Adolf Eichmann
Report By: Emi Deck
1906-1962
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/biographies/eichmann-biography.htm
(Photo credit: Courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives)
(Photo credit: Courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives)
Brief info.
Karl Adolf Eichmann was born March 19, 1906 near Cologne, Germany. He served as a "Jewish Specialist" and was responsible for keeping trains rolling from all over Europe to death camps during the Final Solutions.
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf was borned into a middle class Protestant family and moved to Australia after the death of his mother. He spent his childhood in Linz, Austria. As a boy, he was teased at school by other kids for his dark complections and was called a "the little Jew" by his classmates.
Eichmann had many jobs after failing his studies to become a Engineer. Jobs included working as a laborer in his father's small mining company, working in sales for an electrical construction company and also worked as a travelling salesman for an American oil company.
In 1932 at age 26 by the suggestion of his friend Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Eichmann joined the Austrian Nazi Party. He became a SS member and served as an SS corporal at Dachau concentration camp in 1934. In September 1934 he got a job in Heydrich's SD, the powerful SS security service.
Eichmann had a interest in Jews. He studied Jewish cultures, went to Jewish meetings and took notes of Jewish sections of cities. He gradually became a "Jewish specialist" and saw that this will be a positive impact of his SS career.
He was sent to Vienna where he established a Central Office for Jewish Emigration in March of 1938. This office had the authority to issue permits to Jews wanting to leave Austria and became engaged in extorting wealth in return for safe passage. Nearly a hundred thousand Jews managed to leave. In 1939 Eichmann returned to Berlin. He was appointed the head of Gestapo Section IV B4 of the new Reich Main Security Office. He was responsible for implementation of Nazi policy towards the Jewis in Germany in all territories, 16 countries total. Heydrich and Eichmann ordered the Jews to be rounded up and forced into ghettos and labor camps in Poland. They have the largest Jewish population in Europe (3.35million.) They were kept in small areas inside ghettos, most Jews died through disease and starvation.
Deportation of Jews from Hungary to Aushwitz began by mid May. By the end of june half the Jews in Hungary (381,661 poeple) arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Earlier Eichmann travelled Auschwitz to personally oversee and speed up the extermination process. In August 1944 Eichmann reported to Himmler that an estimated 2 million had been killed by mobile units and that 4 million Jews had died in death camps. By the end of 1944, the Allies were closing in on Hitler's Reich from everywhere. Himler ordered Eichmann to cease deportation. However Eichmann ignored Himler and had another 50,000 Hungarian Jews rounded up and forced on an eight day death march to Austria.
Eichmann was arrested and confined to an American internment camp but managed to escape because his name was not yet well known. This was following the Nazi Germany in May of 1945. He fled to Argentina in 1950 and lived under the assumed name of Ricardo Klement for ten years until in May 11, 1960Israeli Mossad agents abducted him.
Eichmann went on trial agains the Jews in Jerusalem for crimes against humanity and war crimes. His argument was "why me? Everybody killed Jews." He was later found guilty and sentenced to death and hanged at Ramleh Prison, May 31, 1962.
A fellow Nazi later reported Eichmann once said "he would leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction."
Eichmann had many jobs after failing his studies to become a Engineer. Jobs included working as a laborer in his father's small mining company, working in sales for an electrical construction company and also worked as a travelling salesman for an American oil company.
In 1932 at age 26 by the suggestion of his friend Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Eichmann joined the Austrian Nazi Party. He became a SS member and served as an SS corporal at Dachau concentration camp in 1934. In September 1934 he got a job in Heydrich's SD, the powerful SS security service.
Eichmann had a interest in Jews. He studied Jewish cultures, went to Jewish meetings and took notes of Jewish sections of cities. He gradually became a "Jewish specialist" and saw that this will be a positive impact of his SS career.
He was sent to Vienna where he established a Central Office for Jewish Emigration in March of 1938. This office had the authority to issue permits to Jews wanting to leave Austria and became engaged in extorting wealth in return for safe passage. Nearly a hundred thousand Jews managed to leave. In 1939 Eichmann returned to Berlin. He was appointed the head of Gestapo Section IV B4 of the new Reich Main Security Office. He was responsible for implementation of Nazi policy towards the Jewis in Germany in all territories, 16 countries total. Heydrich and Eichmann ordered the Jews to be rounded up and forced into ghettos and labor camps in Poland. They have the largest Jewish population in Europe (3.35million.) They were kept in small areas inside ghettos, most Jews died through disease and starvation.
Deportation of Jews from Hungary to Aushwitz began by mid May. By the end of june half the Jews in Hungary (381,661 poeple) arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Earlier Eichmann travelled Auschwitz to personally oversee and speed up the extermination process. In August 1944 Eichmann reported to Himmler that an estimated 2 million had been killed by mobile units and that 4 million Jews had died in death camps. By the end of 1944, the Allies were closing in on Hitler's Reich from everywhere. Himler ordered Eichmann to cease deportation. However Eichmann ignored Himler and had another 50,000 Hungarian Jews rounded up and forced on an eight day death march to Austria.
Eichmann was arrested and confined to an American internment camp but managed to escape because his name was not yet well known. This was following the Nazi Germany in May of 1945. He fled to Argentina in 1950 and lived under the assumed name of Ricardo Klement for ten years until in May 11, 1960Israeli Mossad agents abducted him.
Eichmann went on trial agains the Jews in Jerusalem for crimes against humanity and war crimes. His argument was "why me? Everybody killed Jews." He was later found guilty and sentenced to death and hanged at Ramleh Prison, May 31, 1962.
A fellow Nazi later reported Eichmann once said "he would leap laughing into the grave because the feeling that he had five million people on his conscience would be for him a source of extraordinary satisfaction."
Young Adolf Eichmann
Eichmann took little interest in his studies and was earning poor marks when he was young. His father Karl Eichmann, had Adolf join the YMCA and the Wandervogel, a youth organizations hoping to make useful social contacts for him. Later he joined the Jungfrontkampfeverband. This group of war veterans gathered to instill patriotic ideals in the young people of Germany and Austria. He was a natural-born follower, who could be swayed to the opinions and the causes of men with strong personalities and he loved to join such groups and follow the guidance of strong leaders.