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00:00Tonight, the global manhunt for a Nazi war criminal who vanished after the Holocaust,
00:09and the stunning operation that finally brought him to justice.
00:14Adolf Eichmann was the architect of the Nazi Holocaust.
00:18He murdered millions of Jews, yet the Allies never even knew his name.
00:24He takes this idea of the final solution and turns it into almost an assembly line process.
00:31At the end of World War II, Eichmann hides in plain sight.
00:35There's so much chaos that the Allies don't even realize that they have Eichmann in custody,
00:40and by the time they realize it, he's vanished.
00:44Nazi hunters are convinced that Eichmann is still alive,
00:47but a decade passes and no one knows where he could possibly be.
00:51Now, we explore the top theories surrounding Adolf Eichmann's whereabouts leading up to his dramatic capture.
00:59These Nazis in Germany end up with a really surprising ally, the Catholic Church.
01:05An Israeli investigator receives a tip-off that Adolf Eichmann has been recently spotted in Kuwait.
01:11There was only one existing photograph of Eichmann.
01:15It's really like hunting a ghost.
01:17What really happened to Adolf Eichmann?
01:21It's January 1942, and in a lakeside mansion near Berlin,
01:4515 senior Nazi officials are meeting.
01:49The topic, the systematic annihilation of Europe's Jews,
01:53what the Nazis refer to as the final solution.
01:57Along with these high officials, there's one lieutenant colonel,
02:02very quiet, very unassuming, taking notes,
02:05but he's also providing information like the amount of Jews in different countries.
02:11This is Adolf Eichmann.
02:13Eichmann is not really well known as a front man of the Nazis.
02:17He's more of a behind-the-scenes bureaucrat,
02:20and he really views the killing of millions of Jews
02:23as sort of this logistical problem that he's in charge of solving.
02:26Eichmann grows up in Austria, the son of an accountant.
02:33He joins the Nazi party in 1932 at age 26.
02:39Eichmann had joined the SD, the SS's intelligence agency, in 1934.
02:44In 1936, he's recruited by a member of the SD
02:47to join the so-called Jewish Affairs Division,
02:50and eventually he comes to take over this division.
02:53He makes a name for himself after the annexation of Austria,
02:56where he works out a system for basically speeding up the emigration
03:00of Jewish populations outside of Germany.
03:04He figures out how to conduct these mass deportations as fast as possible.
03:09He devises a system to give deportation papers to Jewish people on the spot
03:15while also stripping them of their possessions,
03:17stripping them of the wealth,
03:18and getting them essentially out of the country
03:21within less than an hour's time.
03:23Once World War II starts,
03:25Adolf Eichmann becomes more and more fanatical.
03:28And once the final solution is decided upon,
03:31he becomes the central operational figure behind the Holocaust.
03:35Hitler is the one who's ordering these atrocities,
03:38but Eichmann is the bureaucrat in charge of actually carrying them out.
03:43There are a lot of pieces of information
03:46that come out of Nazi Germany during World War II,
03:49and it's just so hard for Westerners
03:52to comprehend this scale of tragedy
03:55that it's not until we start to overrun
03:58some of the outlying murder camps
04:00that we can't deny what's going on anymore.
04:04In January of 1945,
04:06Hitler retreats to his bunker.
04:08By April of that year,
04:10he's dead.
04:11And then on May 7th of 1945,
04:14the Germans surrendered.
04:16Despite the fact that many high-ranking Nazis
04:18have been captured,
04:20Eichmann is never found.
04:23And on top of that,
04:25most of the world has never even heard his name.
04:30Six months go by
04:31before the public finally learns
04:33about Adolf Eichmann
04:34and his role in the Holocaust.
04:36In November of 1945,
04:40all eyes are on Nuremberg, Germany,
04:42where 24 Nazi officials
04:44are put on trial
04:45for their atrocities
04:46during World War II.
04:48And it's here
04:49that Adolf Eichmann's name
04:50first comes up.
04:52Prosecutors quote
04:53this Hungarian Jewish leader
04:54who tells the story
04:56of a mass deportation
04:58of Hungarian Jews
05:00from Budapest.
05:01So there's a special unit
05:02that is running operations there,
05:04and Eichmann is in charge of that unit.
05:07He is the one
05:08who's going to decide
05:08who's going to the gas chambers
05:10and who will live.
05:13A few weeks later,
05:15on January 3rd, 1946,
05:18an SS captain with ties to Eichmann
05:21is called to testify.
05:23He had joined
05:25the Nazi's intelligence service
05:26and ended up becoming
05:27one of Eichmann's men
05:29in the so-called Jewish affairs
05:30division of the Gestapo.
05:32He claims that he pushed back
05:34against this plan
05:35to kill millions of Jews,
05:36but Eichmann simply told him,
05:38you're being too sentimental about it.
05:42The Nuremberg testimony
05:43gives Eichmann
05:44worldwide notoriety,
05:46but his whereabouts
05:47are still unknown.
05:49Finding Eichmann won't be easy,
05:51but after the revelations
05:53at Nuremberg,
05:54it's a priority.
05:56The question is,
05:58where could he be?
06:00There are millions of Germans
06:01packed into POW camps
06:03all over Europe.
06:04The Americans alone
06:05have two million
06:06in captivity,
06:08but these camps are cramped,
06:09they're not well organized,
06:10they don't have the names
06:12of everybody in them,
06:13but the obvious place
06:14to look for Eichmann
06:15is in POW camps
06:17around Europe.
06:23Despite the fact
06:24that most of the world
06:25has never heard
06:26the name Adolf Eichmann,
06:28the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps
06:29has actually been compiling
06:30a dossier on him
06:31for months.
06:33Investigators go
06:34and track down
06:36Eichmann's wife, Vera.
