On a chilly night in Buenos Aires, a team of Mossad agents hid in the shadows, waiting and watching for a man whose identity was a lie.
Ricardo Klement was a seemingly average family man leading an unassuming life, but he was no ordinary man. He was one of the architects of the Nazis’ Final Solution: the plan to annihilate every Jew in Europe.
His real name was Adolf Eichmann, and his hands dripped with Jewish blood.
For years, he had evaded justice. He had vanished, gone without a trace.
But Eichmann couldn’t stay hidden forever. One day in 1960, a group of Israeli avengers finally brought him to justice.
How did the Mossad manage to catch one of the most notorious Nazi criminals in the world?
Many Nazis evaded justice after the Holocaust
Six long years of bloodshed in Europe came to an end in the spring of 1945, when the Allies and Soviets finally toppled Germany’s Third Reich.
As the Allied armies liberated Europe from the grip of the Nazis, they learned the full extent of the regime’s horrors: six million Jews and five million more “enemies” of the Reich had been systematically murdered. The evidence of the atrocities was overwhelming.
The Jewish world was hungry for justice.
For months after liberation, many top Nazis stood trial in Nuremberg, Germany as prosecutors meticulously detailed their sickening and inhumane actions.
A year and a half after Auschwitz was first liberated, the Nuremberg trials concluded. Some of the worst Nazi leaders swung from the gallows. Others took their own lives before they could be held accountable. Many more got away with sentences that were too light, given the scope of their crimes.
However, a few high-ranking Nazis evaded justice altogether by fleeing.
One of these fugitives was Adolf Eichmann.
Eichmann joined the Nazi’s intelligence service after rising through the ranks of the Austrian Nazi Party. In Berlin, he was assigned to handle the “Jewish Question.” In other words, how to address the status of Germany’s Jews.
As Germany expanded its territory, Eichmann advised the Nazis on the so-called “evacuation” of Jews and Poles in the Greater Reich.
His superiors realized he had two obsessions. He hated Jews and he loved logistics, as in, how to systematically strip Jews of their rights, round them up, and force them onto trains under the pretense of “resettlement.”
As the Nazis took over Europe, Eichmann organized more and more deportations of Jews from those occupied lands.
In 1942, he gathered with other top-ranking Nazis to discuss a “Final Solution” to the Jewish Question. The plan for the mass-murder of every single Jew in Europe — and beyond.
Under Eichmann’s direction, millions of Jews were packed into squalid ghettos, sent to concentration camps, and suffocated in the gas chambers. Day after day, cattle cars crammed with Jews rattled across the fields of Europe. Carrying men, women, and children to be slaughtered. To be systematically starved, beaten, and forced into harsh labor.
How Eichmann escaped after the war
After the war, Eichmann was arrested by the United States Army and put in a prisoner of war camp, but they didn’t know who he actually was. He told them his name was Otto Eckmann.
Eichmann was afraid that the Allies would eventually discover his true identity. So one night in 1946, under cover of darkness, Eichmann escaped. He managed to hide until 1950.
By this time, most of the world had given up on chasing Nazis, so with the help of the Catholic Church and a secret German network known as the “ratline,” he slipped covertly across Europe. His ultimate destination? Argentina.
Post-war Argentina was a haven for Nazi war criminals. The Argentinian Minister of War admired fascists and was eager to give them a new home across the ocean.
In July 1950, Eichmann boarded a ship leaving Italy for Argentina using a new false name. Two years later, his wife and three sons joined him in Buenos Aires.
Eichmann might have lived out the rest of his life as Ricardo Klement, a low-level Mercedes-Benz employee, if not for a blind man in Buenos Aires.
Lothar Hermann, the man who found Eichmann
Lothar Hermann was born in Germany to a Jewish father and a Christian mother. He was nearly blind, a result of the beatings he’d endured as a political prisoner at the Dachau concentration camp in the 1930s, but his other senses were acute.
When his daughter Sylvia’s friend boasted about his father’s war record as a Nazi officer, Hermann’s antennae went up.
This friend introduced himself as Nick Eichmann. He had no idea that his host was remembering every word.
Months later, the Hermanns moved away. But Lothar Hermann hadn’t forgotten what he’d learned at his dinner table. So when his daughter read him an article that mentioned Adolf Eichmann, something clicked in his brain: Nick Eichmann’s father was Adolf Eichmann.
They weren’t sure if Nick’s father was even alive. Nick had told Sylvia that his mother remarried after the war. Whom would the Hermanns turn to for help?
