Thread by @marinamaral2

On this day in 1960, Adolf Eichmann is captured by the Mossad in Argentina.

He was one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps.

After Germany's defeat, Eichmann was captured by US forces, but escaped from a detention camp and moved around Germany to avoid re-capture. He moved to Argentina in 1950, using false papers he obtained with help from an organization directed by Catholic bishop Alois Hudal.

Several survivors of the Holocaust dedicated themselves to finding Eichmann and other Nazis, and among them was Jewish Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. He learned from a letter shown to him in 1953 that Eichmann had been seen in Buenos Aires.

Wiesenthal made arrangements for private detectives to surreptitiously photograph members of the family.

Photo: The hidden home of Adolf Eichmann in San Fernando, Argentina, circa 1960.

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.

Mossad operative Rafi Eitan was named leader of the eight-man team.

Photos: Surveillance photographs taken by a private detective in Argentina.

The team captured Eichmann near his home on Garibaldi Street in San Fernando, Buenos Aires. The agents had arrived in April and observed his routine for many days, noting that he arrived home from work by bus at about the same time every evening.

They planned to seize him when he was walking beside an open field from the bus stop to his house.

The plan was almost abandoned on the designated day when Eichmann was not on the bus that he usually took home, but he got off another bus about half an hour later.

Mossad agent Peter Malkin engaged him. Eichmann was frightened and attempted to leave, but two more Mossad men came to Malkin's aid. The three wrestled Eichmann to the ground and, after a struggle, moved him to a car where they hid him on the floor under a blanket.

Eichmann was taken to one of several Mossad safe houses that had been set up by the team. He was held there for nine days, during which time his identity was double-checked and confirmed.

Near midnight on 20 May, Eichmann was sedated by an Israeli doctor on the Mossad team and dressed as a flight attendant. He was smuggled out of Argentina aboard the El Al Bristol Britannia aircraft.

They arrived in Israel on 22 May.

Eichmann was taken to a fortified police station at Yagur in Israel, where he spent nine months, where he was subjected to daily interrogations, the transcripts of which totalled over 3,500 pages.

When additional information was brought forward that forced Eichmann into admitting what he had done, he would insist he had no authority in the Nazi hierarchy.

He wrote: "I was not a responsible leader, and as such do not feel myself guilty."

Eichmann's trial before a special tribunal of the Jerusalem District Court began on 11 April 1961.

He was indicted on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in a criminal organization.

The prosecution case was presented over the course of 56 days, involving hundreds of documents and 112 witnesses (many of them Holocaust survivors). Some of the evidence submitted by the prosecution took the form of depositions made by leading Nazis.

The prosecution proved that Eichmann had visited places where exterminations had taken place, including Chełmno extermination camp, Auschwitz, and Minsk (where he witnessed a mass shooting of Jews), and therefore was aware that the deportees were being killed.

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.

When Hausner produced evidence that Eichmann had stated in 1945 that:

"I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction", Eichmann said he meant "enemies of the Reich" such as the Soviets.

During later examination by the judges, he admitted he meant the Jews, and said the remark was an accurate reflection of his opinion at the time.

The trial adjourned on 14 August, and the verdict was read on 12 December.

Eichmann was convicted on 15 counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in a criminal organization.

In addition to being found guilty of crimes against Jews, he was convicted for crimes against Poles, Slovenes and Gypsies.

Moreover, Eichmann was found guilty of membership in three organizations that had been declared criminal at the Nuremberg trials: the Gestapo, the SD, and the SS.

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.

On 15 December 1961, Eichmann was sentenced to death by hanging.

His last words were reported to be

"Long live Germany. Long live Argentina. Long live Austria. (...) I greet my wife, my family and my friends. I am ready. We'll meet again soon, as is the fate of all men. I die believing in God."

"I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction."

Source - Wiki
More here holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/ei…

Eichmann's youngest son Ricardo says he does not agree that his father's "following orders" argument excuses his actions. Ricardo is now a professor of archaeology at the German Archaeological Institute.

Highly recommend this.