For the first time, British website MailOnline shed light on Friday on the fates of the four sons of Nazi archcriminal Adolf Eichmann—one of the principal organizers of the Holocaust.
Eichmann, the mastermind of the so-called “Final Solution” to rid Europe of its Jews, sent 6 million to their deaths during World War II.
Eichmann had four sons; the three eldest, Klaus, Horst and Dieter, remained loyal to him even after his death. The youngest, Ricardo, rejected him and said his execution was justified.
According to MailOnline, Klaus and Horst are dead, while Ricardo, who was 5 when his father was taken, is living in Germany.
Eichmann’s third son Dieter, now 76, lives in an apartment in Buenos Aries just a few miles from the spot where his father was taken by Mossad agents, but he declined to comment.
Carmen Bretín Lindemann, the mistress of Dieter’s older brother Horst, however, was prepared to reveal what became of the family—and the truth behind the story turned into the Netflix blockbuster starring Ben Kingsley.
Speaking at her home in Garupá, northern Argentina, Lindemann, 61, said Horst was closest to his father and not his eldest son Klaus, as portrayed in the film.
Describing Horst as a “strong Nazi,” she said he flew a swastika above the family home when their father was snatched and often wore a Nazi armband around the house.
“It was a very difficult time when he was in prison in Israel. The family was prepared for his execution. They all knew it would happen. Grandpa Eichmann had once told them that he was tired of being a fugitive. He knew what was coming and the older children knew it, too. They expected it, but it didn’t make it easier. When he was executed, Klaus and Horst became very angry and started attacking Jews. That made things even worse for them,” said Lindemann.
“Horst was a very strong Nazi and believed that his father had done nothing wrong,” continued Lindemann. “Apart from Ricardo, all the brothers agreed that Grandpa Eichmann was innocent. He told his sons that Hitler went after the Jews because they planned to sterilize Germans by putting a chemical in the water. That is why they were killed, he told them. Horst strongly believed that his father had done the right thing. If Horst thought his Grandpa Eichman was guilty, his whole world would have fallen apart.”
After Eichmann’s execution, the MailOnline reported, Horst and Klaus formed a Nazi terror cell that carried out attacks on Jewish businesses and synagogues.
In 1962, following a shoot-out with the cell, police raided their headquarters and unearthed Nazi propaganda, guns and Molotov cocktails intended for an attack on a Jewish school bus. Horst was jailed two years later for possessing firearms and Nazi propaganda material.
According to Lindemann, Eichmann persuaded his sons that he had only wanted to expel the Jews, but was forced to kill them after no other country would accept them.
Eichmann initially told his sons that he was their uncle in order to avoid detection, Lindemann told MailOnline, and that during an argument with Horst he admitted to being their father.