his distance from the actual killing. "[146], Eichmann was taken to a fortified police station at Yagur in Israel, where he spent nine months. [63] When Germany failed to defeat the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain, the invasion of Britain was postponed indefinitely. This 1961 file photo shows Adolf Eichmann standing in his glass cage in the Jerusalem courtroom where he was tried and convicted of war crimes committed during World War II. During the First World War, Eichmann's father served in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He prepared an anti-Masonic exhibition, which proved to be extremely popular. ... A whole list of items was given which appear toconfirm this. [66] Eichmann was one of the officials who received regular detailed reports of their activities. A team of Mossad and Shin Bet agents captured Eichmann and brought him to Israel to stand trial on 15 criminal charges, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the Jewish people. [84], Germany invaded Hungary on 19 March 1944. [85][86] Hitler's appointment of a Hungarian government more amenable to the Nazis meant that the Hungarian Jews, who had remained essentially unharmed until that point, would now be deported to Auschwitz concentration camp to serve as forced labour or be gassed. The execution was prepared to take place at midnight on 31 May but was slightly delayed; Eichmann thus died a few minutes into 1 June. The Nazi Party was banned in Austria around the same time. Adolf Eichmann or Otto Adolf Eichmann was a SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer or a lieutenant colonel in the German Army who played an important role in organizing the Holocaust in which almost six million Jews from different countries were exterminated. Otto Adolf Eichmann, the eldest of five children, was born in 1906 to a Calvinist Protestant family in Solingen, Germany. Both were concerned about what Eichmann might say in his testimony about West German national security advisor Hans Globke, who had coauthored several antisemitic Nazi laws, including the Nuremberg Laws. In the last week of October 1939, 4,700 Jews were sent to the area by train and were essentially left to fend for themselves in an open meadow with no water and little food. This law had previously been used to prosecute about 30 people, all but one of them Jewish Holocaust survivors, who were alleged to have been, Eichmann was a member of three of the organisations that had been declared criminal at the, the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna, List of fugitives who are no longer sought, Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, "Eichmann Refused to Admit Guilt in Last-ditch Bid for Clemency", "SS-Obersturmbannführer (Retired): 'Eichmann Before Jerusalem,' by Bettina Stangneth", "Fifty Years After: A Critical Look at the Eichmann Trial", "Why Israel's Capture of Eichmann Caused Panic at the CIA", "Sleepwalker: Arendt, Thoughtlessness, and the Question of Little Eichmanns", "Ben-Gurion's bombshell: 'We've caught Eichmann, "Wie Eichmann vom Österreicher zum Deutschen wurde", "The Wannsee Conference, the Fate of German Jews, and Hitler's Decision in Principle to Exterminate All European Jews", "Eichmann's final barb: 'I hope that all of you will follow me, "Hallaron pasaporte utilizado por Adolf Eichmann: será conservado en el Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires", "Pardon Plea by Adolf Eichmann, Nazi War Criminal, Is Made Public", "The trial of Adolf Eichmann and the protection of universal human rights under international law", "The Wannsee Conference in the Development of the 'Final Solution, "The Eichmann Case and the Distortion of History", "Eichmann's son: 'There is no way I can explain' deeds", "Ex-Mossad Agent: We Let Nazi Doctor Mengele Get Away", "Holocaust organizer sought clemency, saying he was 'mere instrument, "Israel Supreme Court Names Justices to Hear Eichmann's Appeal", "Israel to Pay Reward In Capture of Eichmann", "Special publication: Behind the scenes at the Eichmann Trial", "Wiesenthal Center Marks Eichmann Capture in Argentina Fifty Years Later", "Testimony of Rudolf Höss testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, April 15, 1946", Uncovering the Architect of the Holocaust: The CIA Names File on Adolf Eichmann, "Eichmann Tells His Own Damning Story (Part I)", "Adolf Eichmann: The Mind of a War Criminal", List of major perpetrators of the Holocaust, Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim/Auschwitz, Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust, National Political Institute of Education, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adolf_Eichmann&oldid=1016731920, Escapees from United States military detention, German people convicted of crimes against humanity, People executed for crimes against humanity, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 8 April 2021, at 19:28. