The Nazi Hunters

The Nazi Hunters, by Neal Bascomb, published in 2013, is the story of the manhunt and capture of Adolf Eichmann, the "World's Most Notorious Nazi" in Argentina, 1961. The story centers on the agents of the Mossad and Shin Bet—Israeli intelligence and investigatory agencies—painstakingly detailing their plans, and execution, along with the capture’s aftermath. In addition to these, the recollections of Auschwitz survivor and witness Zeev Sapir feature prominently. Looming over the entire narrative is the figure of Adolf Eichmann, the shock of whose ultimate appearance is dwarfed only by the horror of his crimes. A true story, the course ofTheNazi Hunters—from the horrors of the Second World War and Holocaust, to the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann—is not the presentation of history, but its excavation, a process that spans decades and continents.

The narrative begins on March 19, 1944, with Adolf Eichmann en route from Austria to Hungary. 38 years old, Eichmann is the director of "Department IVB," the project name for the Nazi's mass murder of Jewish people in Europe. Following the political isolation, economic plunder, and physical segregation of the Jewish people, Eichmann's plan to execute the Nazi’s orders, which consists of transporting and collecting Jews under false pretenses to concentration camps. What then happens at these camps, Eichmann chooses not to concern himself with, a detail that will become criticalat the book's close. Eichmann is in charge of the SS, (Schutzstafel), the paramilitary wing of the Nazi government, charged with rounding up and deporting Hungary's Jewish population. One of those directly affected is 20-year-old Zeev Sapir, a man living in the Hungarian village of Dobradovo, with his parents and five siblings. Zeev is transported by train from Hungary to Poland. Before the trains leave, Zeev sees Adolf Eichmann once upon his arrival at Auschwitz, Zeev never sees his family again. The narrative then shifts a year forward, to June of 1945. Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the concentration camp at Mauthausen who has lost his mother and wife to the attempted Nazi genocide, immediately resolves to hold those responsible accountable, in some way. In his search, one name reappears again and again: Adolf Eichmann.

The first step—acquiring a picture of Eichmann—is met in 1947 with the help of Manus Diamant, a Jewish agent impersonating a former SS officer, and who is working with Simon Wiesenthal. At this point, there are rumors that many high-ranking former Nazis, including SS officers, have fled to Argentina in secret, and are now living under false identities. Despite this, Wiesenthal's efforts to get the newly-founded Israeli government to investigate these rumors are rebuffed.

In 1956, and by sheer chance, Sylvia Hermann, a teenage girl living in Buenos Aires, meets a boy named Nick Eichmann, who boasts of his father's influence during the war. However, Nick Eichmann attests his father is dead. Sylvia, conferring with her father, Lothar, investigates. She discovers a mysterious man living the Eichmann family. Astounded, she notifies the office of Fritz Bauer, a war crimes prosecutor, and in no time, the dossier finds its way to Isser Harel, director of the Israeli Mossad.

At first, little progress is made. Intelligence professionals cannot believe Eichmann had retired to such impoverished settings, nor can they with certainty establish his alias in Buenos Aires. However, patient work by the Hermanns—Sylvia and her father Lothar—locate a "Ricardo Klement," and after much more investigating, it is believed Klement is Eichmann's alias. Isser Harel enlists another agent, Zvi Aharoni, to confirm Eichmann's identity with photographs. Receiving these, Harel and the Mossad immediately begin planning Eichmann's capture.

Under false identities, a team of Israeli agents plan to locate and monitor Eichmann, learning his routines and habits. Once a pattern is established, the agents will attempt capture, bringing Eichmann to a special safe house, before spiriting him out of the country. Eichmann presents a difficult target: he is well-versed in methods of intelligence gathering and counterintelligence and has a wealth of contacts in both the right-wing Argentine government and the German expatriate community, in addition to his own instincts from more than fifteen years on the run. Consequently, every part of the plan must be done rapidly and smoothly to secure his capture and avoid an international incident. Finally, even once Eichmann is in Jerusalem, the secrecy of those bringing him to justice must be preserved, to allow them enough time to leave Argentina and avoid reprisal. The task is enormously difficult, yetby 1960, the entire Israeli security architecture—from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on down—is behind it. For Isser Harel's and Zvi Aharoni's team, failure is not an option.

The team itself is an impressive group of forgers, language experts, technical experts, disguise specialists, doctors, interrogators, and strongmen. They have the skills to track, subdue, hold, question, and move Eichmann. Temperament is also another consideration. Many of the men are survivors of concentration camps themselves, and all have lost friends and relatives in the Holocaust. The men chosen have to be counted on to act professionally, even when dealing with such a monstrous individual. After a few false starts, the plan is set into motion on May 11, 1960: while returning from his job as a foreman for Mercedes-Benz, the team snatches up Eichmann, taking him to a waiting safehouse. During questioning, the agents are struck by Eichmann's mild-mannered demeanor, and his refusal to admit fault; he repeatedly claims he is not responsible for any murders, and was only involved in "collection and transport."This is a theme which will resurface later, in his formal defense. Although Eichmann makes no attempt to escape, Aharoni and his team can only stand his presence with extreme difficulty.Meanwhile, Eichmann's sons, along with former SS officers, comb the countryside looking for him, but find nothing. When his questioning is complete, Eichmann is loaded onto a specially-prepared El Al flight, bound for Israel. This however, is no easy task: from Buenos Aires to Tel Aviv is a nine-thousand-mile flight, beyond the range of the aircraft prepared. A refueling stop in Dakar is chosen, but this still dangerously taxes the airplane's fuel reserves. Despite these challenges, Eichmann and the team land on May 22, 1960. Five days later, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion announces, to the shocked relief of the Israeli Parliament, that Eichmann is in custody.

In Buenos Aires, Eichmann was promised a fair trial to defend against the charges laid against him. The indictment is read on May 11, 1961, detailing Eichmann's role in carrying out the "Final Solution,"the explicit goal of which was the genocide of the Jewish people. As before, Eichmann's defense is that he had never intended their deaths, and that their deaths were the unfortunate side-effect of state policy. However, the prosecutors are able to produce evidence that Eichmann was not only aware of the policy of genocide, but worked deliberately to realize this policy. He is found guilty on December 15, 1961, and executed on May 30, 1962. As predicted, the trial and death of Adolf Eichmann forcefully reintroduce the Holocaust into the history of the 20th century, placing its horrors and lessons in the consciousness of the entire world.