Shalom Nagar, Executor of Adolf Eichmann, Dies

Shalom Nagar, identified as the individual who carried out the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Israel in 1962, has passed away in his late 80s. Nagar, a prison guard stationed at the facility housing Eichmann, was selected for the duty rather than volunteering. He recounted experiencing “nightmares about it for years afterwards.” This execution marked the sole instance of a judicial capital punishment ever conducted within the state of Israel. Eichmann, recognized as a principal architect of the Final Solution, which sought the extermination of Europe’s Jewish population, was seized by Israeli agents in Argentina in 1960. He was subsequently sentenced a year later following a significant public trial. Born in Yemen during the late 1930s, Nagar relocated to Israel as an orphan in 1948. His precise age remains undisclosed. Following his military service, he became part of Israel’s prison service and was chosen to serve as a personal guard for Eichmann at Ramle prison. Among his responsibilities was tasting the prisoner’s food to prevent potential poisoning. He stated that his selection to perform the execution was random, and Eichmann’s hanging occurred on 30 May 1962. Nagar’s identity was kept confidential for three decades due to concerns about potential reprisals, until Israeli journalists disclosed it in 1992. Over subsequent years, he participated in multiple interviews, sharing occasionally graphic accounts of the execution and its consequences. He recounted that after the act was completed, he received instructions to place the body into an oven for cremation, but his hands were trembling, rendering him unable to walk without assistance. For a period thereafter, he experienced PTSD and nightmares. Media reports indicate that he later embraced religion and relocated to the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. A documentary titled The Hangman was produced about him in 2010. Eichmann held a pivotal role in the 1942 Wannsee Conference, where the Nazi plan for the annihilation of European Jewry was formulated, and was regarded as the logistical architect of the Final Solution. He resided anonymously in Germany following the conclusion of World War Two before escaping to Argentina in 1950. Israeli intelligence services located him in 1960, subsequently apprehending him and transporting him to Israel to face trial on accusations encompassing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the Jewish people. He did not dispute the accusations or the Holocaust itself, but asserted that he was merely obeying orders. Following a trial that was recorded and televised, he was found guilty on the majority of charges and received a death sentence.