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [88] During the Nuremberg Trials, Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, testified that Himmler had told Höss to receive all operational instructions for the implementation of the Final Solution from Eichmann. [115], Lothar Hermann, a half-Jewish German who had emigrated to Argentina in 1938, was also instrumental in exposing Eichmann's identity. [90][93] In spite of the orders to stop, Eichmann personally made arrangements for additional trains of victims to be sent to Auschwitz on 17 and 19 July. [112], Several survivors of the Holocaust dedicated themselves to finding Eichmann and other Nazis, among them Jewish Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. [135], Near midnight on 20 May, Eichmann was sedated by an Israeli doctor on the Mossad team and dressed as a flight attendant. He was tasked by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II. [195] On 29 May, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal and upheld the District Court's judgement on all counts. Adolf Eichmann is labeled as the man who masterminded the actual organisation of the Holocaust. In May 2007, a student doing research on Eichmann's capture discovered the passport in court archives in Argentina. Videotape was flown daily to the United States for broadcast the following day. Under questioning, Eichmann claimed not to be an anti-Semite. [85][87] Eichmann toured northeastern Hungary in the last week of April and visited Auschwitz in May to assess the preparations. Diese zentrale Dienststelle des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes (RSHA, mit dem Kürzel IV D 4) organisierte die Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Deportation von Juden aufgrund rassischer Zuordnung und war mitverantwortlich für die Ermordungvon … [4], After Germany's defeat in 1945, Eichmann was captured by US forces, but escaped from a detention camp and moved around Germany to avoid re-capture. His trial lasted from April 11 to December 15, 1961, and Eichmann was sentenced to death, the only death sentence ever imposed by an Israeli court. "[169] Defence attorney Servatius repeatedly tried to curb the presentation of material not directly related to Eichmann, and was mostly successful. Adolf Eichmann, in full Karl Adolf Eichmann, (born March 19, 1906, Solingen, Germany—died May 31, 1962, Tel Aviv, Israel), German high official who was hanged by the State of Israel for his part in the Holocaust, the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II. [131] He was held there for nine days, during which time his identity was double-checked and confirmed. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. [186][189] When considering the sentence, the judges concluded that Eichmann had not merely been following orders, but believed in the Nazi cause wholeheartedly and had been a key perpetrator of the genocide. He advanced steadily within the SS and was sent to Vienna after the annexation of Austria (March 1938) to rid the city of Jews. [24] Eichmann's battalion of the Deutschland Regiment was quartered at barracks next door to Dachau concentration camp. [33][216] He does not agree that his father's "following orders" argument excuses his actions and notes how his father's lack of remorse caused "difficult emotions" for the Eichmann family. He worked as a traveling salesman in Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) for an oil company but lost his job during the Great Depression. Long live Austria. [53] Meanwhile, as part of Hitler's long-range resettlement plans, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans were being transported into the annexed territories, and ethnic Poles and Jews were being moved further east, particularly into the General Government. There they met Feival Polkes, an agent of the Haganah, with whom they were unable to strike a deal. While Eichmann’s trial was itself controversial, an even greater controversy followed the trial. [136] He was smuggled out of Argentina aboard the same El Al Bristol Britannia aircraft that had carried Israel's delegation a few days earlier to the official 150th anniversary celebration of the May Revolution. On This Date in 1962, Nazi War Criminal Adolf Eichmann Hanged in Israel ... Of these 75-90 percent were murdered in the gas chambers immediately after arriving in the death camps. Most of the victims were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, where about 75 per cent were murdered upon arrival. [150] Inspector Less noted that Eichmann did not seem to realise the enormity of his crimes and showed no remorse. [159] In an Israeli cabinet meeting shortly after Eichmann's capture, Justice Minister Pinchas Rosen stated "I think that it will be impossible to find an Israeli lawyer, a Jew or an Arab, who will agree to defend him", and thus a foreign lawyer would be necessary. “I only said that Bureau IV B4 [Eichmann’s office] had nothing to do with it.”