The German Embassy in Buenos Aires was crawling with Nazi sympathizers. If Hermann alerted them, he suspected they would help Eichmann disappear again. Instead, he wrote to judicial authorities in Germany who were still eager to prosecute Nazi war criminals, alerting them to Eichmann’s presence in Argentina.
His letter ended up in the hands of Fritz Bauer, a Jewish prosecutor-general in West Germany.
Bauer wrote back, enclosing a blurry photo of Eichmann. Was this Nick’s father?
There was only one way to find out.
Sylvia Hermann trekked to the dusty street in Buenos Aires where Nick lived with his family. She was soon joined at their kitchen table by a mild-mannered man in glasses. He introduced himself as her friend Nick’s uncle.
He seemed pleasant enough. Sylvia wasn’t sure if he was really Eichmann, but when Nick bade Sylvia goodbye, he called this man “father,” not uncle.
It was Eichmann.
Back in Germany, Bauer knew his colleagues in government couldn’t be trusted. Some of them had been Nazis, and they might help Eichmann vanish again.
So, in September 1957, Bauer turned to the people he believed would pursue this lead: the Israelis.
In early 1958, the Mossad sent an agent to Argentina. But after two weeks of surveilling the house on Chacabuco Street, the agent didn’t spot anyone with Eichmann’s description. He didn’t think it was possible for an important Nazi to be living in such a shabby little house. He cabled a negative report back to Israel.
Bauer was frustrated. Two weeks wasn’t long enough to investigate. So he introduced the Israelis to Lothar Hermann, whose identity Bauer had kept a secret until then.
When the Israelis realized that Lothar Hermann was blind, they were skeptical. But they wired him some money so he could keep investigating. He and Sylvia tracked down the records for the house at 4261 Chacabuco Street. They discovered two names listed on the electricity meters: Dagoto and Klement.
These names meant nothing to the Israelis. The hunt for Eichmann was at a standstill.
But in late 1959, Fritz Bauer came to the Israelis with an update that changed everything.
Bauer had received information from a source who confirmed that Eichmann was in Argentina. The source had real, solid details, details like how Eichmann had escaped Germany, the jobs he’d held, and that he was living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.
The source was a German who had briefly worked with Eichmann in Buenos Aires. He hated the Nazi agenda, and he was horrified that Eichmann was still walking free.
Israel takes matters into its own hands
Bauer reportedly threatened to pursue Eichmann’s extradition to Germany, but Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion wanted Eichmann brought to Israel, alive.
He wanted Eichmann to be confronted with the mountains of evidence of his mass extermination of the Jews, and the right place for this trial wasn’t Germany, but the State of Israel.
The trial would be an expression of Israel’s sovereignty and its role representing the Jewish people on the world stage. It was where Jews who emerged emaciated from the camps had rebuilt themselves, where Jews who experienced the worst atrocities of modern history could speak for their slain family members.
But Argentina would refuse any request for extradition. The only way to get Eichmann out was if the Israelis did it themselves, so the Mossad once again swung into action.
On March 1, an Israeli agent called Zvi Aharoni stepped off a plane in Buenos Aires. His mission? Obtain irrefutable proof that “Ricardo Klement” was Eichmann.
Aharoni arrived with a folder bulging with information on Eichmann, every detail that the Israelis could find about him, his wife, and his children.
His first step was to scope out 4261 Chacabuco Street, the house Sylvia Hermann had visited a few years prior, but Aharoni was in for an unpleasant surprise. The family had moved out.
Aharoni recruited some helpers, local Argentinians called Juan and Lorenzo. Juan discovered that “Dito,” one of the Eichmann sons, worked at a nearby garage. He went to get a good look at him and to try to get his new address. Dito wouldn’t tell Juan where he lived, but he matched the description of Eichmann’s son Dieter.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo had been posing as an insurance salesman to find out who exactly had lived at 4261 Chacabuco Street. He confirmed to Aharoni that Ricardo Klement had lived at the house.
Aharoni wired a coded message back to Mossad headquarters. Klement was very likely Eichmann.
But every attempt to tail Dito and find out his address was a bust.
Aharoni was getting desperate. Just as he grasped a fragile thread he hoped would unspool the whole mystery, it snapped.
He sent Juan back to see Dito. Showing too much interest in the family was risky, but luckily for Aharoni, it paid off.
Juan came back with a description of how to get to the Klement family’s new house on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and even better, with confirmation from Dito that the family’s last name wasn’t Klement. It was Eichmann.
Days later, parked near Eichmann’s house, Aharoni spotted a middle-aged man at the home. He knew that he was looking at Eichmann.
