How Mossad Kidnapped The Murderer Of 6 Million People

How Mossad Kidnapped The Murderer Of 6 Million People

His crime was the murder of 6 million innocent Jews. He was an extraordinary man of Hitler. He got arrested after the defeat of Hitler but ran away from jail soon. Mossad followed him for the next 10 years then they took him to Israel. And then those 6 million people got justice. 

Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann (Credit: The National Photo Collection, Israel)

This story is about Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Final Solution. What the Final Solution? It was a code name to hide all the Jews in all the areas under Hitler's control during the 2nd World War. The Final Solution Policy was structured at the Wannsee Conference in 1942. Eichmann was assigned to identify, collect, and send the Jews to the death camps where gas chambers would be waiting for them. He was very experienced at killing Jews, and he had done his job very well. Before that, he had done this in Austria and Paraguay. 

Almost 6 million Jews had been killed at the end of the 2nd World War. The Nazi empire was destroyed at the fall of Berlin. As you know, Hitler shot himself, the SS's (Schutzstaffel) head Hermann Goring and Joseph Goebbels had also committed suicide. Because they were aware of their end. The rest were arrested, litigated by the Nuremberg trials, and got punished accordingly. 

But Eichmann was nowhere in these trials. He was arrested but had run away soon, dodging the authorities. There was no news about Eichmann after his escape. 

Establishment of Israel

In 1948, a new country was established for Jews, Israel, and Davis Ben-Gurion was elected as the first Prime Minister. Ben-Gurion tried to establish such a central agency that could directly coordinate to other countries' secret agencies and report to the P.M.. in March 1951, the structure of Mossad was changed. Mossad's roles continued to grow after this. 

Clue about Eichmann

In 1957, Mossad got a tip from Argentina, and it was about Eichmann. This tip was true, and Mossad started its mission to bring him to Israel. After several months of research, Mossad found out that he was living in Buenos Aires with the fake identity of Recardo Clement.

The murderer of 6 million people was living a normal and peaceful life in Argentina. It was impossible to bring him to Israel legally because there was no extradition treaty between Argentina and Israel. Mossad was waiting for the golden chance to operate its mission, and it came in 1960. Argentina was celebrating its 150th war anniversary against Spain. Tourists from all over the world were coming to Argentina, so Mossad was a great chance, and they hit the spot. Some of Mossad's agents went to Argentina as tourists.

The Day of Operation

Mossad was all set, and they decided the date of 11th May to operate their mission. Eichmann came by bus to his home as he used to do daily in the evening. And he started walking toward his home, which was about 100 meters away from the bus stop. The agents were waiting for him. They narcotized him, got him into the car, and took him to their safehouse. Mossad hid the mission for 9 days because the next flight from Argentina to Israel was on the 20th of May.

During this nine-day period, if Argentina knew about this mission, the agents would be at high risk, and the big target (Adolf Eichmann) would be out of Mossad's reach forever. On many occasions, during this nine-day period, the mission was about to fail, but the agents handled it wisely.   On the 20th of May, agents boarded the plane, taking Eichmann, who was narcotized. He was disguised; the agents told the airline security that he is an Israeli airline worker who is fainted because of a deep head injury. Thus they took him to Israel.

The Arrival of Eichmann in Israel

After three days of the arrival of Eichmann in Israel, Ben-Gurion announced that He is under Israeli authority control. There was an uproar in the whole world after this. Argentina demanded Israel to give him back, but Israel refused clearly. 

Court Proceedings

Adolf Eichmann during court proceedings (Credit: The National Photo Collection, Israel)

On 11th April 1961, Eichmann's case was getting prosecuted. He was charged with the murder of Jews and crimes against humanity. The court found him guilty of 15 charges, including war crimes.

People who survived the Final Solution testified against Eichmann. They used to cry in court, remembering the old days. Not only Israel but the whole world was watching this proceeding. For the first time, any one of the court proceedings was getting shown on the television. Eichmann argued that he just followed the orders. The court rejected his plea. Then, on the 15th of December 1961, the court convicted him on all charges. Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death.

The Final Verdict of Court

The court said its verdict, "The brutality with which millions of people were put to death, in this case, the death penalty is not enough at all. We know this well. There is no word in the language of human beings that the guilty can explain the ill-effects. There is no exact punishment for this crime in the law of humans." Adolf Eichmann was hanged on the 31st of May 1962.