#27 The Story of Emboldened Mission to Capture Adolf Eichmann!

Hey Infinities, this article is about one of the thriller secret operation of capturing Adolf Eichmann and it is totally written in a cliffhanger way, so that you don't get bored. So, let's dive in this!

Perhaps besides Hitler, Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann had the passion to kill the Jews of Europe, as in no one else! Many years after the end of the Second World War, during his stay in Argentina, Eichmann said in an interview given to a Dutch man 'William Sesan' - 

"To tell you the truth, if we had killed all the 1,30,00,000 Jews living in Europe my work would have been done, since this had not happened, I would have held myself responsible for the troubles of my future generations. Yes, we were not able to complete this work because we were few in number, but we did as much as we could!"

Adolf Eichmann

‘Rafi Eitan’ was made the commander of this mission, by the end of April 1960, a team of 4 Mossad spies had entered Argentina from different directions. While tracking Eichmann it was found that he returned home every evening by bus no. 203 at 7:40 pm and walked a short distance to reach his home, it was planned that two cars will participate in the operation. In one car Eichmann lifting agents will be present and another car will be there for their safety. On the evening of 11 May at 7:35 pm, two cars were parked near the bus stop, the first car was black Chevrolet, two agents came out and pretended that their car had broken down, Zvi Aharoni sat in the driving seat, the second black car was parked at a short distance away on the other end of the road, two agents were standing outside the car, the third person was in the driving seat, it was his job to steer the car as soon as Eichmann appeared and light up the car's headlights to dazzle his eyes.

Rafi Eitan : The Commander of Mission

'Michael Bar Zohar' and 'Nisim Mishal' wrote in their book - "Mossad : The Greatest Mission's of the Israeli Secret Service" -

"Bus no. 203 stopped at 7:40 pm, but Eichmann did not leave till 7:50 pm. Till then two more buses came one after the other but Eichmann was nowhere to be found, the problems of the agents were increasing, did Eichmann suddenly changed his habits? Or was he aware of their plan?

‘Isser Harel’ had already briefed the team that if Eichmann didn't arrive by 8 o'clock, the mission should be left and they would return, but 'Rafi Eitan' decided to wait until 8:30 pm. At 8:05 another bus came and stopped, at first they did not see anyone getting down but sitting in the other car Avroom Sharoom saw a shadow coming ahead, they immediately turned on the headlights of the cars and almost blinded the person coming, just then an agent in the Chevrolet car shouted in Spanish - 'Momento Saneo' : 'If one minute, monsieur', Eichmann put his hand in his pocket and tried to find the flashlight.

Isser Harel (contemporaneous Director of Mossad)

Ronen Bergman writes - "Meanwhile an agent began to search for traces that left no doubt that the man they had caught was none other than Eichmann", immediately recognising the SS tattoo under his arm. Now the problem before them was to find the appendix operation mark on his stomach, which was described in the SS files, to see that an agent opened Eichmann's belt, as soon as he saw that mark, in Hebrew he shouted 'Jehu Jehu' which meant 'this is the same, this is what they are' - at 8:55 pm both cars stopped on the driveway to the Mossad spies' hideout.

SS (The Schutzstaffel) logo.

Eichmann was brought inside the house, when agents began to undress him, then he didn’t protest. Suddenly, a voice echoed in German - 'What is the size of your shoes and hat, tell the date of birth, what is your father's and mother's name?, Eichmann answered all the questions like a robot, then they asked him - what is the number of your nazi party card and also tell the number of SS?, Eichmann replied 45326 and 63752, his last question was - 'Your name?', Eichmann said nothing, he asked again 'Your name??' Eichmann replied tremblingly - Odo Henenger, the agent asked again 'Your name???' - this time his answer was 'Adolf Eichmann'.
The next 10 days were the longest days of the Israeli spies, hiding with their captive abroad, their one mistake could lead to a police raid and a big international ruckus can arise. At 11 a.m. on May 18, 1960, the people of Delaviv took off in an Israeli aeroplane from International Airport.
The next day, i.e. on May 19, the plane landed at Buenos Aires Airport at noon, two hours later Isser talked to the pilot and fixed the time of take-off of the plane at midnight on 20 May.

At 9 o'clock on May 20, Eichmann was bathed and put on the uniform of Israel's airlines, a brief identity card of Zeeb Sukroni was kept in his pocket, the doctor gave Eichmann such an injection that he did not sleep but he had blurred vision. He could feel, hear and even walk but could not talk, Eichmann was made to sit in the back seat of the car, at the same time two more cars came out of the famous hotel of Buenos Aires in which the original crew members of Israeli Airlines were present, at 11 pm all the cars entered the airport together, as the car reached the barrier one of the crew members shouted - 'Hi Allie', the guards recognized him, they peeped inside the car , all dressed in the uniform of Israeli Airlines, the airliners singing a song, some laughing or talking loudly to show that everything is normal.

The guards lifted the barrier and the three cars stopped near the plane, Eichmann was surrounded by several airliners, two men grabbed him and brought him over the plane with his hands hanging over their shoulders, Eichmann was given first class window seat, at 11:45 pm the Israeli plane took off for Tel-Aviv.

David Ben-Gurion (contemporaneous Prime Minister of Israel)

At 9:50 a.m. on May 22, 1960, the director of the Mossad arrived at Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's office in Jerusalem, his secretary took him straight to the PM's room, surprised Ben-Gurion asked him, when did you arrive?, Isser replied, 2 hours ago - Eichmann is in our custody

At 4 p.m., David Ben Gurion made a brief statement at the Knesset Parliament of Israel - “I want to tell the Knesset that Israel's security forces captured one of the biggest Nazi criminals - Adolf Eichmann, he has been caught responsible for the death of 6,00,000 European Jews, he is currently in a prison in Israel, soon he will be tried in the court according to the law of Israel.”
As David Ben-Gurion uttered these words, Israel's parliament erupted in applause.

Eichmann during trial.

Eichmann reading a book lying on prison’s bed.

Eichmann was sentenced to death and was hanged on May 30, 1962. Eichmann's last words were - "We will meet again, I lived believing in God, I obeyed the laws of war and have always been faithful to my flag.”

This was the first and last execution in the history of Israel.

He was a secret agent, and still alive, thanks to his exact attention to the detail of his profession. ~ Ian Fleming

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