The capture of Nazi commander and war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and his ensuing trial and execution in Israel on June 1, 1962, caused an uproar at the time, opening the doors to renewed awareness of the Holocaust and interest in how he had been able to escape detection for so long.

Eichmann, a major responsible for the Holocaust as one of the architects of the Nazis’ “final solution,” spent the better part of the 10 years he lived in Argentina (1950-1960) in different locations within Buenos Aires province while working for a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant. 

Less is known, however, of his first years in the country, when he lived in remote areas in Tucumán and Catamarca in Northern Argentina. How did he get there? What did he do? Did anyone recognize him or know about this past?

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Escape and relocation

Adolf Eichmann managed to barely escape justice after the end of World War II. He was initially detained by U.S. forces and kept in a prisoner camp, where he gave a false name in order to avoid being recognized. He was, however, able to flee before his cover was blown and spent the next few years living in northern Germany avoiding detection. 

In 1948, Eichmann obtained a fake identification card under the name Richard Klement through the escape route systems known as “ratlines.” The ratlines were an operation run by Nazi sympathizers still in positions of power in Europe, from political leaders to members of the Catholic Church, to help war criminals flee, mainly to South America. 

Armed with a new ID, Eichmann secured a humanitarian passport from the International Committee of the Red Cross and set off to Argentina. According to official documents declassified in 1992 on Nazis in Argentina that the Milei administration made available online last year, Eichmann, now Klement, departed alone on a boat from Genoa, Italy, in mid-June 1950 and arrived in Buenos Aires on July 14. 

Shortly after his arrival, he was hired by Alberto Carlos........

© Buenos Aires Herald