Former Nazi SS officer who organized Hitler’s ‘final solution of the Jewish question’ found guilty on all counts 60 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 11 1961)


Video: 'EICHMANN GUILTY'

(Monday, December 11, 1961, shortly after 9:00 a.m. Israel Standard Time, during the Eichmann trial) — After months of trial before a three-judge panel in Jerusalem, former Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann, one of the major organizers of The Holocaust, was found guilty this morning of “unsurpassed” crimes against the Jews and that his role in Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” would be remembered “until the end of time.”

“Accused, the court convicts you of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and membership in hostile organizations,” said Judge Moshe Landau, who then began reading the text of the judgment.


Video: 'The capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann'

Landau was followed by Judges Benyamin Halevi and Itzhak Raveh. The reading of the entire verdict was not completed until the next day, Dec. 12, 1961.

Eichmann was found guilty on all 15 criminal charges against him, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish people.

During the trial, he did not deny The Holocaust or his role in organizing it, but claimed that he was simply following orders in a totalitarian Führerprinzip system.