The Nazi Hunters

Descending the stairs to the tarmac, Isser Harel immediately phones Shin Bet headquarters, announcing with somewhat less-than-professional subtlety, "The monster is shackles." After Eichmann is transported from the airport to Shin Bet headquarters, Isser immediately leaves to see Prime Minister Ben-Gurion. However, Ben-Gurion requests further verification of his identity, demanding that someone from Eichmann's past verify he is who Isser Harel says. Two men who knew Eichmann from his days at the "Jewish Agency" in Nazi Germany confirm his identity. The next morning, the 23rd, Adolf Eichmann is officially charged with genocide. At 4 PM the same day, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion makes the announcement: Eichmann has been captured, and is in Jerusalem.

This announcement, however, creates serious complications for the members of the team still outside of Israeli borders. Although all of the team members have left Buenos Aires by the time the announcement is made, they have all done so with false papers and identifications. Argentine authorities—along with other parties—would be on the lookout. At home, the wives and families of the agents have already guessed that their husbands might have had something to do with Eichmann's capture. However, the agents are under strict orders not to reveal their part.

Despite the success of the mission, there are consequences: the Israeli ambassador to Argentinais summoned to explain Eichmann's capture, and promise his return; he will do the former, but not that latter. Consequently, diplomatic relations between Argentina and Israel are badly damaged for some time. In Argentina, far-right and Neo-Nazi groups commit acts of violence against Jews. The Argentine security services, however, can’t pin down the identities of those responsible. Despite all of this, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion declares plainly Israel is "the only heir" to the six million murdered, and claims the right to formally accuse Adolf Eichmann as a "historic duty."Part of this historic duty is a formal trial.

While awaiting his trial, Adolf Eichmann is held at a fortified police station called Camp Lyar. While there, special precautions are taken to secure his safety. Following the end of World War II, many Nazis awaiting sentencing during the Nuremberg trials committed suicide; to prevent this, Eichmann's food and possessions are closely monitored, and the lights in his cell are never switched off. In addition, he is watched by a guard at all times. Another consideration is murder. To defray this, no one who lost relatives or family members during the Holocaustis permitted to work at Camp Lyar, nor is Eichmann left alone with any single guard.

Eichmann's trial, on the morning of April 11, 1961, is in the Old City of Jerusalem. Eichmann stands inside of a bulletproof glass booth as the fifteen counts are read against him. The charges detail his administration of a sophisticated program of displacement, robbery, torture, and mass murder over more than half a dozen countries, a program dubbed the "Final Solution."Most salient within the charges is the accusation that these actions were undertaken with the express intent of "destroying the Jewish people."The evidence brought forward makes clear that Eichmann knowingly and willfully carried out these orders. On the 28th of May, Zeev Sapir takes the witness stand, describing in detail Eichmann's role in the deaths of Sapir’s family. In his defense, Eichmann repeats his earlier claim: that he was merely responsible for transport and movement in concordance with an unfortunate, brutal wartime policy, one he did not design or select. This defense, however, is disproved by the mountain of evidence. On December 15, 1961, Adolf Eichmann is found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentence declares that Eichmann knowingly carried out these actions "out of an inner identification with the orders that he was given and out of a fierce will to achieve the criminal objective”; in this case, the “criminal objective” is genocide. On May 30th, 1962, following the denial of his appeal, Adolf Eichmann is executed, and his ashes are scattered at sea.

The trial and its wake precipitate a number of important consequences, both immediate and far-reaching. Like Ben-Gurion and others have speculated, the trial reintroduces the Holocaust (or Shoah, as it is referred to in Israel) into mainstream culture and discourse. The recounting of Eichmann's personal participation in the genocide brings the Holocaust into the public sphere and forces the world to acknowledge it as a consequence of national policy, as opposed to personal hatred.

For others, Eichmann's capture and trial have more immediate consequences. Although the Eichmann family is eventually able to settle in West Heidelberg, they are nevertheless profoundly affected by Adolf Eichmann's trial and execution: Vera Eichmann never accepts the fact of her husband's war crimes, nor do Nick and Dieter, who refuse to talk about their father. Horst remains in Buenos Aires, and is rumored to be a Neo-Nazi. The youngest son, Ricardo, scarcely remembers his father, and is a professor in Germany.

For the team of Israelis, life and work go on. Franz Bauer continues to pursue war criminals on the South American continent. Simon Wiesenthal, who began the search for Eichmann, is finally vindicated, and spends more than four decades pursuing "justice—not revenge."The team of Mossad and Shin Bet are sworn to secrecy, for years. Even Peter Malkin—who confronted Eichmann in Buenos Aires seven years prior—is only able to tell his mother on her deathbedthat he was finally able to avengethe death of his sister, Fruma.