06:37They find her in Austria.
06:39She claims that she hasn't
06:40seen her husband in months,
06:41and she doesn't even
06:42have a photograph of him.
06:44It's clear that he was
06:46really planning ahead here.
06:47He was making sure
06:48that there were no pictures
06:49of him left over.
06:51SS officers tell Allied officials
06:53that Eichmann was still alive
06:54at the end of the war,
06:55and he probably still is.
06:57They don't think
06:58that Eichmann would have
06:59taken his own life
07:00the way that other
07:01Nazi officials did
07:02at this time.
07:04With all of the chaos
07:05and the disorganization
07:06and the disarray
07:07of these POW camps,
07:08it becomes very, very likely
07:10that Eichmann is using
07:11these POW camps
07:12to hide out.
07:13The Allies also assume
07:15that he's using an alias.
07:17The CIC distributes notices
07:18to their regional offices,
07:20and they call Eichmann,
07:21quote,
07:22of the highest importance
07:23among war criminals.
07:26As it turns out,
07:27the Americans already
07:29have Eichmann in custody.
07:31They just don't know it.
07:33At the end of the war,
07:35Eichmann actually goes down
07:36into Austria to hide out,
07:38and there are tons of Nazis
07:39all over the place
07:40hiding from the Allies.
07:42He meets with his wife
07:43and gives her instructions
07:45on how to deal
07:46with Allied investigators,
07:48which he knows are coming.
07:49His plan is to head
07:50northwest through Germany
07:52with his assistant
07:53staying in homes of people
07:54who are sympathetic
07:55to former Nazis.
07:57A little later in May,
07:58however,
07:59Eichmann and his assistant
07:59are picked up
08:00by a U.S. Army patrol,
08:01and they're taken
08:03to a U.S. POW camp
08:04in Weiden.
08:07Eichmann gives a false name,
08:08a false identity,
08:09by the name of Adolf Barth.
08:11In the camp,
08:14Eichmann plots how to keep
08:16from being discovered
08:16and how to escape.
08:20Eichmann is going to be
08:21identified sooner or later
08:22because every SS officer
08:24like Eichmann
08:25has a unique identifier
08:26that's not common
08:27in the rest of the German Wehrmacht.
08:29Every SS soldier
08:31has his blood type
08:32tattooed inside his armpit,
08:35and that means
08:36if you make all of the captives
08:38take off their shirts
08:38and hold their hands up
08:39in the air,
08:40you can quickly pick out
08:41the fanatical Nazis.
08:43He tries to burn that tattoo
08:44with cigarettes,
08:45but it doesn't work,
08:46so he's not going to be able
08:47to claim he's not a member
08:48of the SS,
08:48but there are plenty
08:50of SS men who are POWs
08:52at the end of the war.
08:53So what he tells
08:54the Allied officials
08:55is that his name
08:56is actually Otto Eichmann,
08:58and that he's a lieutenant colonel
08:59in the SS.
09:02Eichmann makes the switch
09:03thinking Eichmann
09:04is close enough
09:05to his real surname.
09:06If an old acquaintance
09:07were to suddenly blurt out
09:09his real name,
09:10Eichmann,
09:10in the camp,
09:11it would be less likely
09:13to rouse suspicion.
09:15Eichmann knows
09:15that he can't play
09:16this game forever.
09:18He's gotten through
09:18a couple of interrogations
09:20undetected,
09:21but he knows
09:22it's only a matter of time
09:23before he's found out
09:24to be who he really is.
09:26He finds some SS officers
09:29in the camp
09:30who help him
09:31in his escape.
09:32He's able to forge papers
09:34that pass him off
09:35as a hunter
09:36in the area,
09:38and the SS officers
09:39in the camp
09:40also get him
09:41some civilian clothes.
09:42And one night,
09:43Eichmann is able
09:44to climb over a section
09:45of barbed wire fence
09:46that isn't viewed
09:47by any camp guards,
09:49and he's able
09:50to make his escape
09:51into the surrounding woods.
09:54And there he vanishes.
09:55Authorities learn
09:56that an SS officer
09:57named Otto Eichmann
09:58has escaped.
10:00And so they interrogate
10:01all the other
10:02former SS officers
10:03that are in the camp,
10:04and those people confirm
10:05that Otto Eichmann
10:07actually is Adolf Eichmann.
10:10It really shows
10:10how disorganized
10:12the situation in Europe
10:13is at the end of 45
10:14and beginning of 46.
10:16The Allies wind up realizing
10:17that they'd been looking
10:18for Eichmann for months
10:19when in reality
10:20he was hiding
10:20right underneath their nose
10:21inside one of their own compounds.
10:24And so it's a little embarrassing,
10:25it's a little frustrating,
10:27but it also means
10:28that they're pretty hot
10:29on his tail.
10:32In the wake of World War II,
10:35the Nuremberg Military Tribunal
10:36declared the SS
10:38a criminal organization,
10:40citing its direct involvement
10:41in war atrocities.
10:43The Allied powers
10:44would go on to arrest
10:45hundreds of SS officials.
10:48But as of 1946,
10:50one of the most notorious
10:51of these is still missing,
10:54Adolf Eichmann.
10:55It's not just Allied officials
10:57who are searching for Eichmann.
10:59We also have the Haganah,
11:00the Jewish intelligence services
11:03that ultimately became the IDF
11:05once the Israeli state
11:07was established.
11:08The Haganah try to find Eichmann
11:10by assembling this team
11:11of five operatives
11:12that are going to track his family.
11:14They launch this much more
11:16elaborate investigation
11:17than the Allied forces had.
11:19The team travels to Austria
11:22and after months of searching,
11:24locates the current homes
11:25of Eichmann's wife
11:27and brother Otto.
