Adolf Eichmann's Trial Verdict
Like many other Nazi war criminals, Adolf Eichmann, ran away to avoid prosecution. He moved to Argentina to escape judgment, but justice found him in the end.
The Israeli Mossad tracked down Eichmann and abducted him from his home in Argentina in 1960, and brought him to Israel to stand trial for his extensive war crimes.
His trial began on April 10th, 1961, and was widely covered by the media all over the world. Many Jewish Holocaust survivors were called to testify, and the Nazi soldiers that testified on Eichmann's behalf testified in Germany for fear of being caught and trialed if they were to come to Israel.
The evidence was glaring and the trial was fairly quick. The court found Eichmann guilty and the verdict was given on December 13th of the same year (1961). It took the court three full days to read out the verdict of the trial. Eichmann was found guilty in all of the 15 accusations, including crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Eichmann received the harshest penalty, the death sentence.
For the first time in Israeli history, a death sentence was actually carried out. Six months later at midnight, between May 31 and June 1, 1962, Eichmann was hung to death and his body was cremated.
The Eichmann trial had a profound impact on the conversation around Nazi war criminals. It led to increased Holocaust research and further investigation and subsequent trials of Nazi war criminals in Germany.
