They were close to Eichmann 24 hours a day - when he ate, when he slept, and even when he took a shower • They witnessed his indifference after hearing the survivors' testimonies • And they also accompanied him when he was hanged and when his body was cremated About the Nazi criminal
"He was cool." Eichmann in the hallway that led from his cell to the interrogation room at the detention center
Photo:
Courtesy of the Israel Police
Adolf Eichmann built him a method for understanding people in order to exploit them for his own purposes.
The people are not human beings in his eyes, but figures, scarecrows, who are nothing but statistics on the stage of his life.
The other is used for him to satisfy his demands only.
His world is worthless of reality, because it reflects his passions, needs and demands.
He has strong aggressive impulses and lust for power.
As part of the Nazi Party and the SS has received a lot of self-confidence, and found a framework in which aggression significant positive value. "
(From the reviews written by psychiatrist Dr. Shlomo Koltz'r on June 11, 1961, after seven conversations with Eichmann in prison)
* * *
The Eichmann trial, which began on April 11, 1961, brought about a tremendous change in the Israeli public's response to the Holocaust.
At that time, hundreds of thousands of survivors lived in the country, repressing their memories and trauma.
The discussions revealed the unhealed wounds, the horrors, the physical and mental inferno they experienced.
The personal stories of the survivors overshadowed the work of the police in the Eichmann affair.
On the one hand there were Bureau 06 investigators, who came across thousands of documents proving his guilt.
On the other hand, there was the "Air Unit", which secured the oppressor until the day he was hanged - May 31, 1962. The
work of the Air Unit remained unknown, even though its police officers were close to Eichmann.
They sat with him in the holding cell while he ate, when he slept, when he took a shower and when he wrote down his memoirs.
Some were by his side even when he underwent the psychiatric diagnosis, and heard the answers that testified to his psychopathic nature and lies.
Throughout the period, the police documented Eichmann, and in the photos taken, the oppressor was seen cleaning the toilets in his cell, hanging laundry, brushing his teeth without a shirt, being examined by a doctor or sitting on the iron bed in the cell, wearing Israeli slippers.
The documentation also appears in a new book that will be published in the coming weeks, entitled "Operation Air - The Activities of the Israel Police in the Eichmann Case."
This is in fact a second in-depth study conducted by the police, after the first study was published last year, the work of Bureau 06. Both studies are signed by Inspector Dr. Yossi Hami, a historian and head of the Holocaust Reconstruction Squad at the Israel Police. From there, documents, correspondence, drawings and photographs documenting the behind-the-scenes of the trial, including the tight security arrangements, Eichmann's agenda and the interaction with his investigators.
" Air until the execution of the sentence, together with the Prison Service.
The role of the police has gone far beyond its area of responsibility, but few people know and cherish what it has done.
I sincerely hope that the two studies will reveal one of the most significant stories in the history of the country in general, and in the history of the police in particular. "
* * *
On May 23, 1960, the Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, took the Knesset podium in one of the historic speeches in the history of the State of Israel.
He announced that Adolf Eichmann, who was responsible for the final solution, had been captured in Argentina and brought to Israel two days earlier.
It was an operation by the Mossad, and on the day he landed in Israel, Eichmann was taken into custody at the GSS base in Jaffa. Ben-Gurion blamed the Israeli police for his investigation and security.
One of the first decisions of the then commissioner, Superintendent Yosef Nachmias, was to The Jalama camp near Haifa (today Kishon Prison) to a detention center intended for Eichmann only.
The place was named "Air Camp", after the Hebrew month in which it was captured, and its commander was appointed Sergeant Major Shaul Rosolio, later the fifth commissioner.
He had only 48 hours to prepare for Eichmann's transfer from the GSS, on May 26.
For Eichmann's security, dozens of police officers were recruited to the Air Unit, the special unit set up for the operation. All underwent a personal interview to deny family ties to Holocaust survivors. give them a hard duty or endanger his life.
"I was asked if I knew what happened to the Jews during the war, Is My parents suffered in the Holocaust, and whether someone of my relatives was in a concentration camp," says Sergeant Amram Lusky, who was interviewed before joining the unit, without knowing what it is. "because My last name, thought I came from Europe.
When I said I was a native of Morocco, I was told, 'Stay.'