11:29As the members of Haganah
11:31start tracking Vera
11:32and her brother-in-law,
11:33what they discover is
11:34the two of them
11:35regularly take train trips
11:37out to the Austrian countryside,
11:40basically between
11:40Linz and Salzburg.
11:42They always travel separately
11:43but arrive at the same time.
11:45And they then walk
11:46into the forest, essentially,
11:49to a two-story house
11:50that's kind of camouflaged
11:52from casual observation.
11:54The team investigates the house
11:56and what they find
11:57is there's four men living in it
11:59and they never come out.
12:01But every night
12:01an individual comes to the door
12:03and brings them food.
12:04The five-man team
12:06from a distance
12:07sees one of these figures
12:08that they think looks like Eichmann
12:10but they really can't tell.
12:11They theorize that this is why
12:13Vera and his brother
12:14are coming and staying
12:16and visiting for a while.
12:19Sensing they may have found their man,
12:21the operatives stage a raid
12:23on the chalet.
12:25One night while the men
12:26are having dinner
12:27inside this house,
12:28five members of Haganah approach.
12:31Two of them kick in the door
12:32while the other ones pull guns
12:34on the men inside
12:35this secluded home.
12:36They single out the individual
12:38that they think might be
12:39Adolf Eichmann
12:40and they remove him from the house.
12:42The operatives are shouting questions
12:43at the man that they're convinced
12:45is Adolf Eichmann
12:46but the man is telling them
12:47I'm not Adolf Eichmann
12:48my name is Wolfgang Bauer.
12:50But after a bit of time
12:51Bauer reveals that
12:52he actually was an SS officer
12:54but he's still not the man
12:56that they're looking for.
12:58He's not Eichmann
12:59but he knows Eichmann
13:01he served with Eichmann
13:03and he was actually part
13:04of the Einstadsgruppen
13:05that Eichmann oversaw.
13:08This was this mobile death squad
13:10that came in
13:11and exterminated Jews
13:13usually by shooting them.
13:15They killed millions of people.
13:19Still convinced the man
13:20is Eichmann himself
13:21the operatives drag him out
13:23into a waiting car
13:24and drive him
13:26deeper into the woods.
13:28They say
13:29if you're not Eichmann
13:31why are Eichmann's wife
13:32and brother
13:33continually visiting you?
13:35And his only answer
13:36is that they were friends
13:37with the owner of the chalet
13:38where they were staying.
13:39They continue
13:40peppering him with questions.
13:42One of the operatives
13:43is pointing a gun
13:43directly at his chest
13:44and Bauer
13:45basically just laughs
13:46at the operatives
13:47and he tells them
13:48all you can do
13:50is kill me.
13:52So that's what
13:53the operatives do.
13:54They pump bullets
13:56into his chest
13:56and they bury him
13:58in a shallow grave
13:59and then later
14:00the Haganah
14:00go back to their superiors
14:02and they tell them
14:02that they have
14:03successfully killed
14:04Adolf Eichmann.
14:11Nobody's quite sure
14:12what to think
14:13about the Eichmann situation.
14:14There are some
14:15that are convinced
14:15that Haganah
14:16had gotten the wrong man
14:17that in fact
14:18the individual they shot
14:19really was Wolfgang Bauer
14:21and he was telling the truth.
14:23He wasn't Eichmann.
14:24Others on the other hand
14:25are convinced
14:26that Adolf Eichmann
14:27is killed
14:28by the Haganah
14:29and it's officially over.
14:31Case closed.
14:32As for the Allied forces
14:33they're not as worried anymore
14:37about looking for
14:38Nazi war criminals
14:39considering that by 1947
14:41the Allied forces
14:42are dealing with
14:43in their minds
14:44a much bigger deal
14:44which is
14:45the burgeoning Cold War.
14:47One man still in pursuit
14:49is an Austrian Holocaust survivor
14:52named Simon Wiesenthal
14:54who's dedicated his life
14:56to hunting down
14:57Nazi war criminals.
14:59Wiesenthal becomes convinced
15:00that the Haganah victim
15:02was not Eichmann
15:03that this individual
15:05was someone else
15:06who might have been
15:06connected to him.
15:08In fact Wiesenthal
15:08is fairly frustrated
15:09that they shot the individual
15:11rather than bringing him in
15:13for deeper interrogation
15:14because he might have been able
15:16to offer some clues
15:16as to Eichmann's
15:17actual whereabouts.
15:19But he has to work
15:20with the materials
15:21that are available to him.
15:22So he begins
15:23at the beginning
15:23and he starts looking
15:25at the individuals
15:25that were closest
15:26to Eichmann.
15:28Working with other investigators
15:30Wiesenthal
15:31is able to source
15:32a photo of Eichmann
15:33finally putting a face
15:35to the notorious
15:36Nazi criminal.
15:38In December of 1947
15:40Wiesenthal
15:41is called to Austria
15:42to the U.S. CIC headquarters
15:44for an urgent meeting.
15:46He's told there
15:47that Eichmann's wife Vera
15:49has just put in
15:50an application
15:51to have her husband
15:52legally declared dead.
15:54Now she says
15:55she does this
15:55in the interest
15:56of their children
15:57but if he is in fact
15:58declared dead
15:59the warrants
16:01that are out on Eichmann
16:02will disappear.
16:03The search for him
16:04will officially be over.
16:06And the proof
16:06of the death
16:07is that there's a report
16:08coming from
16:09a government officer
16:11in Czechoslovakia
16:12named Lukas
16:13that he witnessed
16:15Eichmann being killed
16:16by a Soviet firing squad
16:18at the end
16:19of World War II.
16:26Paul Lukas
16:27swears in an affidavit
16:29that Eichmann
16:30along with other Nazis
16:31were apprehended
16:32by the Red Army.
