Eichmann, Adolf

Adolf Eichmann (īkh´män), 1906–62, German National Socialist official. A member of the Austrian Nazi party, he headed the Austrian office for Jewish emigration (1938). His zeal in deporting Jews brought him promotion (1939) to chief of the Gestapo's Jewish section. Eichmann promoted the use of gas chambers for the mass extermination of Jews in concentration camps, and he oversaw the maltreatment, deportation, and murder of millions of Jews in World War II. Arrested by the Allies in 1945, he escaped and settled in Argentina. He was located by Israeli agents in 1960 and abducted to Israel, where he was tried (1961) and hanged for crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity.

See biography by D. Cesarani, Becoming Eichmann (2006); H. Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963, rev. ed. 2006); J. Donovan, Eichmann: Mastermind of the Holocaust (1978); P. Rassinier, The Real Eichmann Trial (1980); D. E. Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial (2011).

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Publication information: Article title: Eichmann, Adolf. Encyclopedia title: The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. © 2012 The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. Used with the permission of Columbia University Press. All Rights Reserved. Publisher: The Columbia University Press. Place of publication: Not available. Publication year: 2013.

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