The Nazi Hunters

By March of 1960, Zvi Aharoni is in Buenos Aires. The first objective of the mission is to verify the address of "Ricardo Clement"; the original address at Chacabuco Street is the first step. Arriving at the house, they find some confirmation that a man ("the German"), a woman, and three children lived here, but have moved some weeks prior. Under the pretext of delivering a fancy cigarette lighter to Nikolas Klement, Aharoni probes to see if he has found the Eichmanns or not. At an auto garage near where one of the Klement boys is said to work, they meet a young man, Dito. He is unwilling to give his address, but lets slip that his family has moved to a different neighborhood. Careful not to tip off their presence, they begin to tail Dito, believing him to be Dieter Eichmann, one of Eichmann’s sons.

After several days, Aharoni is able to trace the Eichmanns to a small, single-story, unfinished brick house in a remote area of the city. There, Aharoni sees a middle-aged woman and a young child he believes to be the fourth, as-of-yet unidentified Eichmann child. Employing a ruse that they are working for an American company looking to build a factory in the area, they acquire a list of the names of the owners of the houses. On this list, they happen upon a "Veronika Liebl de Fichmann,"a name they believe to be a purposeful misspelling of "Eichmann."To confirm their speculations, they continue to search the area. On March 17, 1960, while driving across from Garibaldi Street, they notice a man in his late fifties, roughly five feet, eight inches in height. That night, Aharoni cables back to Harel a coded message: they have found Eichmann and the operation may proceed.

In Tel Aviv, Isser Harel begins to plan the mission. Argentina has a large German community, and the Mossad have long suspected that many high-ranking Nazis escaped there after the war. Eichmann will not be easy prey; he is well-versed in intelligence tactics, and is likely armed. The operation is divided into three parts: first, capture Adolf Eichmann without being detected. Second, hold him in a safehouse, away from the authorities likely sent to find him. Third, find a way to get Eichmann out of the country, and back to Israel. In each of these parts, any number of things could go wrong, putting the agents in jeopardy and causing an international crisis. To prevent these outcomes, everything must be planned and executed perfectly. To begin, Aharoni sets to work gathering intelligence, beginning with an up-to-date photograph of Eichmann.

Aharoni sets up the first "hide site" no more than 160 yards from the Eichmann house, where he takes photographs of the area and makes sketches of the buildings and streets, in order to help the extraction team. Following another near-disaster, via an accident with their vehicle, Aharoni moves up his plans. With the help of a sayan—an freelance agent tasked by the Mossad for part of a mission— Aharoni prepares and deploys a briefcase camera. The ruse is simple: the sayan poses as a young man looking to buy a home in the area, while taking photographs of the Eichmanns. The plan goes into action on Sunday, April 3; the sayan strikesup a conversation with Eichmann's neighborswhile surreptitiously photographing him and his son. By April 9, Aharoni is back in Tel Aviv, able to report confidently to Isser Harel that he has positively identified Eichmann.