16:33They were lined up
16:34shoulder to shoulder
16:35and executed
16:37on April 30th, 1945
16:39by members
16:40of the Soviet Army.
16:43Wiesenthal
16:43is not buying it.
16:45He has interviewed people
16:46in the POW camps
16:47who said that they saw
16:48Eichmann after April
16:50of 1945.
16:52And he starts thinking
16:53Vera has probably
16:54submitted this application
16:55as an attempt
16:56to end the hunt
16:57for her husband.
16:59Wiesenthal
17:00petitions the court
17:01to essentially
17:02postpone the decision
17:03about whether Eichmann
17:04was alive or dead.
17:05Wiesenthal thinks
17:06that given a little bit
17:07of time
17:08he can actually prove
17:09that Eichmann
17:09is still alive.
17:10He sends investigators
17:11to Prague
17:12to both find out
17:13more evidence
17:14on Eichmann
17:15and also to basically
17:16check the background
17:17on Lucas.
17:19So this investigation
17:20is three years
17:21after this alleged shooting.
17:23So there's really
17:24no evidence
17:24to be found there.
17:26But what Wiesenthal's
17:27researchers do find
17:29that's rather fascinating
17:30is that Lucas
17:32is married
17:32to Vera's sister.
17:35When Wiesenthal
17:36approaches the judge
17:37and points out
17:38that the star witness
17:40suggesting that Eichmann
17:41was dead
17:42is actually married
17:43to his wife's sister,
17:45the judge is mortified
17:46because that's something
17:47that the witness
17:48should have revealed
17:48at the very beginning
17:50of the discussion.
17:51Ultimately,
17:51the judge throws
17:52the case out.
17:52He can't rule Eichmann
17:54dead on the basis
17:55of individuals
17:56testifying
17:57who had a vested interest
17:58in an outcome.
18:00So to Wiesenthal,
18:02this pretty much
18:02confirms his suspicions.
18:04Eichmann is still alive
18:06and doing whatever he can
18:08to elude
18:09the long arm of justice.
18:11So Eichmann
18:12could presumably be
18:14anywhere.
18:19By 1950,
18:21with the Cold War
18:22heating up,
18:23the Allied powers
18:24are less focused
18:25on hunting
18:26Nazi war criminals.
18:27But it remains risky
18:30for Nazi fugitives,
18:31even those
18:31with fake identities,
18:33to pass through
18:34border checkpoints
18:34and escape Europe.
18:37Nazi hunters
18:38like Simon Wiesenthal
18:39have no idea
18:41if Eichmann's
18:42still in Germany
18:42or could have escaped
18:44thousands of miles away.
18:47In a major surprise
18:49to Western powers,
18:51some of the former Nazis
18:52are actually gaining
18:53assistance escaping Europe
18:54thanks to the Catholic Church.
18:56The Catholic Church
18:58sees the Nazis
18:59as one of the great ways
19:02to fight against
19:03the evils of communism.
19:05There are still plenty
19:06of fascist sympathizers
19:07after World War II
19:09and they start creating
19:10these secret routes
19:12via safe houses
19:13that are called rat lines
19:14as a way to help Nazis
19:17escape to safer areas.
19:19And the Catholic Church
19:20plays a role in this
19:21because some of these rat lines,
19:23some of these safe houses
19:24are monasteries
19:25that exist in places
19:27like Germany, Austria,
19:29Switzerland, Spain,
19:30and Italy.
19:31You have a number
19:32of cardinals
19:33and a number of upper-level
19:35Catholic administrators
19:37who are sympathetic
19:38to the Nazis,
19:39not because of their
19:40anti-Jewish stance,
19:41but because they saw them
19:43as an ally
19:44in the fight
19:44against communism,
19:45which they saw
19:46as much worse
19:48than even Nazism.
19:50Italy is vital
19:51to all this
19:52because in Rome,
19:53there's a Catholic bishop
19:54named Alois Hudal
19:56who was very pro-Nazi
19:58and he's got the ability
20:00to make the fake papers
20:01to get these former Nazis
20:03out of Europe.
20:05These papers are accepted
20:06by the Red Cross,
20:07no questions asked.
20:09The Red Cross
20:09is really overseeing
20:10the flow of refugees
20:12and so these former Nazis
20:15and SS officers
20:15are basically able
20:16to just blend in
20:18with other refugees
20:19and being able
20:20to get out of the country.
20:21By the early 1950s,
20:24investigators believe
20:25it's possible Eichmann
20:26has taken advantage
20:27of the Rat Lines.
20:30About 90% of these Nazis
20:32escaped Europe
20:33through Italy or Spain
20:35and they were on their way,
20:37most of them,
20:37to South America.
20:39Argentina is a safe haven
20:41for these Germans.
20:42President Juan Perón
20:44was a close ally
20:45of Hitler's
20:45during the war.
20:47So Hudal knew exactly
20:48who he was helping here.
20:50He writes to Perón
20:51actually in 1948
20:52and asks for 5,000 visas
20:55to help Nazis escape.
20:57So Argentina seems
20:58like a good place
20:59to try to start looking
21:00for Eichmann.
21:08There are rumors
21:09that start to circulate
21:10that by the 1950s,
21:12Eichmann has fled
21:13to Argentina
21:15and has started
21:15a life there.
21:16Now, for the most part,
21:18the newly formed
21:20West German government
21:21largely ignores
21:23a lot of these rumors,
21:24but there's one prosecutor
21:26that just will not
21:27let this information go.
21:29He's a German-Jewish prosecutor
21:30by the name
21:31of Fritz Bauer.
21:32He and his family
21:35had fled
21:36from German persecution
21:37early on
21:38in the Third Reich,
21:39so he escaped
21:40some of the worst evils
21:41of the Holocaust.