He sent a report in invisible ink back to Israel. There was no longer any doubt that Ricardo Klement was Adolf Eichmann.
A Mossad team assembles to catch Eichmann
Back in Israel, Mossad director Isser Harel assembled a crack squad of avengers to capture Eichmann and bring him back to Israel. Legal advisors had told the intelligence organization that ideally, Eichmann would return of his own free will. That way, he couldn’t claim that he’d been coerced into confessing his identity or into standing trial. The trial would be absolutely legitimate.
Harel himself would be on the ground in Argentina.
Rafi Eitan would lead the team.
Each of the 11 agents chosen possessed unique skills. One could pick any lock. One was a master forger. Another was a doctor who would ensure Eichmann stayed alive on the journey to Israel. Yet another was a fluent Spanish speaker, useful for running interference if anyone sniffed out the Israelis as foreign agents.
And some were survivors:
Avraham Shalom, who was beaten senseless by his Austrian classmates when he was just nine years old.
Moshe Tabor, whose extended family was murdered by Nazis.
Peter Malkin, whose sister and her children were sent to the gas chambers.
Every last one of them wanted justice.
The mission was extraordinarily complex.
They had to capture Eichmann without anyone noticing, bring him somewhere no one would find, get him to admit who he was, get him to agree to go to Israel, and get him out of Argentina.
All of this had to be done before Eichmann’s family and the Argentinian police got suspicious.
If they managed this, it would be the achievement of a century.
In late April, the agents began trickling one by one into Argentina. They took roundabout routes, criss-crossing Europe on connecting flights, and traveling on false passports.
On the ground, they split up.
Some hunted for safe houses, others secured cars, and others were in charge of figuring out how and when to capture Eichmann.
For days, they observed his house on Garibaldi Street. Eichmann was a creature of habit. He returned home from work every day on the bus, disembarking at precisely 7:40 p.m.
The team realized that their best chance of success was to intercept Eichmann on the short walk from the bus stop to Garibaldi Street.
Meanwhile, Isser Harel was still working out the details of how to extract Eichmann from Argentina.
A sea journey would take too long. The only safe option was by air, but Israel’s official airline didn’t fly to South America. Harel was afraid that a new El Al flight so close to Eichmann’s disappearance would arouse suspicion.
Luck was on his side. Harel learned that an Israeli diplomatic delegation had been invited to Argentina’s independence celebration in late May. This was the perfect cover. The first El Al flight to Argentina would depart Tel Aviv in May and return a couple days later with the diplomatic delegation, and, if all went well, with an extra passenger.
The zero hour for Eichmann’s capture was May 11. Almost 15 years to the day that the Nazis had surrendered.
Eichmann’s capture
At 7:35 pm on May 11, the capture squad moved into place. They had given themselves only minutes to lie in wait for Eichmann.
Finally, headlights pierced the darkness. Bus 203 was coming. The agents waited, but the bus never stopped. Eichmann wasn’t there.
Rafi Eitan made a snap decision. They would wait.
At 8:05 pm, another bus 203 rumbled onto the road. A man stepped off and turned in the direction of Garibaldi Street.
The moment Peter Malkin would avenge his sister and her children was coming.
When the bespectacled man rounded the corner on Garibaldi Street, Malkin called out to him.
“Un momentito, señor”: Three words that changed world history.
Seconds later, Eichmann was in the hands of the Mossad, a fugitive no more.
On the drive to the safe house, Zvi Aharoni warned him to be silent. No response. He asked what language Eichmann understood. No response. For a few minutes they thought Eichmann had lost consciousness, and then they heard a voice speaking flawless German: “I am already resigned to my fate.”
The first part of the team’s mission was complete.
That evening at the safe house, Aharoni was elated when Eichmann confessed his real identity: “My name is Adolf Eichmann.”
Now, they needed him to agree to go to Israel and stand trial.
The Israeli diplomatic delegation was arriving May 18 for the Argentinian independence celebration on the maiden El Al flight to South America. Their plane would turn around and return to Israel in a matter of days. Eichmann had to be on that flight.
Here’s where the story gets a bit fuzzy. Both Zvi Aharoni and Peter Malkin take credit for convincing Eichmann to stand trial in Israel.
Isser Harel had ordered the team that no one but Aharoni should speak directly to Eichmann. Did Peter Malkin really disobey orders and talk to Eichmann? Either way, one thing is for sure. At some point, while he was in the safe house, Eichmann agreed to go to Israel of his own free will.
