| “ | I remember a woman and her baby. She begged for the child's life. She lifted it up as if she might give her baby to me, as if I might save it. I would on occasion do such things: an old acquaintance, people who might be of use, but not this. Then BANG. The bullet that killed her, goes straight through her child first, I remember wiping its brains off my jacket. Do you think that's how we did it, Peter? Do you think that's how we killed Fruma? One can hope it was that quick, that they didn't do the things some soldiers do, but then we'll never know. They'll say my death is justice, for all the people you lost. That makes my life worth six million Frumas. How does that make you feel, knowing that she's not worth the spit in my mouth?! | „ |
| ~ Eichmann antagonizing Peter Malkin about his sister's death. |
Adolf Eichmann is the main antagonist of the 2018 historical drama Operation Finale. He is based on the real-life Nazi war criminal of the same name.
He was portrayed by Ben Kingsley, who also played Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dr. Xavier Fitch in Species, Don Logan in Sexy Beast, The Hood in the Thunderbirds film, Fagin in the 2005 Oliver Twist film adaptation, The Rabbi in Lucky Number Slevin, Nizam in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Tamir Aladeen in The Dictator, Archibald Snatcher in The Boxtrolls and General Woundwort in the 2018 Netflix Watership Down adaptation.
Biography[]
A dedicated Nazi, Eichmann was the head of the Office of Jewish Affairs during the Second World War, tasked with finding a final solution to the Jewish Question by any means necessary. He favoured deporting the Jews to reservations in Madagascar where they would be allowed to die from the unliveable conditions, but when the wartime situation made this impossible the decision was taken to exterminate them all and Eichmann was put in charge of managing the logistics, making sure that the millions of Jews and other such undesirables in Nazi territory could be smoothly deported to ghettos and extermination camps.
After the war, Eichmann fled to Argentina with his family under the alias "Ricardo Klement" and joined up with a society of fellow ex-Nazis and fascist sympathizers to help Argentine fascist to organize politically. A Mossad team led by Peter Malkin was sent to assassinate him in 1954 but ended up executing another ex-Nazi living in Austria after Peter misidentified him. Eichmann heard about the incident and took pride in Mossad's failure to identify him, keeping a framed newspaper clipping about the incident in his house and bragging about it to his fellow Nazis.
In 1960, Sylvia Hermann, a teenager living in Buenos Aires, begins dating Eichmann's son Klaus, who is living openly under his old surname but claims that his father died in the war and "Ricardo Klement" is his uncle. Her Jewish father Lothar becomes suspicious and sends a tipoff to German prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who in turn passes it on to Mossad. Mossad begin investigating Eichmann and recruit Sylvia to go to his house to gather evidence, under the guise of apologizing for an argument with Klaus. During the visit, Eichmann physically intervenes in an argument between Klaus and Sylvia and Klaus unthinkingly addresses him as "Father", confirming he is lying about his identity. Peter also discovers that "Klement"'s wedding anniversary is the same as Eichmann's.
Operation leader Rafi Eitan decides that the evidence is enough to prove "Klement" is really Eichmann and gives a team led by Peter permission to apprehend him and take him back to Israel to be put on trial. After staking out Eichmann's house for several days to confirm his daily routine, Peter's team decide to ambush him in an empty field on his way back from work. The plan is almost abandoned on the given day when Eichmann does not get off the usual bus, leading to fears that the plan has been discovered, but Eichmann soon arrives on a second bus; despite his team's misgivings about possibly being compromised, Peter decides to go ahead and approaches Eichmann once the bus pulls away. Eichmann becomes nervous and tries to run but Peter manages to wrestle him to the floor and drag him back into the car, where he is gagged and driven to a Mossad safehouse.
At the safehouse, Shin Bet interrogator Zvi Aharoni is able to bait a recalcitrant Eichmann into admitting his identity by continually getting his SS identification number wrong until Eichmann reflexively corrects him. However, before the team can remove Eichmann they are informed that their flight has been delayed ten days and the airline is refusing to transport Eichmann unless he signs an affidavit that he's going to Israel of his own free will. Eichmann predictably refuses to sign, arguing that Israel has no jurisdiction to try him, that he will not get a fair trial, and that he was unaware of the ultimate fate of the Jews but will not be allowed to tell his side of the story.
Over the course of the next few days, Mossad try and fail to convince Eichmann to sign, while Eichmann uses the promise of signing to manipulate Peter into catering to his every whim. Peter tries to form a personal connection with Eichmann to persuade him to sign the affidavit, promising that he will receive a fair trial and sharing the story of his sister Fruma, who his family know was killed, but not how or when, although they believe she was murdered in a forest outside Lublin. Eichmann eventually agrees to sign after Peter promises that his family will be allowed to come to Israel to attend his trial.
On the day of the flight back to Israel, Eichmann is sedated by anaesthesiologist Hanna Elian so he can be transported without causing a scene. As he is being sedated, Eichmann drops his veneer of politeness and, admitting that he did know that the Jews were being killed, tells Peter of how he attended a massacre of Jews in a forest outside Lublin and saw a Jewish woman who begged him to save her infant child before both of them were shot dead. He cruelly speculates that this was Fruma, before gloating that his life is equivalent to all the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, making him worth infinitely more than her. Hanna and Rafi manage to restrain Peter from attacking Eichmann long enough for him to be sedated and he is successfully transferred onto the plane without incident. Despite an attempt by the Argentine police, who have figured out that Eichmann was kidnapped by Mossad, to have the plane grounded, Peter manages to ensure it takes off and Eichmann is successfully transported to Israel and placed under arrest in Yagur kibbutz.
In December 1961, after a sensational trial attended by all the Mossad agents involved in his capture, Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death. He is hanged in June 1962, and his body is cremated in order to deprive him of a final resting place, as Eichmann had previously expressed concern to Peter would be done to him.