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Adolf Eichmann

58 quotes

“To sum it all up, I must say that I regret nothing.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: While awaiting trial in Israel, as quoted in LIFE magazine (5 December 1960).
“I was only carrying out the orders of the Zionists. They asked me to gather the Jews in a specific place in the world, using expulsion or murder. First, their target was Poland, then Madagascar, but in the end they chose the Middle East. If I am guilty of the so- called killing of 6 million Jews then the Zionist leaders are much guiltier than I am. This is because they wanted to silence the world under the pretext that if they had stayed in Germany they would have been killed. Because they don’t have a country they are forced to occupy other people’s land. And that is what they did.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eichmann Trial on December 17, 1961 as cited in From Empathy to Denial: Arab Response to the Holocaust (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).
“Over the years I learned which hooks to use to catch which fish.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Audiotape recording of Eichmann in Argentina (1957), as quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer by Bettina Stangneth (2015). .
“Regret is something for little children.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: During cross-examination at his trial, session 96, July 13, 1961, as quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“It was actually an achievement that was never matched before or since.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1815 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About the deportation of more than 400,000 Jews from Hungary in several weeks as quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (1815).
“Adolf Hitler may have been wrong all down the line, but one thing is beyond dispute: the man was able to work his way up from lance corporal in the German Army to Führer of a people of almost 80 million. … His success alone proved that I should subordinate myself to this man.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Eichmann Memoir" in The Personalist Volume XLII (1962).
“My political sentiments inclined toward the left and emphasized the socialist aspects every bit as much as the nationalist ones.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eichmann's memoir False Gods, quoted in Gotz Aly, Hitler's Beneficiaries. How the Nazis Bought the German People (London: Verso, 2007), pp. 16-17.
“Our opinion at the time was that National Socialism and the Communism of the Soviet Republic were sort of 'siblings’. And it may also be that this attitude was peculiar especially to an Austrian SS member. For his enemies at that time were not Social Democracy and Communism; these were combated by the Austrian aristocracy as much as he himself was;…”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: False Gods: The Jerusalem Memoirs, London: UK, Black House Publishing (2015) p. 75
“Whether they were bank directors or mental cases, the people who were loaded on those trains meant nothing to me. It was really none of my business.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Religion and Public Education (1967) by Nicholas Wolterstorf.
“I was never an anti-Semite. … My sensitive nature revolted at the sight of corpses and blood... I personally had nothing to do with this. My job was to observe and report on it.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Consensus and Controversy: Defending Pope Pius XII (2002) by Sister Margherita Marchione, p. 71.
“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.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Before his execution in Jerusalem (1 June 1962), as quoted in Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, and Trial of a "Desk Murderer" by David Cesarani (2006), p. 321. .
“I hope that all of you will follow me.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mumbled just before being hanged, according to Rafi Eitan, an Israeli intelligence officer who was standing behind Eichmann during the execution, as quoted in Mitch Ginsburg, "Eichmann's Final Barb" in The Times of Isra…
“Hätten wir 10,3 Millionen Juden getötet, dann wäre ich befriedigt und würde sagen, gut, wir haben einen Feind vernichtet. … Ich war kein normaler Befehlsempfänger, dann wäre ich ein Trottel gewesen, sondern ich habe mitgedacht, ich war ein Idealist gewesen.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Post-war discussion with Willem Sassen in Eichmanns Memoiren. Ein kritischer Essay (Zuerst 2001) Frankfurt/M.: Fischer TB, 2004
“During cross-examination, prosecutor Hausner asked Eichmann if he considered himself guilty of the murder of millions of Jews. Eichmann replied: "Legally not, but in the human sense … yes, for I am guilty of having deported them". When Hausner produced as evidence a quote by Eichmann in 1945 stating: "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 countered the claim saying that he was referring only to "enemies of the Reich".”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Knappmann, Edward W. (1997). "The Adolf Eichmann Trial, 1961". Great World Trials. Detroit: Gale Research, pp. 332-337.
“I have them completely in hand here, they dare not take a step without first consulting me.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Herbert Hagen about the Jewish community in Vienna (1938), as quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“It was my job to catch our Jewish enemies like fish in a net and transport them to their final destination.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Nazi Hunters by Neal Bascomb (2013). .
“My heart was light and joyful in my work, because the decisions were not mine.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At his trial, as quoted by Alan Rosenthal, "Eichmann, Revisited" in The Jerusalem Post (20 April 2011).
“I knew that in this 'promised land' of South America I had a few good friends, to whom I could say openly, freely and proudly that I am Adolf Eichmann, former SS Obersturmbannführer.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1961 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meine Flucht, a memoir written by Eichmann in 1961, as quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“In Hungary in 1944, Eichmann introduced himself this way: "Do you know who I am? I am a bloodhound!”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“After the [[w:Wannsee Conference|[Wannsee] conference]], Heydrich, Müller and myself sat cozily around the fireplace. We had drinks. We had brandy. We sang songs. After a while, we got up on chairs and drank a toast. Then we got up on the tables and went round and round. On the chairs. On the tables. Then we sat around peacefully, giving ourselves a rest after so many exhausting hours.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Alan Rosenthal, "Eichmann, Revisited" in The Jerusalem Post (20 April 2011).
