The very mention of the word 'Mossad' conjures up riveting images of the daring, dark world of espionage. From acting to curb nuclear weapons programmes in Iraq and Iran to assassinating terrorist leaders, Israel's external intelligence service has done it all.
But one of Mossad's first major operations, which brought it global attention, was the abduction of a 54-year-old foreman, who worked at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 11, 1960.
The foreman was known to his colleagues as Ricardo Klement. However, his real name was Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann was a lieutenant colonel in the Nazi Gestapo secret police. Eichmann earned the name of 'Architect of the Holocaust', for being the German official who oversaw the logistical planning for the mass extermination of Jews in Europe. Eichmann was the head of the Reich Security Main Office’s section for Jewish affairs.
Eichmann organised a meeting of Nazi officials at Wannsee in Berlin in January 1942 to discuss the implementation of the 'Final Solution for the Jewish Question' as described by Adolf Hitler. The meeting discussed the deportation of Jews from all across Nazi-occupied Europe to concentration camps and their execution and also confiscation of their properties.
After the end of World War 2 in May 1945, Eichmann was arrested by US forces, but managed to flee and lived in hiding in Germany and Italy, before going to Argentina in 1950. The military junta ruling Argentina at the time was sympathetic to former Nazis and gave safe passage to many wanted war criminals.
In 1957, Mossad was tipped off by a German prosecutor that Eichmann was in hiding in Argentina. Israeli agents took over two years to trace Eichmann and verify his identity. Eichmann was abducted while returning from work by bus on the night of May 11. Held in a safe house, Eichmann confessed his true identity to the Israeli agents. Eichmann's journey to Israel was no less dramatic than his capture: He was drugged and taken aboard a special El Al flight disguised as a drunken flight attendant.
The capture of Eichmann was announced by then Israeli prime minister David Ben Gurion on May 23, 1960. The announcement shocked the world. Time Magazine had then reported, "diplomats and editorialists around the world asked about the legality of kidnapping a man from one country to stand trial in a second for crimes committed in a third".
Argentina complained to the UN that its sovereignty was violated by Israel. The trial of Eichmann began in April 1961 and concluded with him being sentenced to death in December that year. Eichmann maintained he was only following orders.
However, according to the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, "The court... found that the claim made by the defence that Eichmann was only acting under orders was of no avail to him, from the legal standpoint; this claim was also disproved in fact, as the court was persuaded that Eichmann had done everything in his power to interpret and implement the orders he received in as extreme and harsh a manner as possible".
Eichmann was executed by hanging in May 1962, the last time Israel officially carried out capital punishment.
Impact of Eichmann trial
Eichmann's trial attracted worldwide attention. According to Yad Vashem, the Eichmann trial was the "first time that the Holocaust was presented to a competent judicial body in full detail, in all its stages and from all its aspects". "The trial brought about a significant change among Israeli youth in their attitude to the Holocaust. For them and other young Jews, the Holocaust was a remote and abstract issue. The trial was a significant step in conveying the Holocaust to Israeli and Jewish students," The Yad Vashem website notes.
The impact of Israel bringing Eichmann to justice was not just limited to the Jewish state; it forced Germany to launch trials of others accused in the Holocaust.
Yad Vashem notes the Eichmann trial also had impact on literature and cinema. "Some 600 works of various categories have been published in numerous languages. In addition, 89 documentary films and four feature films have been produced" on the trial. The Wannsee conference itself was the subject of an HBO movie, Conspiracy, in which Stanley Tucci essayed the role of Eichmann.
In 2018, Operation Finale, a movie on the abduction and trial of Eichmann was released. Ben Kingsley essayed the role of Eichmann.
