Adolf Eichmann was the head of the section for Jewish affairs in the Reich Security Main Office, the central security authority of Nazi Germany, from March 1941. In 1961 a special panel of the Jerusalem District Court tried him on an indictment of fifteen counts. It convicted him on all of them: crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership of hostile organizations. The court sentenced him to death on December 15, 1961. The Supreme Court of Israel dismissed his appeal on May 29, 1962, the President of Israel refused clemency, and he was executed on June 1, 1962.
Eichmann was born on March 19, 1906, in Solingen, Germany. From March 1941 he directed section IV B 4 of the Reich Security Main Office, the section dealing with Jewish affairs. The Jerusalem judgment traced his earlier career through the security service in Berlin and through the offices in Vienna and Berlin that handled Jewish emigration, and found that from early 1942 he was the Reich Security Main Office's officer for matters connected with the "Final Solution." It was on that record of office that the prosecution built its case sixteen years after the war ended. In 1944 Heinrich Himmler sent him to Hungary to take charge of the measures against its Jewish population in person.
Eichmann had been living in Argentina under the name Ricardo Klement. In May 1960 he was taken from Argentina to Israel by Israeli agents. His presence in Israeli custody was made public on May 23, 1960. The manner of his removal was disputed on appeal, and the Supreme Court dealt with it as one of the jurisdictional grounds.
The indictment was signed by the Attorney General of Israel and filed in February 1961 as Criminal Case 40/61. It was brought under the Nazis and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950, a statute passed by the Knesset in 1950. It set out fifteen counts in four groups: crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and membership of hostile organizations. The last group concerned organizations that the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg had declared criminal. Eichmann's answer to each count was "In the sense of the indictment, not guilty."
The District Court sat as a special panel of three judges, presided over by a justice of the Supreme Court. The trial opened on April 11, 1961, in the Beit Ha'Am building in Jerusalem, and ran until August 1961. The Attorney General led the prosecution himself. Police investigators from a special unit gathered the evidence, with support from staff of the Foreign Ministry.
Eichmann sat in a glass booth. He was represented by a German defense counsel, whose participation the Israeli government approved under a special law and whose costs it agreed to pay. Defense evidence was taken abroad, in sixteen courts in three countries. The defense did not contest the documentary facts. It argued that Eichmann was a minor official without decisive influence and that he had acted under orders. Before the hearings began, on April 17, 1961, the court gave a decision on its jurisdiction, in which it dealt with the argument that the 1950 law operated retroactively and the objection raised over his removal from Argentina. Public radio carried the proceedings, and one foreign film company was permitted to record in the courtroom.
A list of 108 survivor witnesses was prepared for the prosecution. Historians and other scholars gave evidence as well.
The court announced its conviction in December 1961, on all fifteen counts. The prosecution had established the whole of the indictment, the court held, with some minor changes. The court then heard argument on the penalty. On December 15, 1961, it imposed the death sentence.
Section 1 of the 1950 law made each of the three classes of principal offense, crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity and war crimes, punishable by death. Membership of a hostile organization under section 3(a) carried imprisonment of up to seven years.
The defense appealed to the Supreme Court of Israel, and a panel of five justices began hearing the appeal on March 22, 1962. Written pleadings had been filed in January and February 1962. The grounds covered the jurisdiction of an Israeli court, the argument that the 1950 law was retroactive and its offenses extraterritorial, the plea of acts of state, the manner in which he had been brought to Israel, and the bias of the judges. On the facts the defense repeated that he was a minor functionary following orders, and it complained that a request to admit new evidence had been refused.
On May 29, 1962, the Supreme Court gave judgment. It stated that it fully concurred with the conclusions of the District Court, rejected the jurisdictional and factual contentions, and decided "to dismiss the appeal both as to the conviction and the sentence." It held that the maximum penalty under section 1 of the law, death, was to be imposed.
Eichmann then asked the President of Israel for a pardon. The government decided unanimously not to recommend one, and the President refused the request.
Eichmann was executed in the night between May 31 and June 1, 1962.
The defense disputed the jurisdiction of an Israeli court, the retroactive effect of the 1950 law, the manner of his removal from Argentina and the impartiality of the bench, and argued that he was a minor functionary acting under orders. The District Court and the Supreme Court rejected each of these points.
March 19, 1906: Born in Solingen, Germany.
March 1941: Becomes head of section IV B 4, Jewish affairs, in the Reich Security Main Office.
May 1960: Taken from Argentina to Israel by Israeli agents; custody announced May 23, 1960.
February 1961: Indictment of fifteen counts filed.
April 11, 1961: Trial opens in Jerusalem.
April 17, 1961: District Court decision on jurisdiction.
December 1961: Convicted on all fifteen counts.
December 15, 1961: Sentenced to death.
March 22, 1962: Supreme Court begins hearing the appeal.
May 29, 1962: Supreme Court dismisses the appeal; clemency refused afterward.
June 1, 1962: Executed.