June 1, 1962: Adolf Eichmann is hanged at Ayalon Prison in Ramla, Israel.
Born in 1906 in Solingen, in what is now the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, he was a Colonel in the SS (Schutzstaffel, "Protection Squadron"), the most notorious of Nazi Germany's paramilitary groups. He was tasked with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of millions of Jewish people to ghettos and extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II.
When the Nazis surrendered, he was in American custody. But the American troops didn't know who he was or what he'd done, so they didn't secure him as well as they should have. He escaped, first to Italy, and then to Argentina, one of many Nazi war criminals to escape to that country, whose government has usually tended to the right wing.
He changed his name. His son, also living there, did not, and found a girlfriend, whose father had survived the camps, and recognized the name. The word was passed along, and on May 11, 1960, agents of Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency, captured him, and took him back to Israel.
Many Nazi war criminals were tried in their native country right after World War II, for "crimes against humanity." Eichmann turned out to be the only one tried in Israel for "crimes against the Jewish people."
He went on trial in Jerusalem on April 11, 1961, and, as with many of those tried in Nuremberg in 1946, his defense was that he was "just following orders," saying that he never actually killed anyone. (Saying that he never personally committed any murders was also Charles Manson's defense.)
The prosecution had enough documentary evidence to prove that he had not merely been following orders, but believed in the Nazi cause wholeheartedly, and had been a key perpetrator of the genocide. They found correspondence where he admitted, "I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction." Eichmann testified that he meant "enemies of the Reich," such as the Soviet Union. During later examination, he admitted he meant the Jews, and said the remark was an accurate reflection of his opinion at the time.
Throughout the trial, he was kept behind bulletproof glass. The State of Israel did not want him to be shot by someone sneaking a gun into the courtroom: The nation knew that he had to receive due process, so that the Jewish people would get justice, not merely vengeance.
There were 112 witnesses, many of them Holocaust survivors. Eichmann was unrepentant. The trial adjourned on August 14, and the verdict was read on December 12: Guilty on 15 counts. Three days later, he was sentenced to death.
A few minutes after midnight, on June 1, 1962, Eichmann was taken to the gallows at Ayalon Prison. His final official statement: "Long live Germany. Long live Argentina. Long live Austria. These are the three countries with which I have been most connected, and which I will not forget. I greet my wife, my family and my friends. I am ready. We'll meet again soon, as is the fate of all men. I die believing in God." Rafi Eitan, one of the Mossad agents who captured him, attended the execution, and claimed that his actual last words were, "I hope that all of you will follow me." A devoted Nazi to the end.
To prevent neo-Nazis from making pilgrimages to his final resting place, he was denied one: Within hours of the hanging, he was cremated, and his ashes were taken out into the Mediterrenean Sea, outside Israeli territorial waters, and scattered.
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June 1, 1962 was a Friday. Football, basketball and hockey were out of season. The World Cup was in progress in Chile, but no games were played that day. These Major League Baseball games were:
* The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels, 6-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ralph Terry, who went on to win the Cy Young Award that season, outpitched Bo Belinsky, who had recently pitched a no-hitter. Bill "Moose" Skowron hit a home run. Mickey Mantle was injured and did not play. Roger Maris moved over from right to center field, and went 0-for-3, although he did draw a walk. Yogi Berra also did not play.
* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 9-6 at the Polo Grounds. The Giants, apparently glad to be back in the ballpark they called home from 1911 to 1957, got home runs from Willie McCovey (2 of them), Willie Mays and Jim Davenport. The Mets got them from Rod Kanehl and Félix Mantilla.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, 11-4 and 8-5. The winning pitchers were Stan Williams and Don Drysdale. (Sandy Koufax did not appear.) Maury Wills went 3-for-9 with 2 RBIs in the game, but, in a season in which he set a new single-season record with 104 stolen bases, he didn't steal any in this twinbill.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4, although he did draw a walk. Charley Smith singled home the winning run for the ChiSox in the top of the 11th inning.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Colt .45s, 8-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. (The Colts were renamed the Astros in 1965.) Roberto Clemente went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline did not play for the Tigers.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Frank Robinson and Ernie Banks each went 1-for-4, but Robinson also had an RBI.
* The Milwaukee Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Stan Musial went 1-for-3. Hank Aaron went 2-for-3. Bob Shaw pitched a 5-hit shutout.
* The Washington Senators beat the Minnesota Twins, who used to be the Washington Senators, 4-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4, but did draw 2 walks. Chuck Hinton won the game with a home run in the top of the 12th ining.
* And the Kansas City Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-2 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.
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