Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann, the functional engineer of the Final Solution, was tried and put to death in Israel in 1962. This was the sole time in that Israel has employed the death penalty. Eichmann avoided prosecution immediately after the war, and successfully evaded capture for more than a decade.
In May 1945, Adolf Eichmann was arrested and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp. He first identified himself as a Luftwaffe corporal, and after realizing that officers were exempt from labor, became SS -Untersturmfuhrer Otto Eckmann. After a transfer to another camp, he was able to escape with false papers and spent several years as an agricultural worker.
Eichmann was then able to follow the rat line from Germany to Italy, and from Italy to Argentina. He spent two years in Italy, living under false papers provided by ODESSA, an organization of SS men. With forged papers, he sailed for Argentina, taking a job at a hydro-electric power company in 1950.
He wrote to his wife, and sent a coded message asking her to join him with their children. She arrived in Argentina in 1952. For a number of years, the family lived quite an ordinary life in Argentina. The false life began to crumble when a half-Jewish German man met Eichmann’s son, Klaus and made the connection. This man, Lothar Hermann, wrote to authorities in Frankfurt, and after some time, the letter and information reached the Israeli foreign minister and a special branch of the Israeli Secret Service, called Mossad.
Mossad decided to bring Eichmann back alive; however, the operation could not be handled diplomatically. Eichmann would have to be kidnapped to be brought to Israel. A special task force led by agent Rafi Eitan kidnapped Eichmann on May 11, 1960. After interrogating him, he was drugged and flown to Israel, arriving on May 22, 1960.
The Eichmann trial provided more than justice. For many survivors, it was the first time they told their stories, and brought international attention back to the Holocaust. At the trial, Eichmann was found guilty of some 15 different charges. He was hanged, cremated, and his ashes scattered outside of Israeli waters.