Reluctant hangman of Holocaust mastermind and Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann passes away at 88

Jerusalem: The reluctant hangman of Nazi fugitive Adolf Eichmann, whose capture by the Israeli espionage agency Mossad and subsequent trial led to his execution, has passed away at the age of 88.

Eichmann’s trial and death sentence have inspired numerous films and documentaries.

Shalom Nagar, the Israeli prison guard who by chance, and against his wishes, was selected to hang convicted Nazi war criminal Eichmann, passed away on Tuesday, Times of Israel reported. 

Nagar, who was 26 years old when the death penalty was carried out at Ramle Prison in the early hours of June 1, 1962, remained unknown for almost three decades after the execution, the report said on Thursday.

He came to public attention following an accidental mention by a local radio channel doing a programme on the Nazi fugitive responsible for carrying out the “final solution to the Jewish question” which led to the mass deportation and death of six million Jews during World War II. 

Israeli authorities had kept quiet on the details of how the death sentence was carried out, with only a brief initial announcement made on Kol Yisrael radio. 

In the years that followed, the hangman, who was born in Yemen in 1936 and arrived in Israel aged 12 as an orphan, gave several media interviews, including to a German outlet.

Nagar described the six months he spent watching over Eichmann during his trial and how he ultimately became the one tasked with carrying out the execution.

He served in the Israel Defence Forces Paratroopers Brigade and later joined the Israel Prison Service, where his path would cross that of Eichmann’s.  Eichmann’s death sentence was the first and only one ever carried out in Israel. 

The key architect of Nazi Germany's Final Solution went into hiding after World War II and was captured by Israeli intelligence in Argentina in May 1960 to stand trial in Jerusalem for his role in the murder of six million Jews.

Nagar was among the 22 carefully selected prison staff who watched over Eichmann when he was held at Ramle prison.

When an Israeli court convicted Eichmann and sentenced him to death, the question arose as to who would carry out the hanging, reported the local newspaper Mishpacha. 

While many guards were keen to take on the duty, Nagar said he didn’t want it.  A draw was held, and the lot fell on the Nagar, who was convinced to accept the job after being shown photos of atrocities committed against children during the Holocaust.

“It so appalled me that I agreed to do what needed to be done,” he told Mishpacha in a 2005 interview. 

Nagar was on furlough when the Supreme Court rejected Eichmann’s appeal against the death sentence and had to be specially fetched from home to carry out the job. 

Nagar said that for a year after the execution, he had nightmares, and even during the daytime he feared that Eichmann was following him.  After retiring from the prison service, he spent his time studying Torah in a religious institute in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.