21:43But when he returns
21:44to Germany
21:45in the post-war era,
21:46he's determined
21:47to set some
21:48of the wrongs right.
21:50Bauer can't be too open
21:51with what he's up to
21:52because he doesn't know
21:53who in the German hierarchy
21:55might be sympathetic
21:56to those individuals
21:57and might tip them off
21:59to the possibility
22:00of their discovery.
22:00In September 1957,
22:03Bauer receives a letter
22:05from Lothar Hermann,
22:07a blind attorney
22:08living in Argentina.
22:11Hermann is one
22:12of the German expats
22:13living in Argentina.
22:15He's Jewish
22:15and part of a rather
22:16large Jewish population.
22:18Even though Perón
22:19is really anti-Semitic,
22:21there's a population
22:22of about 400,000 Jews
22:24living in Argentina.
22:26Hermann is a survivor
22:28of one of the most notorious
22:30concentration camps
22:32of World War II, Dachau.
22:35In fact, he endured
22:36such vicious beatings
22:37during his time at the camp
22:38that he actually lost
22:39his eyesight.
22:41He immigrates to Argentina
22:42in 1938
22:43with his wife
22:44and his daughter.
22:46In 1956,
22:47he's living in a suburb
22:49of Buenos Aires
22:49with his family.
22:51And his daughter,
22:52Sylvia,
22:52is dating
22:53this young German
22:55expat
22:56named Nick.
22:59So one night
23:00while having dinner
23:01over at the Hermanns' house,
23:03young Nick says
23:04that his dad
23:04was a high official
23:06in the Wehrmacht,
23:07the German army.
23:08Nick has no idea
23:10that he's talking
23:10to a Jewish family.
23:12The Hermanns
23:12do not publicize
23:13the fact that they're Jewish.
23:15So he just keeps
23:16talking and talking
23:17and eventually says,
23:18it's a shame
23:19the Nazis were never able
23:20to complete
23:21their mission
23:22of extermination.
23:23The Hermann family
23:24just sits quietly.
23:26The father
23:26doesn't say anything.
23:28He's used to hearing
23:29anti-Semitic comments.
23:30He knows that this is
23:32just how it goes sometimes.
23:34He's disappointed
23:35that his daughter
23:36is dating him,
23:37I'm sure,
23:37but he just lets it go.
23:39A few months later,
23:40the Hermann family
23:41move a couple of hundred
23:42miles away
23:43to another town
23:44and the boyfriend
23:46is forgotten.
23:48One day,
23:48in April of 1957,
23:49Sylvia is reading
23:51an article in the newspaper
23:52for her father
23:53about Nazi war criminals
23:54and she mentions
23:56the name Adolf Eichmann.
23:58And she says
23:58her boyfriend, Nick,
24:00said that his last name
24:02is Eichmann.
24:05Lothar Hermann
24:06instantly remembers
24:07the boy's hateful comments
24:08at the dinner table.
24:10Sylvia is still
24:12in touch with Nick,
24:13but he's never given
24:14her his home address.
24:16He gives her
24:16a different address
24:17to write to
24:19to get to him.
24:20And oddly enough,
24:21while Sylvia
24:22and Nick were dating,
24:24he never invited her
24:25over to his house.
24:26So Lothar
24:27immediately suspects
24:28that this might be
24:30Adolf Eichmann's son.
24:31They want to tell
24:33the German authorities
24:34or the Argentinian authorities,
24:36but they really can't
24:37because Nazi sympathizers
24:38are everywhere
24:39at this point.
24:40So instead,
24:41they write a letter
24:42to the prosecutors
24:43in Frankfurt,
24:44West Germany.
24:45And that's the letter
24:47that makes its way
24:47to Fritz Bauer.
24:49So Bauer's intrigued.
24:50He knows that Eichmann's son
24:52is named Klaus,
24:53but in German,
24:54Klaus is actually
24:55short for Nicholas.
24:56So this seems promising,
24:58but he needs more information,
25:00such as an address.
25:03Lothar and Sylvia
25:04take a 10-hour train ride
25:07from their home
25:08back to the suburb
25:10of Olivos.
25:11And they pretty much
25:12spend the day
25:13just walking around the town
25:15until Sylvia runs into
25:17a mutual friend
25:19of hers and Nick's
25:20that tells her
25:21where Nick's house is.
25:23So he gives her the address.
25:26In 1957,
25:28teenager Sylvia Hermann
25:30and her father, Lothar,
25:33are convinced
25:34Cynthia's old boyfriend
25:36is the son
25:37of Nazi war criminal
25:38Adolf Eichmann.
25:40They've tracked him
25:41to the Olivos suburb
25:43of Buenos Aires,
25:44but need to confirm
25:46his identity
25:46before passing it along
25:48to the authorities.
25:50Sylvia goes to the house.
25:52The door is answered
25:53by a woman
25:54who reluctantly lets her in.
25:56There is a middle-aged man
25:57in glasses,
25:59and she thinks
26:00that he looks like
26:01the guy in the picture
26:02that Fritz Bauer
26:03had sent to her
26:04of Adolf Eichmann,
26:05but she's not totally sure.
26:07So she asks him.
26:08She says,
26:09are you Mr. Eichmann?
26:10Are you Nick's father?
26:12And he sort of
26:13tersely responds,
26:14no, I'm his uncle.
26:16So she sits down
26:17and just strikes up
26:18a pleasant conversation
26:20with him.
26:22Nick comes home
26:23shortly thereafter
26:24and sees Sylvia,
26:26says,
26:26what are you doing here?
26:27Oh, I just stopped
26:28to say hi.
26:29I have to go.
26:30I have to go.