“Eichmann boasted about anything that seemed at all plausible to him: his genuinely close ties to the highest powers in Hungary; his somewhat indirect contact with the powers of the Third Reich; his access to everything from a "personal aircraft" to direct control of the gas chambers at Auschwitz. ... He threatened his victims with the prospect that after the "final victory," Hitler would make him "World Commissar of the Jews.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“After the speech he looked at us ironically and added softly: "Otherwise you would die". The words were icy but the tone like velvet, almost friendly.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Benjamin Murmelstein, Theresienstadt: Eichmanns Vorzeige-Ghetto, , as quoted in Eichmann's Jews: The Jewish Administration of Holocaust Vienna, 1938-1945 by Doron Rabinovici (2014), .
“Eichmann ... found all bureaucracy by definition tiresome. This was what staff were for. "These matters to do with bureaucracy," he explained to Sassen [in Argentina], "I just relied on my civil servants for them". He deployed these "living articles," like Ernst Moes and Fritz Wöhrn, as "bureaucratic brakes.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bettina Stangneth, Eichmann Before Jerusalem (2015).
“Brand was then conveyed to Eichmann's office in the Hotel Majestic and ushered into his presence. Eichmann, resplendent in his SS uniform, stood in front of his desk and started barking at him: 'You ... do you know who I am? I am in charge of the Aktion! In Europe, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria it has been completed, now it is Hungary's turn.'”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: David Cesarani, Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, and Trial of a "Desk Murderer" (2006), p. 175. .
“I loved playing an open hand against all the Jewish political functionaries ... For me, 'open hand' is a winged word.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“I will simply not do penance.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) first seen 1956 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A text handwritten by Eichmann in 1956, as quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).
“As my chief, Gruppenführer Müller expressed it, they were sending in the master himself, so I wanted to behave like a master.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have to forge my weapons according to the strength of the resistance.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While we were working with the Jews to solve the Jewish question, the others used the Jews as a means to an end, to milk them for their own ends.... And this is why there are still a whole lot of Jews enjoying life today who ought to have been gassed.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They knew me wherever I went. Through the press, the name Eichmann had emerged as a symbol.... In any case, the word Jew ... was irreversibly linked with the word Eichmann. Much more power ... was attributed to me than I actually had.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The men in my command had the kind of respect for me that prompted the Jews to effectively set me on a throne.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only good enemy of the Reich is a dead one. In particular I have to add, when I received an order, I always carried out this order with the executioner, and I am proud of that to this day.... If I had not done this, they would not have gone to the butcher.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was here, there and everywhere, you never knew when I was going to show up. I was a traveler.... I was able to creep into every territory of our corner of Europe.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Müller said to me once, if we'd had fifty Eichmanns, we'd have won the war for sure. And I was proud. That should have given you an insight into my interior - since you don't know me, not from within, and that is important.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody else was such a household name in Jewish political life at home and abroad in Europe as little old me.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I sometimes said to the important Jews, when I had them, something like: 'Well then, do you know where you are? You're with the Czar of the Jews. Don't you know that, didn't you see the Pariser Tageblatt?!'”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every department was trying to squeeze everything possible out of the Jews, to winkle it out by threatening them with the big bad Eichmann.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“These Jew-treks, as I called them, were carried out in the most elegant way.... I can tell you today that I saw two bodies on the whole route, they were old Jews - it's clear, you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. And were no eggs broken when much larger contingents of Germans marched from the East after 1945?”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before my people bite the dust, the whole world should bite the dust, and then my people. But only then!”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now through the vagaries of fortune, most of these 10.3 million Jews remained alive, so I say to myself: fate wished it so. I have to subordinate myself to fate and destiny. I am just a little man and don't have to fight against this, and I couldn't, and I don't want to.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is hard, what I have told you, I know, and I will be condemned for being so hard in my phrasing, but I cannot tell you anything else, for it is the truth! Why should I deny it?”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the Lüneberg Heath, it was near where Bergen-Belsen had been, and everything round there smelled of garlic and it was all Jews, because who was buying anything at that time? Only the Jews, and then I said to myself, I, I who was bargaining with Jews over wood and eggs, I was amazed and astounded, and I thought you see - goddammit! They all should have been killed, and there those fellas are, doing deals with me, you know?”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Obeying an order was the most important thing to me. It could be that is in the nature of the German.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From my childhood, obedience was something I could not get out of my system. When I entered the armed services at the age of 27, I found being obedient not a bit more difficult than it had been during my life to that point. It was unthinkable that I would not follow orders.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now that I look back, I realize that a life predicated on being obedient and taking orders is a very comfortable life indeed. Living in such a way reduces to a minimum one's own need to think.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was sent to Treblinka, Minsk, Lemberg and Auschwitz. When I see the images before my eyes, it all comes back to me … Corpses, corpses, corpses. Shot, gassed, decaying corpses. They seemed to pop out of the ground when a grave was opened. It was a delirium of blood. It was an inferno, a hell, and I felt I was going insane.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am certain, however, that those responsible for the murder of millions of Germans will never be brought to justice.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I witnessed the gruesome workings of the machinery of death; gear meshed with gear, like clockwork. It was the biggest and most enormous dance of death of all times.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I arrived at the place of the execution, the gunmen fired into a pit the size of several rooms. They fired from small submachine guns. As I arrived, I saw a Jewish woman and a small child in her arms in the pit. I wanted to pull out the child, but then a bullet smashed the skull of the child. My driver wiped brain particles from my leather coat.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Because I have seen hell, death and the devil, because I had to watch the madness of destruction, because I was one of the many horses pulling the wagon and couldn't escape left or right because of the will of the driver, I now feel called upon and have the desire to tell what happened.”
Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source