Shalom Nagar, who served at Ayalon Prison in Ramla, where Adolf Eichmann — the architect of the Holocaust — was incarcerated, did not volunteer for the task.
Nagar was 26 years old at the time of the June 1, 1962, execution, which was carried out after the notorious Nazi war criminal lost his appeal against his death sentence.
His identity was kept secret for three decades for fear of reprisal until it was revealed by Israeli journalists in 1992.
The hanging was the only judicial execution ever held in the State of Israel, which does not have capital punishment except for murder committed by the Nazis and their aides, and for treason.
This latter provision was invoked once — against IDF officer Meir Tobianski, who was sentenced by a field court and executed by firing squad in June, 1948.
Nagar was born in Yemen in 1936 and arrived in Israel aged 12 as an orphan. He served in the IDF’s Paratroopers Brigade and later joined the Israel Prison Service.
Eichmann was taken into custody by Mossad and Shin Bet agents from Argentina in 1960, and convicted and sentenced to death a year later after a landmark public trial in Jerusalem.
His trial opened to the world the horrors of the Holocaust and traumatized Israeli society.
Hannah Arendt covered the trial in her controversial book, The Banality of Evil. Temple Sinai’s Rabbi Raymond Zwerin covered the trial.
All legal procedures were observed at the trial. Prosecuting attorney was Gideon Hausner. Defending attorney was Robert Servatius. Judges were Moshe Landau, Benjamin Halevy and Yitzhak Raveh.
Eichmann was convicted on all 15 counts; appealed; and lost on appeal.
Eichmann lived in Germany after WW II under an assumed name. In 1948, Eichmann obtained an entry permit for Argentina and false identification under the name Ricardo Klement through an organization directed by Austrian cleric Bishop Alois Hudal.
Eichmann traveled across Europe, staying in a series of monasteries that had been set up as safe houses, and then fled to Argentina, where he lived for a decade until he was whisked to Israel to stand trial.
Shalom Nagar was one of 22 non-Ashkenazi prison staff selected to watch over the Nazi at the prison, who became known as the “Eichmann guards.” They were tasked with ensuring that he did not commit suicide or was poisoned.
After Eichmann’s conviction, Nagar was chosen at random to carry out the hanging even though he was on furlough at the time and did not want to take part in the execution.
He was convinced to accept the task after being shown pictures of Holocaust atrocities against children.
“It so appalled me that I agreed to do what needed to be done,” he told the Mishpacha magazine in 2005.
Eichmann’s ashes were later scattered in the Mediterranean Sea, beyond Israel’s territorial waters. Eichmann was told before his death how his remains would be disposed.
He never expressed any regret throughout his months-long trial.
In the years that followed, Nagar was haunted by nightmares about Eichmann.
A documentary called “Hatalyan,” Hebrew for “The Hangman,” was made about him in 2010.