26:31The middle-aged man
26:32wearing glasses
26:33who has claimed
26:34to be the uncle
26:35stands up
26:36to walk her to the door
26:37and Nick says,
26:38no, father.
26:39I can walk her
26:40to the door myself.
26:42So it would seem
26:44that the Hermans
26:45have stumbled on
26:46something pretty suspicious.
26:49The fact that it took
26:50all this time
26:51to figure out
26:52Nick's address,
26:53why was he being so cagey
26:55about where he lives,
26:56and then when Sylvia
26:57arrives to the house,
26:59the woman that answers
27:00the door
27:00reluctantly lets her in.
27:02The man claims
27:03to be Nick's uncle,
27:05but then Nick refers
27:06to him as father.
27:08Something just is not
27:10adding up
27:11in this situation.
27:13Although Fritz Bauer
27:14is intrigued,
27:15he's got a problem.
27:16He can't really rely
27:17on German
27:18or Argentinian authorities
27:19to follow up
27:20on this information.
27:21There's just too many
27:22Nazi sympathizers
27:23within both
27:24of those populations.
27:25So instead,
27:27he turns to the new
27:28Israeli intelligence service,
27:30the Mossad.
27:30The Mossad
27:32go to the house
27:33that Hermans
27:34had told them about,
27:35but when they get there,
27:36they don't think
27:37it's the right address.
27:38It is ramshackle,
27:39it's worn out,
27:41and they just can't believe
27:42that an SS officer
27:43of the rank
27:44and fortune
27:45of Eichmann
27:46would be living there.
27:48As they watch the house,
27:50they just don't see
27:51anybody coming and going
27:52that matches
27:53Eichmann's description,
27:54so they're pretty certain
27:55this is a case
27:56of mistaken identity.
27:58The Mossad
27:59let the tip go.
28:01The Hermans, though,
28:02they don't want
28:02to let this go.
28:04So in April of 1958,
28:05they're going through
28:06public records,
28:07and they find out
28:08that the home
28:09is owned by a guy
28:09named Francisco Schmidt.
28:12And they think
28:13that this is just
28:13the latest alias
28:14of Adolf Eichmann.
28:16And so they go back
28:17to the Mossad,
28:18and they say,
28:19look into Francisco Schmidt.
28:21And they do,
28:22and they say,
28:23there's no way
28:24that Francisco Schmidt
28:25is actually Adolf Eichmann.
28:27So at this point,
28:28they pause their contact
28:30with the Hermans
28:31because they just think
28:33that they're full
28:33of unreliable information.
28:35A year later,
28:36in August of 1959,
28:38an independent Nazi investigator,
28:40Tuvia Friedman,
28:42says that he's been in contact
28:43with some high government officials
28:45in Germany,
28:46and they've told him
28:47that Eichmann
28:47is not in Argentina.
28:49He's in Kuwait.
28:50Now, Kuwait at this time
28:58is this sort of
28:59obscure British territory.
29:01There's only about
29:02300,000 people living there.
29:04North Africa
29:05and the Middle East
29:06are actually very popular
29:07destinations for ex-Nazis.
29:09Friedman immediately contacts
29:11the Israeli Defense Ministry,
29:13and he says that
29:14Eichmann is in Kuwait.
29:16You should send some agents
29:17over there to go pick him up.
29:18But the ministry pretty much
29:21ignores Friedman entirely.
29:24Israel is a brand new country
29:26and has a long list
29:27of security priorities.
29:29And Friedman realizes
29:30that Eichmann is not
29:31really the top of the list
29:33or maybe even the middle of it,
29:34but he's not going to give up.
29:36So Friedman contacts
29:38an Israeli newspaperman
29:39and says,
29:40have I got a scoop for you?
29:42Adolf Eichmann,
29:43the former Nazi,
29:44is living in Kuwait.
29:47Friedman suddenly becomes
29:48an international celebrity
29:49and he uses his fame
29:51to draw attention
29:52to the fact that Eichmann
29:54has not been located.
29:56Other Nazi hunters
29:57are not happy.
29:58They believe it's going to do
29:59nothing but drive Eichmann
30:00either underground
30:01or out of Kuwait.
30:04No solid evidence
30:05of Eichmann turns up
30:06in Kuwait,
30:07and the trail once again
30:09seems to run cold.
30:11Nevertheless,
30:12Friedman is pleased
30:14with what he did
30:15because now
30:16he's put Adolf Eichmann's name
30:18in newspapers
30:19all over the world
30:20and this becomes a way
30:24to potentially inspire
30:26not only Nazi hunters
30:27but actual governments
30:29to locate this Nazi war criminal
30:32and bring him to justice.
30:33In late 1959,
30:39there's a rash
30:40of anti-Semitic activity
30:41throughout West Germany.
30:43Reportedly,
30:44swastikas are painted
30:45on nearly 700 Jewish sites
30:48across the country
30:49along with graffiti
30:50reading Jews Out.
30:52It's a painful time
30:54but the attacks
30:55do help galvanize
30:57all the parties
30:58that are or should be
30:59hunting down
31:00Nazi war criminals.
31:01It is important
31:04to acknowledge
31:04that there were still
31:06Nazi sympathies.
31:07Even though they had been
31:08defeated in World War II,
31:10that didn't mean
31:11that pro-Nazi sentiment
31:13completely disappeared.
31:15This can explain
31:16why it took West Germany
31:18so long
31:19to take the hunt
31:20for Eichmann seriously.
31:23Up to this point,
31:24there has been
31:24a lot of foot dragging.
31:25West German intelligence
31:26has been sitting
31:28on a lot of evidence
31:29that Adolf Eichmann
31:30is alive in Argentina
31:31and living under
31:33an assumed name.
