The 60th Anniversary of the Mossad Operation to Capture Adolf Eichmann (Photos & Video)

On May 22, 1960, during a Knesset session, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared: “Adolf Eichmann is in Israel and will soon be placed on trial.” Sixty years have passed since the state of Israel successfully located, apprehended, and brought to justice the Nazi official who directed all operations for the deportation of European Jews to death camps. For Israel, this was a matter of national honor.

Following his escape in 1945, Adolf Eichmann settled in Buenos Aires under the alias Ricardo Klement. Concurrently, Lothar Hermann, a German Jew and former Dachau prisoner, was also residing in Argentina. 

Lothar Hermann

By that time, Lothar Hermann had lost his sight completely. Nevertheless, he suspected that the father of Nicolas Eichmann—a sixteen-year-old youth courting Hermann's daughter—was in fact the fugitive Nazi officer.  

Acting on these suspicions, the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, initiated an investigation. It was uncovered that after the war, Eichmann’s wife had remarried and departed for Argentina. Investigators pursued the hypothesis that her new husband was Eichmann himself, prompting Mossad to dispatch operatives to Argentina to confirm his identity.

Consequently, in early April 1960, the Israeli leadership resolved to covertly extradite Adolf Eichmann from Argentina, which, under the administration of President Juan Perón, had served as a sanctuary for former Nazis.

Mossad Director Isser Harel

The operation was personally commanded by Mossad Director Isser Harel. All thirty participants involved in the extraction served on a strictly voluntary basis. 

On May 11, 1960, a team of Mossad operatives intercepted Eichmann on his return from work. As he approached, operative Peter Malkin addressed him in Spanish, saying, “Un momentito, señor!” (“Just a moment, sir!”), before immediately subduing him. Eichmann was swiftly secured inside a waiting vehicle. The entire apprehension was executed in approximately 20 seconds.  

Mossad Operative Peter Malkin

While held at a safe house, Eichmann confessed to his identity and signed a formal statement consenting to stand trial in Israel. Once confirmation was absolute, the objective shifted to clandestine transport from Argentina to Israel.

As no commercial air routes existed between Argentina and Israel at the time, Eichmann was repatriated aboard the official aircraft of the Israeli delegation attending Argentina's 150th Independence Day celebrations. Sedated with a tranquilizer, he was presented to border officials as an ailing Israeli flight crew member named Raphael Arnon. Upon arrival in Israel, Eichmann was formally transferred to police custody. 

In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, directly responsible for the systematic genocide of the Jewish people, stood trial before an Israeli court.