. As Britain still controlled the Atlantic and her merchant fleet would not be at Germany's disposal for use in evacuations, planning for the Madagascar proposal stalled. [106] He departed from Genoa by ship on 17 June 1950 and arrived in Buenos Aires on 14 July. [133] However, Mengele had already left his last known residence in the city, and Harel had no further leads, so the plans for his capture were abandoned. [32][33] Eichmann was promoted to SS-Hauptscharführer (head squad leader) in 1936 and was commissioned as an SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) the following year. On his own initiative, Eichmann also laid plans to deport Jews from Vienna. [153] The legal basis of the charges against Eichmann was the 1950 Nazi and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law,[154][h] under which he was indicted on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in a criminal organisation. [174], The defence next engaged in a lengthy direct examination of Eichmann. Eichmann was born on March 19, 1906 near Cologne, Germany, into a middle class Protestant family. [20] His regiment was SS-Standarte 37, responsible for guarding the party headquarters in Linz and protecting party speakers at rallies, which would often become violent. [180] On the last day of the examination, he stated that he was guilty of arranging the transports, but he did not feel guilty for the consequences. [103] Meanwhile, former commandant of Auschwitz Rudolf Höss and others gave damning evidence about Eichmann at the Nuremberg trials of major war criminals starting in 1946. [55] The job entailed co-ordinating with police agencies for the physical removal of the Jews, dealing with their confiscated property, and arranging financing and transport. Only in Hungary did Eichmann involve himself directly on the ground in the deportation process. The appeal was heard by a five-judge Supreme Court panel consisting of Supreme Court President Yitzhak Olshan and judges Shimon Agranat, Moshe Zilberg, Yoel Zussman, and Alfred Witkon. [203], Rafi Eitan, who accompanied Eichmann to the hanging, claimed in 2014 to have heard him later mumble "I hope that all of you will follow me", making those his final words. [56] From the start of the war until April 1941, around 63,000 Jews were transported into the General Government. [65], From the start of the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Einsatzgruppen (task forces) followed the army into conquered areas and rounded up and killed Jews, Comintern officials, and ranking members of the Communist Party. One year later, with a similar mission, he was sent to Prague. In January 1942, at a lakefront villa in the Wannsee district of Berlin, a conference of Nazi high officials was convened to organize the logistics of what the Nazis called the “final solution to the Jewish question.” Eichmann was to coordinate the details; thus, although it was not yet generally known that the “final solution” was mass execution, Eichmann had in effect been named chief executioner. [5] ... his family moved to Linz, Austria. The content of his letter and other trial documents were made public on 27 January 2016. He provided these photographs to Mossad agents on 18 February. Prosecutor Gideon Hausner also tried to challenge the portrayal of Jewish … [96] Nothing came of the proposal, as the Western Allies refused to consider the offer. Omissions? Questions and answers about Adolf Eichmann. He was hanged in 1962. The Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann pleaded for his life in a letter to the Israeli President two days before his execution, newly released documents show. [208] The trial therefore greatly reduced the previously popular misconception that Jews had gone "like sheep to the slaughter". [137] There was a tense delay at the airport while the flight plan was approved, then the plane took off for Israel, stopping in Dakar, Senegal to refuel. Eichmann and his staff became responsible for Jewish deportations to extermination camps, where the victims were gassed. Adolf Eichmann, German high official who was hanged by the State of Israel for his part in the Holocaust, the Nazi extermination of Jews during World War II. [89] Round-ups began on 16 April, and from 14 May, four trains of 3,000 Jews per day left Hungary and travelled to the camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, arriving along a newly built spur line that terminated a few hundred metres away from the gas chambers. Later published as Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, her articles’ portrayal of Eichmann as banal rather than demonic provoked a storm of debate that lasted for almost a decade. Adolf Eichmann was found guilty by an Israeli Court and sentenced to death. [102], At the end of the war, Eichmann was captured by US forces and spent time in several camps for SS officers using forged papers that identified him as Otto Eckmann. ... After World War II, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was arrested by American authorities and held in detention camps for SS … At 8:00 p.m. on 31 May, Eichmann was informed that the appeal for presidential clemency had been denied. Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann standing in a protective glass booth during his trial in Israel in 1961. [171], Some of the evidence submitted by the prosecution took the form of depositions made by leading Nazis. [105][g] He travelled across Europe, staying in a series of monasteries that had been set up as safe houses. [170] In addition to wartime documents, material presented as evidence included tapes and transcripts from Eichmann's interrogation and Sassen's interviews in Argentina. [201], Eichmann was hanged at a prison in Ramla hours later. Moreover, he claimed to have read Theodor Herzl’s The Jewish State but said that he had never read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf thoroughly or closely and that he had never read the anti-Semitic tract Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. [14][15], During this time, he joined the Jungfrontkämpfervereinigung, the youth section of Hermann Hiltl's right-wing veterans movement, and began reading newspapers published by the Nazi Party. [153] Eichmann was convicted on 15 counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in a criminal organisation. Eichmann joined the Nazi Party in April 1932 in Linz and rose through the party hierarchy. [162] Many major newspapers from all over the globe sent reporters and published front-page coverage of the story. From late April 1944, six weeks after Germany occupied Hungary, until early July, Eichmann and his aides deported some 440,000 Hungarian Jews. [179] Regarding the Wannsee Conference, Eichmann stated that he felt a sense of satisfaction and relief at its conclusion. [60][61] Horrendous conditions in the ghettos—severe overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a lack of food—resulted in a high death rate. [114] Eichmann's father died in 1960, and Wiesenthal made arrangements for private detectives to surreptitiously photograph members of the family; Eichmann's brother Otto was said to bear a strong family resemblance and there were no current photos of Eichmann. Otto Adolf Eichmann (* 19. The déclassé son of a solid middle-class Protestant family which had moved to Linz, Austria, where Eichmann spent his youth, he failed to … [168] Hausner's intention was to not only demonstrate Eichmann's guilt but to present material about the entire Holocaust, thus producing a comprehensive record. [13] From 1925 to 1927 he worked as a sales clerk for the Oberösterreichische Elektrobau AG radio company. Eichmann was accepted into the SD and assigned to the sub-office on Freemasons, organising seized ritual objects for a proposed museum and creating a card index of German Freemasons and Masonic organisations. Eichmann left high school—Realschule—without … [148] The interrogator was Chief Inspector Avner Less of the national police. "[152], Eichmann's trial before a special tribunal of the Jerusalem District Court began on 11 April 1961. [69] However, with the entry of the United States into the war in December and the German failure in the Battle of Moscow, Hitler decided that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated immediately rather than after the war, which now had no end in sight. [188] In addition to being found guilty of crimes against Jews, he was convicted for crimes against Poles, Slovenes and Gypsies. "[212] The term "little Eichmanns" became a pejorative term for bureaucrats charged with indirectly and systematically harming others. Under the Nisko Plan, Eichmann chose Nisko as the location for a new transit camp where Jews would be temporarily housed before being deported elsewhere. Both organisations had known for at least two years that Eichmann was hiding in Argentina, but they did not act because it did not serve their interests in the Cold War. It begann exactly 60 years ago, on April 11th, 1961. [157] The defence team consisted of German lawyer Robert Servatius, legal assistant Dieter Wechtenbruch, and Eichmann himself. The trial—before Jewish judges by a Jewish state that did not exist until three years after the Holocaust—gave rise to accusations of ex post facto justice. [165][166], The prosecution case was presented over the course of 56 days, involving hundreds of documents and 112 witnesses (many of them Holocaust survivors). Ricardo is now a professor of archaeology at the German Archaeological Institute. [78] Kaltenbrunner succeeded him as head of the RSHA.