After the end of the Second World War, different intelligence services, Nazi hunters, and judicial actors began searching for Third Reich criminals who had escaped from Europe. In this context, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion assigned the Mossad the mission of capturing a high-ranking Nazi official to be tried in Israel. Among the priority targets was Adolf Eichmann, one of the main figures responsible for organizing the deportation of European Jews to ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination centers.
The first concrete clue about his whereabouts in Argentina appeared in 1958, following a chance encounter between Silvia Hermann and Klaus Eichmann, who was calling himself Nicolás, at a movie theater in Olivos. Silvia’s father, Lothar Hermann, a refugee who had arrived in Argentina and a former prisoner of the Dachau concentration camp, suspected the young man’s true identity and alerted Frankfurt Attorney General Fritz Bauer. Aware of the limitations of the postwar German judicial system, Bauer secretly passed the information on to Israel.
At first, the Mossad dismissed the lead because it considered it unlikely that Eichmann would be living in such modest conditions. However, Bauer provided decisive evidence: Eichmann’s original SS file, containing physical, family, and administrative details. This documentation allowed the investigation to resume and directed the search toward Ricardo Klement, the false identity under which Eichmann was living in San Fernando.
In 1960, agent Zvi Aharoni traveled to Argentina to confirm Klement’s identity. Through surveillance, undercover monitoring, and photographs taken with hidden cameras, Israeli intelligence compared his physical features with SS records, especially the shape of his left ear.
Once his identity was confirmed, the Mossad launched what became known as “Operation Finale.” A team of agents entered the country using false identities, clandestine equipment, and strictly compartmentalized tasks. For several weeks, they monitored Eichmann’s daily routine, as he returned every afternoon by bus to his home on Garibaldi Street.
The capture took place on May 11, 1960. The agents took advantage of a dark stretch between the bus stop and his house, subdued him, and transported him in a vehicle with false license plates. At a safe house, Eichmann initially insisted on his false identity, but during an interrogation in German he automatically answered a question about his SS number. Shortly afterward, he admitted who he was and signed a document agreeing to be transferred to Israel.
The transfer was carried out on a special El Al flight organized for the Argentine Sesquicentennial celebrations. Eichmann left the country disguised as a crew member and partially sedated. On May 23, 1960, Ben-Gurion announced that Eichmann was in Israeli custody. His trial began in April 1961 in Jerusalem, had worldwide impact, and placed the testimonies of victims at the center of international attention. Eichmann was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on the night between May 31 and June 1, 1962. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean Sea, outside Israeli territorial waters.
