On April 11, 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking SS officer during World War II, began in Jerusalem. He was indicted on fifteen separate criminal charges, which included charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, and membership in outlawed organizations, such as the Storm Troopers (SA), Security Service (SD), and Gestapo.
After the war, Eichmann fled from Austria to Argentina where he had lived in hiding with his wife and three sons since 1950, using the alias Ricardo Klement. In May 1960, Israeli Security Service agents captured Eichmann in Argentina and took him to Jerusalem to stand trial in an Israeli court.
Eichmann served as head of Jewish affairs for the Gestapo and worked with Gestapo chief Heinrich Mueller on expelling Jews from Germany to Poland, which laid the groundwork for later deportations. He also coordinated the mass deportations of Jews and Roma (Gypsies) from Germany and other countries in Europe to killing centers after the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. Most were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were gassed upon arrival. Eichmann planned all aspects of the deportations, including how property and other assets belonging to deported Jews would be confiscated. Eichmann made certain that members of his office as well as himself would profit from the seized assets.
During the trial, survivors testified about their experiences during the Holocaust. The trial was covered by the media, including the German Jewish journalist Hannah Arendt. Her articles were later compiled into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil. The trial lasted eight months and Eichmann was found guilty on all charges. He was sentenced to death, the only time the State of Israel has invoked capital punishment. Eichmann was executed by hanging on midnight, May 31, 1962, and his ashes were spread at sea.
Teachers can utilize this important event by discussing the concept of justice. Students might debate the following topic: Was justice served with the arrest of Eichmann, despite his evading arrest for decades? What purposes did the trial serve? Why was Eichmann so important in the chain of Nazi command? Students can also discuss other Nazi perpetrators that were arrested for their crimes. Teachers might introduce the topic of the Nuremberg Trials that preceded the capture of Eichmann, and discuss the nature of international justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity that grew out of the Nuremberg Trials.
This month is also the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. You might include a unit on Zegota, or the Council for Aid to Jews, an underground organization that rescued many Jews in Warsaw and other cities in Poland in your unit of study on the Holocaust. You can find the Zegota unit here.
