Hunting Eichmann: Chasing down the world's most notorious Nazi [Paperback]

This is a superbly researched and finely written account of the hunt for one of the most notorious of all Nazi criminals. Adolf Eichmann, the chief executive of Hitler's scheme for the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question", had managed to escape at the end of World War II and, with considerable ingenuity and by assuming various identities, continued to elude capture and finally settled in anonymity with his family in Argentina.

Neal Bascomb builds the story and the excitement with meticulous care, first of all outlining Eichmann's central role in the Holocaust. By recounting the wartime experiences of some of the participants in the subsequent hunt, he tells us enough about the terrible effects on them and on their families to remind us, in case anyone needs reminding, of the reasons why justice had to be done. We are also given an insight into the Holocaust as seen from Eichmann's point of view. In his memoirs, quoted by Bascomb, he describes himself as "a faithful, decent, correct, conscientious, and enthusiastic member of the SS ..... inspired solely by idealistic feelings towards the fatherland to which I had the honour of belonging". Chilling words in this context - and indeed, as we see later in the story, although he settled in the suburbs of Buenos Aires and did his ingenious best to live in obscurity under the alias of Ricardo Klement, he still managed to educate three of his sons Horst, Dieter and Klaus ("Nick") in his hateful philosophy, to the extent that we are left in little doubt that, given half a chance, they would gladly have followed in their father's footsteps.

The hunt is recounted in intricate and exciting detail, and we can only admire the determination, resourcefulness, painstaking planning and execution of the Mossad team who are charged with the extremely high-risk operation of capturing Eichmann, holding him in secret and flying him to Israel to face trial - all of this without attracting any attention and without harming a soul, apart from the obvious necessity of depriving the target of his unmerited liberty. In spite of the fact that we already know the outcome of the operation, as well as of the trial itself, the tension is built up brilliantly as the team try to think of everything, to plan for all the things that could possibly go wrong - which, winding up the suspense even further, some of them do.

One of the great assets of Bascomb's book is the way the reader gets to know and to feel involved with the individual members of the group - for example there is Zvi Aharoni, whose ingenuity and determination in tracking down Klement/Eichmann in Argentina ensures that the capture operation is finally given the go-ahead. Then there is Peter Malkin, the sensitive and resourceful strongman of the team who is allocated the vital task of grabbing Eichmann and bundling him into a car - clearly one thing that simply cannot be allowed to go wrong. Apart from the Mossad team, however, one of the most remarkable aspects of the tale is the courage and sheer nerve of some of the ordinary people - among them, at different points in the story, a young woman and a teenage boy - who are willing to risk their own necks to help uncover the true identity of the obscure Mr. Klement and pass the information to those who seek him.

From the moment of his capture onwards, Eichmann cuts a rather pathetic figure. At the trial, he argued in his defence that he never personally killed anyone. But I imagine that few readers will be shedding a sympathetic tear for him, any more than he did for the millions he despatched to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. In the end, and in stark contrast to the horrors of the Holocaust, the reader is left with a certain feeling of satisfaction - firstly at a story superbly well told by Neal Bascomb, and secondly because a key perpetrator of one of history's most monstrous crimes could finally be brought to justice.

It's fifty years since Mossad agents kidnapped Adolph Eichmann, transported him to Israel, put him on trial and had him executed. The operation was contrary to international law, condemned by the United Nations and lied about by the Israeli UN representative, Golda Meir, who attributed it to individuals acting on their own initiative. In 1973 Mossad murdered a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, in Lillenhamer, mistakenly believing him to have been one of the terrorists who killed Israelis at the 1972 Olympic Games. In 1986 they kidnapped Mordechai Vanunu for revealing Israel's nuclear weapons programme and, earlier this year, are alleged to have murdered Mahmoud al-Mabhouth in Dubai. In Eichmann's case it was only in 2005 that Mossad finally admitted its role although several books had been written praising the operation with Hannah Arendt providing a rare dissenting voice which some have recently tried to discredit.

