On april 11th 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann for war crimes in World War II begins in Jerusalem, Israel. He was a German-Austrian SS-Obersturmbannführer & one of the major organizers of the Holocaust, know as the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" in Nazi terminology.
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Tasked by Reinhard Heydrich with managing the logistics of the Final Solution, Eichmann was a participant in the infamous Wannsee Conference where the decision exterminate the Jews was made; Eichmann & his staff were responsible for organizing the deportations to death camps.
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After Germany's defeat he fled to Argentina. One of the most wanted Nazis, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad located him in 1960. After extensive surveillance, Mossad agents launched a successful & audacious operation to abduct him & fly him to Israel to stand trial.
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During his trial, reporter Hannah Arendt coined the phrase "the banality of evil" to describe Eichmann, who appeared stiff and lackluster in comparison to the enormity of his crimes. Sentenced to death, Eichmann was executed by hanging on 1 June 1962.
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Toward the end of World War II, SS officer Adolf Eichmann said "I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction".
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