Operation Eichmann : The Truth about the Pursuit, Capture and Trial

Rating:
Summary: The latest and most complete account of the Eichmann capture
Review: This book, first published in English in 1996, was the most recent of 3 eyewitness accounts of the Eichmann operation Although fairly consistent in details with the other two books written by task force members ('The House on Garibaldi Street,' by Isser Harrel and 'Eichmann in My Hands' by Peter Z. Malkin -- see my reviews of these books), there remains one question to be answered.

Zvi Aharoni and Peter Malkin seem to have a mutual animosity towards each other, a point that is illustrated many times in this book. Of historical importance, however, is Aharoni's claim that Mr. Malkin's discussions with Eichmann while in the former's captivity could not have taken place, both because it was against orders, and also that Malkin and Eichmann did not share a common language. Aharoni claims that Malkin spoke Yiddish and Hebrew, the former sufficently similar to German to communicate simple commands and needs, but certainly insufficient to discuss the fine points of the Holocost. I recently sent a letter to Mr. Malkin asking to clarify his language skills, especially inquiring whether he was fluent in German. It would make sense, since Malkin did extensive undercover work in Germany prior to the Eichmann operation. As of this writing, he has not responded.

Aside from this point, this book probably is the most complete in recounting the research and operational details that went into the making of the capture of Eichmann.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting insider account of controversial act
Review: This is a first-hand account of the search for, capture and trial of one of the most prominent Nazi war criminals. Adolf Eichmann played a key role in transporting millions of Jews to the extermination camps. After he vanished at the end of the war, Zvi Aharoni, an experienced Mossad operative, led the search for him.

Eichmann, along with at least 300 other leading Nazis escaped from Austria to Italy and then to Argentina via the 'convent route', assisted by the Roman Catholic Church and the Red Cross. However, after Aharoni located and identified Eichmann, the Israeli Government made no attempt to get him extradited from Argentina. It ordered Aharoni to kidnap Eichmann and smuggle him to Israel. The kidnapping, in May 1960, broke Argentina's laws, as Israel's Prime Minister David Ben Gurion later admitted. The United Nations General Assembly passed a Resolution condemning the abduction as a violation of Argentina's sovereignty.

The Israeli Government put Eichmann on trial in 1961. He famously claimed that he was only obeying orders, but was found guilty of instigating the killing of millions of Jews. He was executed on 1 June 1962.

The whole enterprise showed the Israeli Government's cavalier attitude to other countries' sovereignty. Its technical success was used to warrant later repeated attacks on other nations' sovereignty. These aggressions damaged the countries attacked: they also degraded Israel itself. Aharoni laments that after he retired 'the rules changed and the ideals of his past no longer applied; with the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Israel had become a different country.' (A key indicator of this change was that, appallingly, confessions obtained by force became admissible evidence in court.) But he cannot see that his career's most triumphant moment - the forcible abduction of Eichmann - contributed to this moral degradation.

Rating:
Summary: The kidnapping could have gone wrong.
Review: Zvi Aharoni knows from personal experience the inside story of Eichmann's capture and has given us the definitive insight. The description of the trial, however, is less detailed. A lot of myths are laid to rest. For example the SS criminal on the run never tried to disguise his identity after capture contrary to other accounts and movies. Nor did he speak the Hebrew language as has sometimes been claimed by apologists. But the over-riding lesson of this spy story is how it all very nearly went wrong. The undercover agents made the mistake of pretending to be estate agents when visiting Eichmann's neighbor and their cover was very nearly blown. Eichmann himself was surprisingly careless about his personal security in Buenos Aires even though he knew the Israelis were planning to capture him. It is an interesting sidelight that he and his family lived poorly in a house without electricity or fresh water supplies. If organizations such as Odessa had plenty of nazi gold in South America, Eichmann certainly never saw much of it after his arrival there. Apparently, he was the only man executed in Israel since 1947. In the worst sense of the term, Eichmann was indeed a special case.