Eichmann's name only arose at Nuremberg a month into the trial but he was quickly identified as the chief executive of the extermination policy devised by Himmler, with Hitler's approval and enforced by Heidrich at the 1942 Wanasee Conference where Eichmann took the minutes. Eichmann argued that he favoured the deportation of Jews rather than their extermination and, as a servant of the State, he was only following orders. During the war he offered the Western Allies captive Jews in exchange for trucks and goods but, when there was no response, started shipping Hungarian Jews to the death camps. When Himmler stopped deportations Eichmann disobeyed orders - which undermined his main defence strategy. Given evidence from elsewhere it is unlikely that any member of the SS passively implemented the "Final Solution".

Having evaded capture Eichmann obtained a Red Cross humanitarian passport and emigrated from Italy to Argentina under the name Ricardo Klement. This information was passed on by the West German authorities to the American government in 1958 but not acted upon owing to the USA's primary concern with the Soviet Union and the absence of a policy of prosecuting ex-Nazis. When Eichmann brought his family to Argentina he did not change their surnames which was one of the reasons he was found. Mossad sent its agents to Argentina and had relatively little difficulty tracing him and placing him under surveillance. After he was abducted Eichmann was interrogated until he admitted his real identity. What quickly became evident was that Eichmann was a person lacking substance, eager to please and having little or no sense of personal morality. He was a functionary rather than an apparatchik.

Eichmann argued that he did not receive justice and, to some extent, this is true. The first rule of any fair judicial system is that no one should be a judge in their own cause but that's precisely what the Israeli State was. When David Ben-Gurion announced the captured of Eichmann to the Knesset he received a standing ovation. The purpose of Eichmann's trial was to legitimise Israeli claims to judge the Nazi regime which had brutally murdered fellow Jews, thus raising the credibility of Israel's claim for existence which was denied by Arab States. At a meeting of the Israeli cabinet called to consider the question of clemency, Foreign Minister, Golda Meir, noted the trial was in accordance with national law as had been the case in Poland with Rudolph Hoess and the Norwegians with Quisling. "Nobody said to them that they have to show some sort of supreme sensitivity. This is only being demanded of us, because the world has not yet become accustomed to seeing the Jewish people acting like all other nations." The difference was that Eichmann's crimes were not committed in Israel. His execution was an act of revenge making him the scapegoat for other Nazi criminals who escaped justice. The ethics and morality of what took place was a matter of real politique rather than justice.

A thread of illegal killings of former Nazis runs through Israel's history. In the immediate postwar period the Jewish terror group, Nakam, led by Abba Kovner, attacked Germans wherever they could find them. Innocence or guilt were side issues, although no-one should be in any doubt Eichmann was guilty as charged. He admitted he was guilty of having deported Jews but claimed he was not guilty in the legal sense as he was only following orders. In depositions to the court former Nazi colleagues disowned him. The verdict was never in doubt. Had he been tried at Nuremberg the sentence would probably have been the same but the verdict would not have carried the whiff of legalised murder. Eichmann claimed he was not a monster just someone doing his job. He was not mentally ill or psychopathic but followed a path lacking personal morality while believing it was ethical. Eichmann was not very intelligent and enjoyed bragging as a way of raising his status in the eyes of other people. He joined the SS as a career move not on ideological grounds.

Eichmann remains the only person executed under Israeli law. No one should feel any sympathy for Eichmann but anyone with an interest in upholding the rule of law against State sponsored terrorism must be concerned about the activity of intelligence services worldwide and the ethical basis of their activites. They are a challenge to civilised values but, then again, so was Adolph Eichmann. Well written, good bibliography, four stars.

Neal Bascomb does a wonderful job of working through the intricacies of the hunting, capture, and trip to Israel of Adolf Eichmann from his hiding place in Argentina. Various governments, agencies, and individuals had been hunting Eichmann since he vanished in Germany in 1945. He went into hiding within Germany and Austria, helped out by Nazi-sympathisers, and eventually made his way to Argentina - and safe haven - in 1950, where he took a new identity as Ricardo Klement. He brought his family over from Germany at about the same time, but always worked menial jobs.

Rumors floated around about Eichmann's whereabouts during the 1950's, placing him everywhere from Syria to Egypt to Argentina. He was eventually tracked down in the late 50's and the Israeli government made the decision to bring him to trial in Israel for his war crimes.

Bascomb's book is a vivid tale of this capture, by alternating between Eichmann's life in Argentina and the Mossad's work in tracking him down.