31:34After years
31:35of pursuing Eichmann,
31:37West German prosecutor
31:38Fritz Bauer
31:39receives new intel
31:41pointing him
31:42to Eichmann's
31:44alleged alias.
31:45Bauer gets a tip
31:47from a man named
31:47Gerhard Klammer.
31:49And Klammer used to work
31:50for a construction company
31:52in northern Argentina
31:53with a guy named
31:54Ricardo Clement.
31:56He's never forgotten
31:58the man's face
31:58and he's seen it
32:00in news coverage
32:00as the years
32:01have gone by
32:02and he is thoroughly
32:03convinced that
32:04Ricardo Clement
32:05is actually
32:06Adolf Eichmann.
32:07Now, he was German
32:09but he wasn't a Nazi.
32:10He was anti-Nazi
32:11as so many Germans were.
32:13And so he spends
32:14the 1950s
32:15trying multiple times
32:17to notify
32:18the German government
32:19that Ricardo Clement
32:21is there in Argentina
32:23and that he is
32:24Adolf Eichmann.
32:30In an amazing coincidence,
32:33Klammer is in
32:34Buenos Aires
32:34and he sees a man
32:36get off the bus
32:36that he recognizes
32:37as his old co-worker
32:39Ricardo Clement.
32:41He follows the man
32:42and writes down
32:44the address
32:45where the man goes home.
32:46Finally,
32:47in December of 1959,
32:49we might have
32:50definitive evidence
32:51of where Adolf Eichmann
32:52is hiding.
32:54Klammer's findings
32:55make their way
32:55to Fritz Bauer
32:56and this is when
32:57Bauer starts to
32:58slowly put together
33:00the pieces of this puzzle.
33:02He knows the name
33:03Ricardo Clement
33:04because that information
33:05was provided to him
33:06by the Hermans
33:07when Sylvia found
33:08that name registered
33:09on the electric meter
33:10of the house
33:11that he's living in.
33:12On top of that,
33:13Klammer also has
33:15a photograph
33:15of him and
33:17Ricardo Clement
33:17standing together.
33:19And when Bauer
33:20takes this photograph
33:21and puts it
33:23by the photo
33:25that they have
33:25of Adolf Eichmann,
33:27the resemblance
33:28is incredibly striking.
33:32A few months later,
33:33Bauer reaches out
33:34to the Mossad.
33:36He knows
33:37where Eichmann
33:38is hiding.
33:38He just hopes
33:39it's not too late.
33:41The Mossad
33:42recognizes that
33:43they might have
33:44made a mistake
33:44about whether or not
33:46Eichmann is still alive
33:47and well in Argentina.
33:48In March of 1960,
33:50a new Mossad agent
33:51is sent to Argentina
33:52and he starts
33:53to investigate.
33:54The agent
33:55who is assigned
33:55this case
33:56is Zvi Aharoni.
33:57He was known
33:58as being very methodical,
34:00very unflappable.
34:02He could do
34:02just about any job
34:03that needed to be done.
34:04While he and his mother
34:06had escaped
34:07the Holocaust
34:08and gotten to Palestine
34:10by 1938,
34:11the entire rest
34:13of his family
34:14was killed.
34:15So the idea
34:16that he could capture
34:17Eichmann
34:17was personal.
34:20Zvi goes to the neighborhood
34:21and checks out
34:22the house
34:22in Buenos Aires,
34:24only to find
34:25that Ricardo Clement
34:26has just recently
34:27moved out.
34:28There's a team
34:29of painters
34:29painting the house.
34:31So Zvi finds an ally
34:33in this young Argentinian
34:35kid in the neighborhood
34:36who goes up
34:37to the painters
34:37and is trying
34:38to get the address
34:39of where
34:40Ricardo Clement moved.
34:41He claims to be
34:43determined to deliver
34:45a package
34:45to the family
34:46that had previously
34:47inhabited the home.
34:48And it turns out
34:50one of the workers
34:51is actually friends
34:52with one of the
34:53Clement family's sons.
34:54And after a little
34:55more discussion,
34:56he's persuaded
34:57to provide the new address
34:58where the Clement's
34:59family resides.
35:01This new property
35:02was purchased
35:03by Eichmann's wife
35:04using her maiden name.
35:06And they've moved
35:07to San Fernando,
35:08which is just outside
35:09of Buenos Aires.
35:10The address
35:11is 14 Garibaldi Street.
35:14Using caution,
35:16Aharoni surveils
35:17the address.
35:19And during his surveillance,
35:21he notices
35:22a middle-aged man
35:23that bears
35:25a pretty striking resemblance
35:27to Adolf Eichmann.
35:29And with this information,
35:31Aharoni contacts the Mossad
35:32and tells them,
35:34quote,
35:34the driver is black.
35:36This is a code
35:37that basically tells
35:39the Mossad
35:39that Eichmann
35:41has been found.
35:45In the spring of 1960,
35:48the war criminal investigation
35:50that began with a hunch
35:51from a blind attorney
35:52and his teenage daughter
35:54reaches the desk
35:55of Israeli Prime Minister
35:56David Ben-Gurion.
35:58With this information,
36:00the Prime Minister of Israel,
36:01Ben-Gurion,
36:02decides to send
36:03an 11-man team
36:05of Mossad agents
36:06to Buenos Aires
36:07to capture Eichmann
36:09and bring him back
36:10to Israel.
36:11It's called
36:11Operation Finale.
36:14The Mossad agents
36:14run surveillance
36:15on Eichmann
36:15for two months,
36:17and they track
36:18all of his movements
36:19because the better
36:21they know
36:21where he goes,
36:22where he stops,
36:23what he does
36:24during the day,
36:25it'll be much easier
36:26to figure out
36:26when's the best time
36:27to strike,
36:28and they figure out
36:29he gets off
36:30the same bus
36:30every single day
36:32and makes this short walk
36:33to his house,
36:34and that's when
36:35they'll strike.
