When Adolf Hitler needed a point-man on dealing with the “Jewish question,” he turned to Adolf Eichman. Born in Solingen, Germany, Eichmann joined the German paramilitary “Austrian Legion” organization, established to help unemployed Australians. He then joined the SD (Security Service Main Office) and rose through the ranks, charged with both monitoring the Jews and looking for solutions for their removal. By WW II he was the logistics leader on implementing the “final solution.”

On this day, April 11, in 1945, the former head of the Department for Jewish Affairs in the Gestapo, the man who presided over the deportations of millions to concentration camps, went on trial before the Jerusalem District Court.

Eichmann was indicted on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against the Jewish people. He did not dispute the facts of the case, but used the “Nurenberg defense” of other accused Nazi war criminals, that he was simply following orders. After several weeks of testimony, including that of other lesser-ranking Nazi party members, and reams of documents presented, Eichmann was found guilty on all counts. He appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, who upheld the ruling, stating that “Eichmann received no superior orders at all. He was his own superior and he gave all orders in matters that concerned Jewish affairs … the so-called Final Solution would never have assumed the infernal forms … without the fanatical zeal and the unquenchable blood thirst of the appellant and his associates.”