| SS-Obersturmbannführer (Literally “Senior Storm Leader” equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel) Otto Adolf Eichmann (March 19, 1906 – June 1, 1962) Head of Reichssicherheitshauptamt Referat IV B4 (RSHA; “Reich Security Main Office Department IV B4”) known as Eichmannreferat (“eichmann Section”) or Judenreferat (“Jewish Section”) until March 1941. Eichmann wears the Schutzstaffel erdgrau (“earth gray”) service dress uniform for his formal RSHA portrait, probably for his identification card. Versions of this photo with punched holes and his signature exist. The date of the photo is unclear but between 1941 and 1943. Eichmann was promoted to Obersturmbannführer on November 9, 1941. Uniquely he fostered the appearance too having spent significant time studying Jewish culture and history, and learned to understand rudimentary Hebrew, to the concern of his superiors. Eichmann, a virulent anti-semite, terrorized Jews across Germany and Poland. By spreading rumors that he knew Hebrew and could move unnoticed among Jews, Eichmann hoped to enhance his reputation as a Gestapo agent. As Head of Referat IV B4, Eichmann oversaw major events in the Holocaust. With his immediate superiors SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich “Gestapo” Müller (April 28, 1900 – circa May 1945) Chef des Geheime Staatspolizei (“Chief of the Secret State Police”), better known as the Gestapo, and SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (March 7, 1904 – June 4, 1942), Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst (“Chief of Security Police and Sicherheitsdienst;” SD) all attended and planned the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, that led to the deportation of millions of Jews from all over Europe to death camps in Poland, the Soviet Union and Germany. After Heydrich’s assassination, Eichmann was reluctant to be photographed. SS-Hauptsturmführer (literally “Head Storm Leader” equivalent to Captain) Dieter Wisliceny (January 13, 1911 – May 4, 1948) said in 1946, “He consciously wanted to remain ‘the man in the shadows.’ He lived in constant fear of assassination and therefore only used his car on trips. He was afraid of airplane accidents and hence never flew. He always kept a collection of arms in his car, two machine pistols and hand grenades. Otherwise he also always carried some small hand grenades around with him, keeping the fuses in a separate box. His Prague apartment was guarded by police, and even his janitor was a police official. He was an out-and-out coward. when he was living in Károlyi Castle in Derekegyhaza in Hungary in September 1944, he expected an Anglo-American ‘commando-raid’ against him and therefore had mortars set up in the park of the castle. The same caution made him camera-shy. Whenever he needed photographs for identification papers, he had them done by the Gestapo Photographic Laboratory. I myself took two pictures of Eichmann, the first in 1937 and the second in 1944, showing Eichmann in uni-form. It was taken in Hungary, and even there Eichmann made me give him the negative. The pictures used to be in my apartment in Vienna 18, Buchleitergasse 8.” Eichmann is said to have visited all major extermination camps and observed murders. In this way, he gained an overview of the industrial extermination of people after 1941 in order to be able to rationalize the method and logistics of the extermination from his desk. When the German occupation of Hungary began on 19 March 1944 with Operation Margarethe, the so-called Eichmann Commando was primarily responsible for the mass deportation of Hungarian Jews to the extermination camps. [ 19 ] At the same time, on behalf of Heinrich Himmler, he negotiated with Kurt Becher with the Jewish Relief Committee in Budapest about the ransom of individual Jewish prisoners. Despite his special position within the SS, Eichmann never met Adolf Hitler personally. In May 1960 he was kidnapped by Israeli agents from Argentina and brought to Israel, where he was put on public trial. He was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on the night of June 1, 1962. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0596.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.54 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3319 x 4724 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1942 |
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| Country | Germany |
| Archive | Yad Vashem |
| Record Number | 503/9139 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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