Killing the SS by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard

Author:Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

16

MAY 31, 1962

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

LATE EVENING

Zvi Aharoni may soon confront the Angel of Death.

The Israeli spy nervously fingers his passport, just moments away from entering Argentina for the first time in two years. He will do so illegally, under a false name—and not by choice.

Since returning to Israel he has transferred from Shin Bet to work full-time for the Mossad. Isser Harel has placed him in charge of a new division within the agency focused on hunting for Nazi criminals. Now Aharoni is returning to South America to find and capture the brutal Nazi killer Dr. Josef Mengele. Acting on a tip from a former SS officer, Aharoni has reason to believe the heinous murderer is hiding in the pro-Nazi country of Paraguay—Aharoni’s intended destination tonight.

But bad weather has forced a change of plans. Because of wind shear, Aharoni’s plane could not land at his scheduled stopover in Montevideo, Uruguay, and has set down in Argentina. The Mossad forbids any agent involved in the Eichmann kidnapping from returning to that country. Some Argentineans are still bitter about Israel’s aggressiveness and are eager for revenge. The arrest and subsequent trial of a Mossad agent would be a scene of humiliation for both Aharoni and Israel itself.

Yet Zvi Aharoni has no choice. Buenos Aires’s Ezeiza Airport is closing. There are no other flights until morning. So Aharoni must spend the night in Argentina.

On the ground, Aharoni waits to present his fake passport to the Argentinean authorities.

Mossad forgers have been meticulous in preparing his papers, so Aharoni’s chances of getting caught are small. Yet as he steps forward in the customs line, the spy cannot help but feel a twinge of nervousness: there is always the chance something might go wrong.

Zvi Aharoni should not be here at all. He was invited to be an eyewitness at the Eichmann execution, which is due to take place any day now. He attended the trial, where he sat in the front row and locked eyes with the man he so famously kidnapped. “I am not sure whether Eichmann recognized me,” Aharoni will admit in his autobiography. “He looked directly at us several times, but did not give any sign that he knew who I was.”

The spy is satisfied with the guilty verdict but has no wish to attend the hanging. Aharoni recognizes the evil within the former Nazi, but he has also come to know Eichmann very well and might be haunted by the sight of the condemned murderer dangling from a gallows.

“Fortunately, I was spared the dilemma,” Aharoni will write, referring to his new Mengele assignment.

In Buenos Aires, the customs agent motions for Aharoni to step forward.

The spy does as he is told.

* * *

Although Aharoni will not witness it himself, danger lurks for Jews in Argentina.

University of Buenos Aires science major Graciela Narcisa Sirota learns this while waiting at a bus stop in June 1962. Fascist militant groups such as the Tacuara have become more active in their persecution of Jews since the Eichmann

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