"A large truck brought us to a security facility in Jaffa. We spent the whole night guessing what was going on here. The next day, at noon on May 25, we arrived in Jalama. We found a madhouse. We evacuated all the detainees, demolished walls, whitewashed, changed the cell system. "We are building a secure cell, it is still not clear to whom."
At the same time, the police organized for the transfer of Eichmann from Jaffa.
The commander of the secure convoy, Commander Yehuda Guy, was elected commander of the secure convoy. In a document sent to the head of the organization's division by the police, Aharon Sela, he outlined the complex operation:
"On May 25, 1960, I met with H. from the General Security Service.
The purpose of the meeting was to determine the arrangements for receiving the detainee from them and transferring him to the Air Camp.
At this meeting he also gave me details about the detainee, the fact that he is short-sighted, and that his glasses were broken during the journey from his place of arrest.
It was decided to transfer the detainee on the evening of May 26, 1960 under the escort of three cars secured and manned by officers, who until the execution of the mission did not know the purpose of the trip.
"At 9:50 PM, I got out in car number 2, and met H. in the yard of the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir. Together we drove to the GSS facility where the detainee was being held.
I entered the detainee's cell and informed him that I had to move him to the place of his new detention.
Even though I was in uniform, the detainee was shaking all over.
He barely calmed down, after I reiterated that I was a police officer and had nothing to fear.
"Bound to two members of the main police section, I put the detainee in the back seat of my car, with H. driving after me, accompanied by security. Meanwhile, at 9:54 PM, car number 1 and pickup car number 3 left for the Jerusalem road, waiting about 200 meters from the gate. The entrance to Mikve Israel. When I entered between the two cars above, we left for the Air Camp, while H. returned to Tel Aviv.
On the way out of Wadi Milk I blindfolded the detainee, who again showed signs of fear.
The commander of the Air Camp received the detainee from us. "
Around midnight, Eichmann was placed in cell number 1, built especially for him, about 20 square meters in size. In a document sent to Rosolio from the organization's police department, classified as confidential, the conditions in the cell were specified: Table and chair.
Writing paper will be on the table.
The sentry next to the detainee will have a pencil in his hands, and he will be handed over to the detainee for writing.
Please plan a trip of the detainee in the fenced yard outside the detainee's apartment.
A tour of this courtyard will be conducted only on the orders of the Commander of Bureau 06.
"The interrogation room will be equipped with a table and two chairs, a recording device and a telephone. The room door will be open during interrogation. The detainee can smoke during interrogation, if he wishes."
* * *
Keeping Eichmann was challenging.
The fear was that he would try to escape, commit suicide in his cell or that someone would try to harm him.
This is the reason why Force A numbered 37 policemen, who were close to him 24 hours a day and were not armed.
The detention cell and its surroundings were declared a sterile area.
Only the Border Police, who carried out the perimeter security, carried weapons.
Throughout the day, a four-pronged squad stayed with Eichmann. One sat in front of him in the cell; the other, who carried the cell keys, stood outside the door and watched Eichmann and the policeman inside; In the hallway, and his job was to turn on a field phone and an alarm in case of need; and the fourth patrolled the main gates of the compound.
Eichmann was given a dark khaki prison uniform. The light in his room was on non-stop, even at night, and the police did not take his eyes off him. When they brought him food, he thanked them in German Danke schön. When instructed to do something, he replied in the German word Jawohl, which means "yes, sir", as they answered the commanders in the Nazi army.
In an internal document written by Sergeant Major David Ofer, who was appointed camp commander two months later, he reviews Eichmann's terms and agenda. "The detainee woke up between 6:00 and 5:30 in the morning.
After waking up, went in to take a shower, then got dressed.
Clothes were allowed to be stopped depending on the weather, i.e. light clothing during the summer, and in the winter white winters, woolen shirts, trousers, windbreaker and padded slippers.
All this was to keep him in good health for the trial. "When
he shaved, he was provided with an electric machine, which was taken immediately after he finished. Once every two days he washed his clothes and cleaned his cell and toilet.
At 6:45 a breakfast was served to Eichmann by the shift officer present. Until the end of the meal. Fearing poisoning, Eichmann ate from the policemen's food ration. In the morning he received a dairy meal, which included two slices of bread, cheese, hard-boiled egg, vegetables and fruit. At the end, he went for a half-hour walk in the courtyard. It lasted between three and four hours, and he sometimes met with his German defense attorney, Advocate Robert Cervacius, who was hired by his family.