36:36On the evening
36:37of May 11, 1960,
36:39the operation unfolds
36:41like a scene
36:41from a spy novel.
36:44Adolf Eichmann
36:45has become very set
36:46in his daily patterns.
36:48Every day,
36:49he climbs off
36:49of a city bus
36:50at 7.40 p.m.,
36:52and he follows
36:53the same path
36:54to his house,
36:55just 110 yards away.
36:58But on this night,
37:007.40 passes,
37:01and Eichmann's bus
37:02has yet to arrive.
37:04Mossad operators
37:05are waiting for him
37:06near the bus stop.
37:08They have a limousine
37:09full of agents.
37:10They even have
37:10a couple guys
37:11outside of the car
37:12who are sort of
37:12pretending to work
37:13under the hood.
37:15There's another guy
37:16in a backup car
37:17behind them.
37:187.40 comes and goes.
37:21The bus doesn't come.
37:22So now they're confused.
37:23This is not
37:24how they were
37:25expecting things
37:26to go down.
37:27It's getting later
37:28and later,
37:29and they realize
37:30really the longer
37:31that they sit there,
37:32the more likely it is
37:33that they're going
37:34to get noticed
37:34by someone.
37:36So finally,
37:38a bus arrives.
37:39The agent's blood
37:40pressure rises.
37:41They know that
37:42this is the moment,
37:43but the bus doesn't stop.
37:45It just whizzes by.
37:47The Mossad agents
37:48probably starting
37:49to get a little bit nervous.
37:50What if somebody
37:51tipped off Eichmann?
37:53So we should abort
37:53for tonight.
37:54Maybe we'll try again later
37:55with the hopes
37:56that this operation
37:57will work.
37:58But then,
38:00five minutes later
38:01at 8.05 p.m.,
38:03another bus pulls up
38:04to the bus stop.
38:0525 minutes late,
38:07their suspect
38:08steps off the bus.
38:10He starts making
38:11the walk
38:11to his street.
38:12They're going to let him
38:13get to his street.
38:14And it's there
38:15that an agent
38:16named Peter Malkin
38:17goes up to him
38:18and says,
38:19Un momentito, senor?
38:22And he must know
38:24something's up
38:24because he takes off running.
38:27Malkin has to go
38:28and really tackle him
38:29to the ground.
38:30After a struggle,
38:31they drag him
38:32into the limousine.
38:34And while they're
38:35in the car,
38:35he's strangely silent.
38:37And then suddenly,
38:39in perfect German,
38:40he says to them,
38:41I am resigned
38:42to my fate.
38:44Now,
38:44before this,
38:45the Mossad agents
38:46were 99% sure
38:48this was Eichmann.
38:50After he says this,
38:51they know 100%.
38:53They've got their man.
38:58For nine tense days,
39:00the Mossad agents
39:01keep Eichmann
39:02sequestered in a safe house
39:03while trying to figure out
39:04the details of his extraction.
39:05Because you have to understand,
39:06these Mossad agents
39:08are in a sovereign nation.
39:09They have just apprehended
39:12a citizen of that nation.
39:15And now they're going
39:15to try to extradite
39:17this person
39:18out of the country
39:19without the Argentinian
39:20government knowing.
39:22So they have to be
39:23very, very careful
39:23about every step
39:24that they take
39:25because if something
39:26goes wrong,
39:27Eichmann could be allowed
39:29to stay in Argentina
39:30and not be extradited
39:33back to Israel.
39:35What they end up doing
39:37could be a part of a movie.
39:38They drug him,
39:40put him in a flight crew uniform
39:42and take him to the airport.
39:44They drag him along
39:45as if he's just
39:46some drunk pilot
39:47that they're going
39:48to put on the plane.
39:49They're very nonchalant,
39:51laughing about this.
39:52Here's this drunk pilot.
39:53No big deal.
39:55This isn't Adolf Eichmann,
39:56the architect
39:56of the Holocaust.
39:58This isn't a prisoner
39:59who we've drugged.
40:00This is just some
40:01drunk flight crew member
40:03who we're going to take home
40:04before he gets in trouble.
40:05They finally get to Israel.
40:09Eichmann is caught.
40:10He knows that he is
40:11and he's resigned
40:13to his fate.
40:15Now, at long last,
40:17one of the primary engineers
40:19of the Holocaust
40:19will stand trial
40:21for his crimes.
40:23Eichmann's trial
40:24commences in 1961
40:26and his defense
40:27essentially suggests
40:29that he's a low-ranking bureaucrat
40:30who was merely following orders
40:32and doing his job.
40:33However,
40:34as the trial develops,
40:36the evidence makes it clear
40:37that Eichmann
40:38was absolutely central
40:39to the propagation
40:40of the Holocaust.
40:42Eichmann is ultimately
40:43found guilty
40:44of war crimes
40:46against humanity,
40:47is sentenced to death,
40:49and is hanged
40:50for his crimes
40:51on June 1st, 1962.
40:56Government authorities
40:57eventually took down Eichmann,
40:59but the details
41:01of his capture
41:01remind us of the role
41:03played by ordinary people.
41:05The Hermanns,
41:06a blind lawyer
41:07and his teenage daughter
41:08with no training,
41:09were the first
41:10to truly expose
41:11Eichmann's new life
41:12in Argentina,
41:13and they never gave up
41:15seeking justice.
41:16I'm Lawrence Fishburne.
41:18Thank you for watching
41:19this case-closed episode
41:21of History's Greatest Mysteries.
41:24machine Guns.
41:29...
41:30...
41:31...
41:34...
41:42...
41:48...
41:48...
41:49...
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