25 & Trying

Hunting Eichmann

My latest book, Hunting Eichmann by Neal Bascomb is a subject very near and dear to my heart. As a grandchild of a German Jewish Holocaust survivor, I have always been educated about, and sought information on what happened during the Holocaust. I kind of stopped there, however. I never gave much thought to what happened after – just that my grandfather had traveled by way of Portugal and Spain to arrive safely (if not scarred for life) in New York to start a new life.

Bascomb’s book reads like a spy thriller, chronicling Adolf Eichmann‘s escape from Nazi Germany as it crumbled, his hideouts and travel across Europe to eventually reach the relative safety of Buenos Aires. He hid in Argentina for many years until he was captured during a covert operation by the Israeli Mossad agency in 1960 – 15 years after the war ended.

An impressively captivating story, it is sometimes hard to believe that there can be a book written about the Holocaust without the sap. I hate to say it that way, but it’s true. There is a lot of text written about the Holocaust in a way that pulls at heart strings and discusses the moral implications of the actions taking place.

Bascomb doesn’t ignore the moral debate – but presents Eichmann as a man from a multitude of perspectives. This includes an Austrian, an SS officer, an Argentinian resident named Ricardo Klement, and a war criminal. The book moves quickly – but not quickly enough to be forgettable. The author gives the detail and authenticity that a story like this deserves – and needs.

The trial of Adolf Eichmann is the first and only time in the history of Israel that a death penalty was enacted – and it is a story that can be told over and over. Each time it brings out new dimensions of moral ambiguity (should they have gone across country lines to capture a criminal? Did he get a fair trial? Why wasn’t he tried in Germany?) It even opens a new idea of what it means to be a soldier, and to follow command.

All in all, I think it is important to tell the story – to bring up the dialogue, and to encourage a new audience to think about things that happened 50 years ago.