Cervatius became famous when he defended the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials.
At 12:30, Eichmann had lunch, which included a meat dish and a side of potatoes or rice.
After that he stayed in his cell, read books in German and wrote a personal diary.
At 17:30 he was provided with a dairy dinner, and around 21:00 he went to bed.
Officer Amram Lusky, who was a member of Force A, said: "When he eats, you sit next to him and watch. You do not give him a chance to do anything. Eichmann especially liked mayonnaise. On Passover he asked: 'What is this thing that you give me to eat?' "We told him it was matzah. He looked and ate."
Force A was tasked with making sure that Eichmann underwent a daily health check by two regular doctors who had served in the police, Dr. Zvi Wolstein and Dr. Brandstetter.
Brandstetter examined Eichmann on August 3, 1960 and found that his condition was normal, except for a slightly high blood pressure.
"The prisoner is in good nutrition and general health," he wrote.
"He's definitely capable of passing the tests that are still expected of him."
* * *
In January 1961, Bureau 06 received alarming information from Nazi hunter Shimon Wiesenthal.
The chief of staff, Avraham Zeliger, sent a letter to the commissioner and the Mossad, in which he wrote: "Klaus, Eichmann's son, proposed a plan to kidnap a Jewish personality in exchange." Klaus was one of Eichmann's four sons; he and his two brothers, Horst and Dieter, adored Their father and his work.The younger brother, Ricardo, shunned the father's actions and openly condemned
them.Between January and March 1961, Eichmann underwent a comprehensive psychiatric diagnosis in his cell by Dr. Shlomo Kolcher, who was the director of the psychiatric ward at Tel Hashomer Hospital.
In an opinion sent to Bureau 06, the psychiatrist states that he met with Eichmann seven times, with a clinical psychologist joining him in some of the sessions.
Among other things, Dr. Kulcher writes about his impression of Eichmann's treatment of his family members.
“During the clinical examination, the defendant did not show almost any emotional reactions.
When we talked repeatedly about his family and children, we did not see any reaction in him.
Only twice did we see a hint of emotion, as we delved into sexual issues and as he recounted his experiences towards the end of the war and the killing of Germans by bombing.
Here he became bitter, despairing and depressed, and the grimaces in his face multiplied. "
Eichmann recounted his life story to the psychiatrist." According to his description, his father was the manager of a tram company in Linz, Austria, and he was a serious and meticulous man.
He supervised the children, from their personal cleaning to the order in their notebooks.
He forbade the children to talk at the table, and a slap in the face was easily ejected from his hands.
Defendant was a bad student and avoided school frequently, and 'slipped' barely from class to class.
"During the conversations he mentioned that while he was a high SS officer, a distant relative, a Jew, was once brought to him for help. He even kissed her and saved her, justifying it under the influence of his father's education, which commanded him to respect his relatives.
" The defendant does not provide details about the mother.
His only ancient memory of her is that one evening he jumped on her back as she made his bed, chanting 'Jump, girl.'
In response, he received a slap from her.
The mother died of tuberculosis.
Asked how he felt after her death, replied: 'But deep shock, unnoticed words emotion. "
The psychiatrist added that Eichmann had five younger siblings, and after the death of the mother married his father remarried and had two brothers.
Talks said Dr. Colchester R. Eichmann on his attitude toward the Jews.
"In the past, the defendant had no idea what a Jew was, and he visited the home of a Jewish boy several times, and was even invited to visit again. His mother had Jewish relatives, and the defendant even had a brief flirtation with a Jewish girl, who later married one of his friends."
Later, the psychiatrist mentions a dialogue between him and Eichmann:
"Have you ever felt remorse?"
Eichmann: "Yes. When I avoided school."
But the psychiatrist intended to exterminate the Jews.
He went on to ask, "Did you at least feel responsible for your actions?"
Eichmann: "I was one of 30 officials who roamed the area. To disobey orders means to oppose company laws. I am a person who lives solely in his position, and no more."
The psychiatrist writes in his opinion: "Throughout his life he felt fear, without knowing why. He could not go to places where he had to meet strangers, he had to know in advance who would be present. In such cases he would sweat in his palms ...
