Fritz Bauer Issues an Arrest Warrant for Eichmann

Bauer’s November 1956 arrest warrant for Adolf Eichmann marked an early effort to pursue the Nazi official across borders and helped set in motion a chain of investigation that reached Mossad and culminated in Eichmann’s capture. The episode joins a personal commitment to confronting Germany’s Nazi past with a search obstructed by compromised institutions, uncertain intelligence, and the difficulty of establishing a fugitive’s identity abroad.

Bauer and the Warrant

In November 1956, Bauer, prosecutor general of the state of Hesse, issued an arrest warrant for Eichmann wherever he might be. The measure reflected Bauer’s determination to make Germans confront the Nazi past. A Jewish social democrat who was homosexual, Bauer had been excluded from the civil service and interned in a concentration camp by the Gestapo before fleeing to Scandinavia. After returning to Germany in the late 1940s, he made the pursuit of accountability a central mission.

Hermann’s Lead and Bauer’s Decision

The search acquired a concrete lead through Lothar Hermann, a blind German Jewish refugee living in Argentina. Hermann suspected Eichmann was in Buenos Aires, where he reportedly worked in a Mercedes-Benz warehouse. His daughter had dated Nick Eichmann, who spoke approvingly of his father’s wartime record and regretted that Germany had not annihilated all the Jews. In 1957, Hermann wrote to Bauer with his suspicions.

Bauer did not entrust the information to intelligence agencies or the German embassy in Buenos Aires, which he regarded as compromised by the presence of former Nazis. Instead, he passed it quietly to Mossad. Its initial investigation in Argentina proved inconclusive and was halted; Hermann’s request for payment and the investigators’ disbelief that Eichmann could be living in such poor circumstances contributed to their reluctance. Bauer nevertheless believed Hermann and sought corroboration. A second source confirmed that Ricardo Klement, the man under investigation, was Eichmann.

From Identification to Capture

The corroboration changed the search from an unverified report into an actionable identification. In December 1959, Mossad decided to kidnap Eichmann. Its director, Isser Harel, planned to use the operation to pursue Josef Mengele as well, but the two searches remained distinct: the immediate target of the planned abduction was Eichmann.

Eichmann’s kidnapping in 1960 heralded a new phase in the pursuit of Nazi war criminals. Journalists arrived in Buenos Aires, and the capture humiliated Argentina while placing pressure on West Germany to demonstrate that it would judge its own criminals and confront its past. Bauer’s warrant did not by itself secure Eichmann’s arrest; its significance lies in the longer investigative chain around it, in which Hermann’s testimony, Bauer’s independent judgment, and Mossad’s intervention overcame the distrust and institutional barriers that had stalled the search.