Born in the Rhineland, Eichmann grew up in Austria and joined the Austrian National Socialist party in 1932. In 1933, he moved to Germany and enlisted in the Austrian unit of the SS, serving at Dachau. In October 1934, Eichmann volunteered for the SD central office. At first dealing with Freemasons, in 1935 he joined the newly founded Jewish section, under Herbert Hagen. Eichmann became the chief planner and executor of SS anti-Jewish operations. In 1937, he and Hagen were sent to Palestine, afterward concluding that a Jewish state was not in the Reich's interest. Following the annexation of Austria in March 1938, Eichmann, in Vienna, organised the emigration of Jews. He evolved a method of forced emigration consisting of undermining the economic condition of the Jews by confiscation of their property; terror; and seizing control of Jewish communal institutions and forcing their leaders to co-operate. To streamline the forced emigration process, Eichmann set up the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in August 1938. He also expelled Jews directly across the Austrian border. In January 1939, in the wake of Kristallnacht, Hermann Goering set up the Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Germany, on the pattern of the Central Office in Vienna. Later in 1939, Eichmann also founded a Central Office in Prague. Eichmann's authority over Jewish policies grew rapidly. Following the creation in September 1939 of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office; RSHA), he was appointed head of the Jewish section in the Gestapo, whose chief was Heinrich Mueller. Eichmann's authority exceeded that of a section chief and in practice he worked under Reinhard Heydrich, but sometimes he worked directly with Heinrich Himmler. In 1939 and 1940, Eichmann played a central role in the deportation of Poles and Jews from the Polish areas that had been incorporated into the Reich. He established the pattern for mass expulsion of Jews, which was used throughout the rest of the Nazi period. In October 1940, he personally led the expulsion of 6,500 Jews from Baden-Pfalz and the Saar to the south of France, apparently in connection to the Madagascar Plan. By this time, he was in undisputed control of the Jews of the Reich. Several months before the launching of the "Final Solution," Eichmann's office received this designation: IV B4 in the RSHA. Eichmann now became involved in preparations for the implementation of the new policy. In October 1941, he took part in discussions about the "Final Solution," and he prepared the Wannsee Conference on Heydrich's orders, later keeping minutes at the meeting. It was from office IV B4 that orders for the time and place of departure of deportation transports went out. After the war, Eichmann went into hiding, and with the help of the Vatican, reached Argentina. In May 1960, he was captured by the Israeli Security Service and in April 1961, was tried in Jerusalem. Found guilty, he was sentenced to death and hanged on June 1, 1962.
