Minister of Death THE ADOLF EIC H M ANN STORY H e shall not fail nor be DISCOURAGED TILL HE HAVE SET JUDGMENT IN THE EARTH. Isaiah 42:4 ALSO BY QUENTIN REYNOLDS Known But to God They Fought for the Sky Fiction Factory: The Story of Street and Smith Headquarters The Amazing Mr. Doolittle I, Willie Sutton Courtroom Leave It to the People Minister of Death THE ADOLF EICHMANN STORY By Quentin Reynolds EPHRAIM KATZ ZWY ALDOUBY TH E V IKIN G PRESS NEW YORK • 1960 Copyright © 1960 by Quentin Reynolds, Ephraim Katz, and Zwy Aldouby All rights reserved First published in 1960 by The Viking Press, Inc. 625 Madison Avenue, New York 22, N.Y. Published simultaneously in Canada by The Macmillan Company of Canada Limited Library of Congress catalog card number: 60-15500 Printed in the U.S.A. by American Book-Stratford Press, Inc. Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the help received from: The Israeli, German, and Argentine authorities; Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, New York; Yad Vashem, Jerusalem; The Holocaust Museum, Kibutz Lochamei Hagettaoth, Israel; Centre de Documen­ tation Contemporaine Juive, Paris; the Israeli press: Yedioth Aharonoth, Maariv, Haaretz, Davar, Jersusalem Post, Haboker, Bamahane, Dvar Hashavua, Haolam Haze; the German press: Der Stern, Neue Illustrierte, Münchener Illustrierte, Quick; the French press: Paris Match, Lectures Pour Tous; the Argentine press: La Razón, La Prensa; The New York Times; The Brooklyn Daily (Mr. Arnold Fine); and all those in Israel, France, Germany, England, Argentina, and the United States whose anonymous service helped us greatly in writing this book. PREFACE Zwy Aldouby and Ephraim Katz are two Israeli journalists who have served as foreign correspondents throughout Eu­ rope. Aldouby speaks eight languages, Katz five. Both speak Arabic, which made their services invaluable during Israel’s struggle for independence, when they served in the under­ ground, in the Palmach (commandos), and later in the Israel Defense Forces as officers. Since 1945 the name Adolf Eichmann has been seared into their memories. They and their associates knew the men who, viewing the apathy that peaceful living brings, decided that they would become the instruments of justice. They be­ came acquainted with dozens who had known Eichmann and others who had miraculously survived death in his con­ centration camps. The Eichmann story grew as the years passed. Aldouby and Katz felt that in time he would be caught. When he was, they were able to tell the whole story from the time Eich- v vi Preface mann was a schoolboy in Linz, Austria, until May 11, 1960, when the arm of justice reached out and seized him in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When that happened, they came to me. Although they speak fluent English they think in either Hebrew or German, and they felt that it would be a long, laborious task to or­ ganize the vast amount of material (more than 800 type­ written pages) that they had gathered into English. First they told me the whole incredible story and then I read the material. It was so fantastic that I expressed some doubt about its authenticity. “We forgot to tell you,” Aldouby said, “that we have many photostated documents which prove everything we wrote.” “And one other thing,” Katz added. “When Eichmann was hiding out in Argentina, he wrote his memoirs. He gave them to a friend for safekeeping. We managed to obtain access to these memoirs. When we quote Eichmann’s con­ versations with other SS officers or with co-workers they are actual quotes taken from his memoirs.” I have studied the documents and asked experts to give me their opinion. There was not a dissenting voice—they were unquestionably authentic. And so I wrote this book with their material. This is really their story. —Quentin Reynolds CONTENTS PARTI THE CAPTURE 3 p art n THE PURSUIT 26 p art in THE MAN 60 p art iv THE CRIMES 95 p art v THE ESCAPE 177 p art VI THE CASE 205 ILLUSTRATIONS Following page 118 STAGES IN A CAREER 1. Eichmann in SS uniform at the beginning of his career; photo of Eichmann from Frau Mistelbach’s album found in Doppl in 1946 by “Manos,” a member of “the Avengers”; Eichmann as a recruit in the SS Austrian Legion (Photo by Paris Match). 2. Eich­ mann at school in Linz (Maariv, Tel Aviv). 3. Eichmann as Haupt­ scharführer, 1936. 4. Eichmann in Vienna, receiving Adolf Hitler immediately after the Anschluss (Panim El Panim, Tel Aviv). 5. Eichmann in Haifa, 1937 (Stern, Hamburg). 6. Koch, Himmler, Eichmann on a visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (Yad Vashem, Jerusalem). 7. Veronika Liebel before her marriage to Eichmann (Stern, Hamburg). 8. Eichmann in Vienna in 1938, with wife and oldest son, Klaus (Stern, Hamburg). 9. Eichmann while posing as Otto Heninger at wedding of Edward Tramer in Altensalzkoth, 1947 (Stern, Hamburg). ARGENTINA 10. Eichmann aboard SS Giovanrm C. on way from Genoa to Argentina, 1950 (Stern, Hamburg). 11. Eichmann on Brazilian farm, 1954 (Look Magazine Photo). 12. Eichmann in Perón’s