For days, the team kept Eichmann under 24-hour guard.
In the meantime, Isser Harel was still hammering out the details of how to get Eichmann onto the El Al flight.
Should they smuggle him onto the plane in a diplomatic cargo crate, hide him in a catering cart, or walk him onto the plane right under the watchful eyes of Argentinian airport police?
Each course of action was risky. But the third option was their best choice.
The flight back to Israel
Hours before the flight to Israel was scheduled to depart, the agents gave Eichmann a new look. They dyed his hair, glued on a false mustache, and aged him with makeup. To complete the disguise, they dressed him in an El Al uniform, including a cap with a Star of David.
The irony of this moment wasn’t lost on anyone. Fifteen years earlier, Eichmann’s cap boasted the skull and crossbones of the SS. Now, he wore a Jewish symbol and carried a passport with the last name Zichroni, meaning “my memory.“
After years of living under a fake name, Eichmann’s final identity in Argentina was that of a Jew.
The Mossad agents prepared to accompany Eichmann back to Israel. Some would wear the uniform of El Al crewmembers, and others would fly as regular passengers.
A few stayed on the ground to remove any evidence. They would depart Buenos Aires later.
The team had to ensure that Eichmann wouldn’t attempt a last-minute escape. The doctor on the squad carefully administered a sedative to keep Eichmann drowsy.
At the airport, the real El Al crewmembers clustered around Eichmann. Together with the disguised Mossad agents, they bumped Eichmann up the stairs to the plane and buckled him into his seat.
Eichmann didn’t make a sound.
On May 22, the plane carrying Eichmann landed on Israeli soil.
The next day, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion dropped a bombshell.
Adolf Eichmann was in Jewish hands.
One year later, Eichmann stood trial.
Eichmann on trial
After legal preliminaries, Israel’s Attorney General delivered his opening statement just days after Jews around the world had sat at the Passover Seder table, retelling the ancient story of Jewish liberation.
Now they were holding another enemy to account.
Attorney General Gideon Hausner: “I do not stand alone. Here with me at this moment stand six million prosecutors. But alas, they cannot rise to level the finger of accusation in the direction of the glass dock and cry out ‘J’accuse’ against the man who sits there. Because their ashes have been piled up in the mounds of Auschwitz and the fields of Treblinka or spilled into the rivers of Poland. And their graves are scattered throughout the length and breadth of Europe. Their blood cries to heaven, but their voice cannot be heard. Thus it falls to me to be their mouthpiece and to deliver the heinous accusation in their name.”
Throughout the hours of legal proceedings, Eichmann pretended that he was just a cog in the wheel, a bureaucratic functionary in charge of train timetables. He insisted no evidence existed showing he had been anything more than that.
Except that evidence did exist.
A Dutch journalist and former member of the Waffen SS living in Argentina had recorded Eichmann telling his story. For hours, they sat together while Eichmann went on. And on. And on.
Eichmann: “Had we put 10.3 million Jews to death, then I would be content and would say, ‘Good, we destroyed the enemy.’”
The Israeli prosecutors didn’t have the tapes themselves, but they had the transcripts, but Eichmann argued that the transcripts distorted his words, and the Israeli Supreme Court agreed.
But even without the recordings, Israeli prosecutors had reams of evidence: Over 1,600 documents detailing the persecution of Europe’s Jews and Eichmann’s signature was on many of the documents.
Documents weren’t the only evidence introduced.
Witnesses were called to the stand, testifying about the horrors they saw and experienced. For many of the 110 survivors who spoke, their testimony was the first time they had ever talked about their history. Now, they had the attention of millions who had never before heard survivors speak.
But many others were deeply anguished at revisiting the hell of the Holocaust. Still, they persevered, and the world was compelled to listen, to face the barbarity they had suffered.
The trial complicated the polarized attitudes among Israelis about armed resistance, passivity, and collaboration — the idea that some Jews had gone like lambs to the slaughter, when in reality, they had been trapped in a system designed to slowly crush them into oblivion, and how even so-called Nazi collaborators had been forced into their tragic roles.
Eichmann was found guilty of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and membership in a criminal organization. Within a year, he was hanged.
Eichmann’s capture and trial showed the world that the Jewish state would go to any lengths to deliver justice for its people. Like a phoenix, the Jews had risen from the ashes. And now they would control their own destiny.
For survivors, the trial unlocked memories shut away for 15 years. Their testimony forced a collective reckoning. What it meant for the Jews when the world was silent in the face of devastating injustice.
The survivors spoke for themselves and for the six million, telling the world to never forget.
