Operation Eichmann

Adolph Eichmann, architect of Hitler's heinous "final solution" that resulted in the murder of six million Jews, escapes Germany at the end of WWII. But two intrepid Israeli agents vow he will not escape justice. Released when the real-life Eichmann trial had the world riveted, the uncompromising Operation Eichmann tells the story of a Nazi zealot drunk on the power to send millions of his fellow human beings to their deaths in gas chambers. And it tells the story of Israeli agents David and Jacob, who miraculously survived one of Eichmann's mass executions when they were children. A 15-year manhunt is on as Eichmann and his mistress hopscotch the globe, pursued by David, Jacob and more dedicated Nazi-hunters who sometimes wonder if it is better to kill than to capture Eichmann. A suspenseful adventure, a political thriller, and a true-life tale of good and evil: that is Operation Eichmann.

Released about five weeks before the Adolf Eichmann trial began in Jerusalem on April 11, 1961, this docudrama by director R.G. Springsteen was quickly dashed together to take advantage of the trial, and it shows. Overplaying Eichmann's venality and lacking any depth in characterization, the story unfolds in several large segments. Eichmann (played by Werner Klemperer), as head of Dept. IV, B4 or "Jewish affairs/evacuation affairs, personally ordered, or watched, or supervised the extermination of Jews in Germany and the nations under its occupying forces. These years are shown in the first part of the film; the second half deals with Eichmann's escape from an American POW camp, his four years under cover in Germany, aided by an association of Nazi SS members (ODESSA), his escape in 1950 to Argentina through Italy, and his capture on May 11, 1960.