June 1, 2018
Hello ,
Israeli intelligence agents got a tip in 1953 that Adolf Eichmann, the man who directed the extermination of four million German Jews, was alive and well in Argentina.
But it
would take seven years and the help of a young woman to track him down and bring him to justice.
Girl Helps Identify Nazi War Criminal Sylvia Hermann was twelve years old in 1954 when she met a boy named Klaus Eichmann at the movies. They were both from German families that had immigrated to Argentina.
Buenos
Aires was home to many German Jews who'd fled the Nazi regime before WWII, and to a good number of Nazis who fled after.
Sylvia's half-Jewish father had been arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau for a short sentence in 1935. After his release, Lothar Hermann moved to the Netherlands, where he married a German non-Jewish woman. They emigrated to Uruguay, then to Argentina where Sylvia was born
in 1942.
They did not raise Sylvia in the Jewish tradition, and her new friend Klaus' surname meant little to her. Klaus' father Adolf Eichmann (at left) lived under a false name, Ricardo Klement, but it gives one an idea of how comfortable Nazis were in Buenos Aires, that his oldest three sons retained the Eichmann name.
But Klaus never invited Sylvia to his home, though he visited hers a number of times. He told her his father had done "a lot" in the war, and freely made anti-Semitic comments, including voicing regret that
the Nazis had not succeeded in killing all Europe's Jews.
Sylvia's father picked up on the Eichmann name right away.
His parents and many other relatives had died in Nazi concentration camps.
Hermann wrote a letter tipping off German authorities who in turn contacted Israeli intelligence. The Israelis needed more evidence. They knew Argentina would be unlikely to extradite a suspected Nazi war criminal. If they were going to get Eichmann, they would have to kidnap Eichmann and sneak him out of the country
in violation of Argentinian sovereignty.
Isser Harel, head of the Mossad, (at left) explained why Israeli operatives couldn’t move quickly in this venture.
"The investigators could not risk the danger that their prey would learn he was being followed. Even more difficult was the necessity of identifying their man beyond the slightest doubt. The only thing worse than losing the real Eichmann would be capturing the wrong one."
Israeli agents called on the Hermann's to help
locate and identify Eichmann. They located the house where Klaus lived and Sylvia walked up and knocked on the door.
A woman answered. "Is this the Eichmann home?" Sylvia asked. Before the woman could answer, a middle-aged man appeared. Sylvia now asked if Klaus was home. The man said Klaus was working late.
"Are you Herr Eichmann?" Sylvia asked innocently. He did not
answer directly but admitted he was Klaus' father. Sylvia explained she was a friend looking for his son and left. Out of concern for her safety, her father sent her to the United States where she lived the rest of her life. Sylvia never talked about her part in catching Eichmann.
Before Israelis acted on Sylvia's information in Eichmann and his family moved and it would be several more years before he was tracked to the San Fernando neighborhood and a newly build house at 14
Garobaldi.
Harel told the story of Eichmann's capture in his 1975 book The House on Garibaldi Street. Before that few people knew about Sylvia and her father's role in identifying the Nazi war criminal.
The story is often called one of the
best spy-thrillers of all time. Eichmann was nabbed on the street as he arrived home from work one day, held in a safe house, chained to a bed for ten days, then flown out of the country disguised as an injured member of an El-Al flight crew. You can read a short version here...
Below Eichmann stands trial in Israel in 1961 guarded in a bullet proof glass box.
In the first televised trial in history, Eichmann
faced 15 charges, including crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and war crimes.
The Mossad team that captured him were surprised he looked so ordinary, but as his horrendous crimes came out in court, they stirred high emotions. People screamed and cried and wanted to attack and kill Eichmann on the spot.
He denied responsibility for the killing of millions of Jews, saying he was just following orders. Eichmann was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death. On May 31, 1962, he was hanged near Tel Aviv, his body cremated and his ashes thrown into the sea.
Blogger Lisa Taylor!
Lisa answered my plea to request that her local library carry Fannie Never Flinched. And went a step further to write a thorough and compelling blog post to introduce readers to Fannie's story.
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