"In the party and the SS he gained self-confidence. It gave him a sense of belonging. The Reich was an ideal, which meant helping to establish land for future German generations ... he canceled his first engagement for political reasons because his fiancée called the marching SS men 'idiots'." .
One of the most shocking quotes in the report is from a test conducted by Dr. Coulcher on Eichmann, called the "Sundy test" - a personality trait assessment, based on the subject's response to images of mentally disturbed offenders.
The psychiatrist sent the results to the thinker of the method, Dr. Leopold Sondi, who lived in Switzerland and did not know who the subject was.
"Dr. Sondi told us that he wanted to return the report because he did not receive tests under these conditions," writes Kulturer. In the report, however, he saw that this was a special case, which he had never seen before in the 6,000 tests he performed in 24 years. According to his conclusion, the subject is a criminal with insatiable lust for murder. He is able to carry out his murderous impulses out of lust for power and beyond From the Boundaries of Reality. "
* * *
Ben-Gurion decided that the hearings in the Eichmann trial would take place at the Beit Ha'am in Jerusalem (today the Gerard Bachar Center), which was then under construction and converted into a court.
The main hall was pre-designed for about 800 seats, and its relatively secluded location facilitated security.
In order to reduce the risk involved in transferring Eichmann to daily hearings, the police decided that he would stay in a detention cell to be built in the People's House.
The construction work was entrusted to a police unit specially formulated for this purpose, and was called the "Judicial Administration."
Yekutiel Keren was appointed commander of the unit, and Rosolio was appointed his deputy.
In an order issued by Rosolio, he detailed Eichmann's conditions at the People's House:
"Clothing: During incarceration - clothes to be provided to him by the warehouse. During the hearings - his private suit, which will be kept outside the cell and handed over before the hearings.
" On a hot shower day, wash your hands before each meal.
The soap, towel, toothpaste and brush will be found next to the bath bowl.
Before bathing they will be handed over to him, and immediately after that they will be taken from him.
"Shaving: The defendant shave electric razor rechargeable battery, without mains connection. She will be allowed him to shave before washing. The device's battery must charge all day. The device has to end shaving. When shaving, bathing and defecation continues observation without interruption.
" Economy: The defendant will receive his economy from the rations intended for the members of the force.
Will receive three meals a day during the meals of the unit personnel.
His meals are taken out to his plate from the general quantity by the shift officer and brought to him personally by the same officer.
He will receive only a spoon, made of metal or plastic.
As soon as the food is finished, the dishes will be taken from him.
Drinking water will be provided to him on request.
"Medicine: The defendant will be examined daily by a doctor. The test results will be recorded in a medical examination book next to the shift officer. No medication will be given to the defendant without the doctor's instruction, and in the presence of the shift officer.
" Smoking: The defendant is allowed to smoke 8 cigarettes a day.
Some have after meals and at his request.
"Reading: The defendant will be provided with books. He will be provided with eyeglasses, which will be taken from him after the reading.
" Special requirements: Any request from the defendant will be directed to the shift officer.
If necessary, it will be forwarded to the Force Commander for approval.
"Cleaning: The defendant will clean his room and toilet himself. For this purpose he will be provided with a bucket, rag and stick. Upon completion of the cleaning, they will be taken from him.
" Laundry: The defendant will wash his own clothes.
He will be provided with soap for this purpose and a place to hang the laundry to dry.
"Furniture: The defendant will be provided with a bed without sharp stripes, a mattress and blankets as needed. A table and a small chair.
" Defendant's conduct: Do not enter into any conversation with him.
The answers must be formal and short. "
* * *
On the night of April 4-5, 1961, Eichmann was transferred to the People's House.
In the police car sat next to him the policeman Amram Lusky and the shift commander of Force A, the late Inspector David Franco. "Eichmann was handcuffed to Franco on one side, and to me on the other," says Lusky. The government.
The instructions we received were simple: if something happens on the way, we are the first to hug Eichmann and shield him. "
Eichmann's cell is located on the second floor, just above the courtroom. It had no walk-in yard, and the two barred windows faced an inner corridor. Israel Nachmias, the policeman who guarded Eichmann both in the glass cell in the courtroom and in the detention cell, says that the people who interviewed him did not know that despite his last name, his grandparents lived in Greece and perished in Auschwitz.
