1960s Timeline

Apr. 25, 1962 - A Protestant minister who has been meeting with Adolf Eichmann in his prison cell in Israel has described the former Nazi officer as “the hardest man I ever saw.” The Rev. William Hull gave his impression of Eichmann in a letter to relatives in Winnipeg. Mr. Hull, who has lived in Jerusalem since 1935 and is pastor of a nondenominational mission there, has visited Eichmann twice in his cell. The former Nazi officer is awaiting action on his appeal against a de

Jan. 22, 1962 - Karl Wolff (second from left), a former Nazi S.S. general who was a prominent figure in German-Allied peace negotiations in 1945, is being held on suspicion of crimes against the Jewish people. The Bavarian Justice Minister said Wolff was suspected of complicity in the mass murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. He is said to have deported as many as 300,000 Jews to the Treblinka death camp, where they were murdered. The 62-year-old general, once Chief of Sta

Aug. 14, 1961 - The trial of Adolf Eichmann, which began April 11 and involved some of the most sickening testimony every heard in a courtroom, ended today. Eichmann was accused of a leading role in the murder of 6 million men, women and children during World War II. Judge Moshe Landau announced that the verdict would not be ready before November. The former Obersturmbannführer of the Gestapo, who sat ashen-faced and quiet in his glass cage during the final summation, picked

Aug. 10, 1961 - Attorney General Gideon Hausner demanded today the conviction of Adolf Eichmann as a merciless and insatiable murderer of millions of Jews. Closing Israel's case against the former Nazi officer, Mr. Hausner asked the tribunal to find Eichmann guilty of all counts of an indictment charging crimes against the Jewish people and crimes against humanity. Twelve of the fifteen counts carry the death penalty. "Judges of Israel," Mr. Hausner cried at the climax of his

Aug. 9, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy has informed Republican Senator Kenneth B. Keating of New York that he opposes branding the American Nazi party as a subversive group because it would give the Nazis free publicity. Mr. Kennedy said in a letter to Sen. Keating that the Justice Department and "all sensible Americans" despised the Nazi doctrines. The party is being watched closely, he said. But Mr. Kennedy said that steps to place the Nazis on the Justice Depart

Aug. 8, 1961 - Israel's Attorney General, Gideon Hausner, began today a wrathful summation of Israel's case against Adolf Eichmann (pictured). He portrayed the former Gestapo officer as an unrepentant henchman of Hitler. Attacking the defense plea that Eichmann was a minor desk-bound bureaucrat in the Nazi plot to kill the Jews, Mr. Hausner placed Eichmann "in the center of the slaughterhouse." The prosecutor said that Eichmann had expressed "not one syllable of remorse" desp

Aug. 7, 1961 - Summations in the trial of Adolf Eichmann will begin tomorrow in Jerusalem. Attorney General Gideon Hausner will demand conviction on all 15 counts of the indictment against the former Nazi officer, who is accused of a major role in the wartime murder of millions of Jews and others. Nine of the counts carry the death penalty. According to a defense source, Eichmann is under no illusions about his chances for escaping the gallows. Eichmann admitted that he knew

July 24, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann completed his testimony today before an Israeli tribunal trying him on charges of having directed the annihilation of millions of Jews and others during World War II. The tall, gaunt former Nazi officer was icily self-possessed when he was finally excused this morning after 25 days on the witness stand. Eichmann will not be heard from again until after the court reaches its judgment in October or November. When the verdict is announced and if he

July 21, 1961 - The cross-examination of Adolf Eichmann by Israeli Attorney General Gideon Hausner has ended and the three judges are now questioning the prisoner. The former Gestapo lieutenant is on trial for his life on charges of having murdered millions of Jews during World War II. Today Judge Benyamin Halevi (left) said to Eichmann: "To have the courage not to give a hand to committing crimes - this might have been difficult at the time. But what about the present? Do yo

July 18, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann admitted at his trial today that the supplying of 150 skeletons of Jews for the skull collection of Heinrich Himmler (pictured) had been a matter referred to him. But it was a "very strange" request, "completely outside my sphere," Eichmann contended. "I was no dealer in skulls," Eichmann protested to his Israeli judges as he told of the request by Himmler, chief of the Nazi S.S. On trial for his role in the murder of millions of Jews in World W

July 10, 1961 - Mildred Gillars (pictured in 1949) was released from the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, W. Va., today. The 60-year-old Nazi propagandist was paroled after serving 12 years of a 30-year term for treason. She became known as "Axis Sally" for her World War II broadcasts from Germany aimed at Allied troops. She played nostalgic songs to the G.I.'s while wondering aloud about the faithfulness of wives and sweethearts back home. She also aired the names

July 10, 1961 - At the trial of Adolf Eichmann today, prosecutor Gideon Hausner employed heavy sarcasm, addressing the former Nazi officer in the glass-enclosed cage as "Herr Obersturmbannfuehrer" - Mr. Lieutenant Colonel - referring to Eichmann's rank in the S.S. forces. Mr. Hausner got him to admit that when he compiled his memoirs in Argentina five years ago he said Jews must be "exterminated." "But I did not mean physical extermination," Eichmann protested. At this the pr

July 7, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann, wilting under the first blast of cross-examination, admitted moral guilt today as an accomplice in the wartime annihilation of millions of Jews by the Nazis. But he insisted that legally he was innocent. He protested that he had been a soldier under orders and that the legal guilt lay with those who had given the orders. Deathly pale, swaying slightly in his bullet-proof glass cage, Eichmann replied, "Menschlich gesehen, ja" (From a human

July 6, 1961 - Adolf Eichmann (pictured in 1942) proclaimed today his innocence of charges that he had been a key accomplice in the Nazi annihilation of millions of Jews. The former Gestapo officer told the Israeli tribunal that his only connection with Auschwitz and other extermination camps had consisted of visiting them as an observer. He never gave "advice or tips" to the Nazis running the gas chambers and crematories, he asserted. Eichmann testified that he hated what he