Today (Monday) marks the 65th anniversary of the capture of Adolf Eichmann by Mossad agents. Former Mossad operative and curator of the Mossad exhibitions, Avner Avraham, spoke with us about the organization’s exhibition on the operation, which is now returning to Israel after 15 years on display at various venues around the world.
Avraham noted that the exhibition, now returning to Israel, was previously displayed at the Museum of the Jewish People for nearly a year and earlier at the Knesset. “It began as a small exhibition in the Mossad lobby. Netanyahu requested and received approval to expose the exhibition, which later traveled to eight major museums in the US and, over the past two years, also to Munich and Berlin."
According to Avraham, the driving force behind presenting the exhibition in Germany was not necessarily the local Jewish community, but the Christian Germans “who believed it was important to tell the story of the Holocaust not only as a Holocaust story, but as a story of espionage. Seventy thousand people visited the exhibition in Germany. High school students whom I guided eventually became guides themselves in the exhibition. I was surprised to see how deeply Germans feel remorse, how ashamed they are of that period, and how important it is for them that it become part of the education system," he said.
Over the years, additional information connected to the operation surfaced from various directions. Avraham recounted one case in which, after a lecture he delivered in Jerusalem, a man approached him and told him about his parents, who had immigrated to Israel from Argentina. Upon arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, their Argentine passports were taken from them. Several months later, they received a letter from Buenos Aires Airport informing them that their car had been left near the airport and was accumulating parking fines. They were asked to remove it. It was later disclosed that the vehicle had been purchased by the Mossad and used to transport Eichmann to the airport from which he was flown to Israel. Mossad agents had left the car near the airport.
Speaking about the exhibition’s growth from an initial size of 50 square meters to nearly half a dunam, Avraham said: “In Israel everyone knows who Eichmann was. In the US you have to start from scratch - explain the rise of the Nazis, Hitler, the camps, the extermination, the escape after the war, the survivors who came to Israel. That’s how the exhibition expanded. The most important part is the Eichmann trial that became possible because of the capture. We brought the original glass booth and built screens showing footage from the trial."
He described the emotional reactions of visitors to authentic exhibits, including the Israeli passport bearing Eichmann’s photograph that was used to fly him to Israel, original documents, the original camera, and other artifacts.
Today, Avraham noted, some items are no longer displayed because certain documents can no longer be exposed to light after a period of time.
Asked whether the exhibition sparked anti-Israel or antisemitic reactions, Avraham recalled that the exhibition was branded under the title “How to Catch a Nazi," alongside the Mossad logo, yet “I don’t remember even one incident in which someone tried to damage it. That was true in the US as well, including in Detroit, which is known for its large Muslim population."
The exhibition was displayed in Holocaust museums, Avraham said, adding that it was also shown in Hitler’s bunker, which today serves as a museum of Egyptian art. The venue made it possible to hold the exhibition there free of charge. Asked whether there were concerns about displaying the exhibition in such a charged location, Avraham responded that in his eyes it represented an expression of Jewish victory.
“His bunker became an exhibition for the best intelligence service in the world about the capture of Eichmann, which made the trial possible," he said.
Avraham also spoke about one of the exhibition’s most significant items - the blindfold used to cover Eichmann’s eyes - which will now be displayed to the public after being transferred to the Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center museum at Glilot.
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