"When Eichmann was in the cell, he read a lot of books and the minutes of the trial, which he put on the table in an orderly fashion. I remember one day, a policeman opened the window and the minutes flew. Eichmann was very angry."
In contrast, after the shaky testimony of
K.
Tsetnik, June 7, 1961, Eichmann was taken back to his cell.
He sat down peacefully at the desk.
"I went into it and was surprised," Franco told his family.
"I saw the detainee engaged in an optimistic drawing of flowers and butterflies. I got upset and asked how he dared to draw such a painting after such a testimony. Eichmann replied, 'All in all, I complied.'"
* * *
On August 8, 1961, after four months of shaky testimony, the first phase of the trial ended.
Eichmann was returned to the Air Camp.
The verdict, which lasted three days, was read on December 11, and the sentence was read on December 15.
Eichmann was sentenced to death.
After the hearing, he was returned to his cell at the People's House.
"He was cool and sat down to read a book about whales," Lusky described.
Eichmann appealed the conviction, but his appeal was rejected.
Since becoming a prisoner, he was transferred to the Prison Service and housed in an isolated wing of Ramla Prison.
On May 29, 1962, he apologized to President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, and two days later the president announced that the request had been denied.
From that moment on, the IPS announced "Operation X" - the execution preparation, scheduled for June 1, just after midnight. The gallows was erected in February, next to Eichmann's cell. The crematorium, intended for cremation, was placed over the fence, where it is now a prison. Neve Tirza.
In the evening, the guards broke down the wall that separated him from the hanging room. prisons Abraham spatial led Eichmann, wearing brown clothes IPS sandals with socks, to the gallows.
The IPS Commissioner, Gondar Avraham Nir, was present at the scene; Bureau Investigator 06, Sen. Mickey Goldman;
Supervisor David Franco;
A doctor, four journalists and four wardens.
The guards tied Eichmann's hands and feet.
He refused to have his eyes covered.
"When the head of the organization's department announced that I would be one of the two police witnesses to be present at his execution, I felt satisfied," Goldman said.
"Eichmann was put in the gallows cell, and on the right was a screen. We knew that behind him were two IPS men waiting, that there were two buttons there, and that by order, they would press them.
"I was standing a meter away from Eichmann. He was half fuzzy. Before that he drank half a bottle of wine. When he stood under the gallows, he tried to hold on. Anyone who knew him knew that when he got upset - for example, when he had difficulty answering an incriminating thing - his left little finger shook. I looked. About the little finger, and she shivered.
"When he saw that the journalists had taken out notebooks, Eichmann spoke.
He said: 'Long live Germany, long live Argentina, long live Austria, these are the three countries to which I owe a lot.
In a while we will all meet, as mortals do.
I did what was assigned to me.
I have fulfilled orders. '
"I looked at him, and felt nothing. There is no human revenge for what they did to us. Only God can take revenge. So one was hanged. What is that compared to the rest, compared to my ten-year-old sister, who was murdered in Belzec with my parents.
" "IPS members pressed the buttons."
* * *
Three minutes later, the doctor set the time of death: 23:58.
Eichmann was left hanging for about an hour.
At 1 a.m., June 1, his body was unloaded from the rope by six guards, wrapped in a sheet and blanket, and placed on a wheelbarrow.
From there transport to the crematorium.
Sen. Mickey Goldman was present at the cremation. "It was a black, foggy night," he said. "We walked along the lights near the fence toward the stove, where Eichmann's body would be brought.
I looked at the lights and said to myself: 'Like in Auschwitz'.
But this time it's not my Auschwitz, it's his Auschwitz.
"Then, they took out the ashes and put them in
a tin jug
. I was amazed to see how little ash was left from the human body. I remembered the mountains of ash in Auschwitz, and only then did I realize how many people were burned there.
" With this tin jug, where Eichmann's ashes were, IPS. We boarded the police ship, and the ship set off. When we reached six miles outside the borders of Israel, the IPS commissioner opened the jug, and together with him we poured the ashes into the waves.
I instinctively said at that moment: 'Yes, all your enemies will be lost, Israel.'
Someone next to me said 'artist'.
From the wind ashes entered my eyes.
One of those present said that Eichmann continues to persecute the Jews even after his death and laughs. "
tala@israelhayom.co.il