Adolf Eichmann: The Mind of a War Criminal

Page 3 of 7

• 1. Early influences
• 2. Drawn to the Nazis
• 3. The Jewish question
• 4. Business practice
• 5. The Final Solution
• 6. Tape recordings
• 7. Find out more
• Print entire article

The Jewish question

Von Mildenstein took a special interest in Zionism and Jewish emigration to Palestine as a solution to Germany's 'Jewish Question'. He encouraged Eichmann to study Jewish society and history so as better to understand the Jewish enemy. Eichmann excelled and earned a series of promotions, but the SD was a minor part of the SS machine at this time and its Jewish section was a backwater. Other departments of the Third Reich set the pace regarding policy on the Jews. Eichmann rose to prominence in this field only because from the mid 1930s the SD under Reinhardt Heydrich targeted Jewish issues and built a reputation as a centre for clear, scientific thinking on race.

'... he warned the SD that it would be foolish to promote a strong Jewish state.'

While rabble-rousers like Joseph Goebbels railed against the Jews, and called for ever harsher but directionless measures against them, the SD quietly promoted Jewish emigration. To this end Eichmann contacted Zionist envoys and even made a visit to Palestine in 1937.

This trip, aborted after one day, revealed the true extent of his sympathy for Zionism: he warned the SD that it would be foolish to promote a strong Jewish state. Instead, it should encourage Jewish emigration to backward countries where they would live in poverty. Soon after he completed this mission, Eichmann was assigned to the SD in Vienna.

NextPrevious