Sixty years after the capture and trial of Nazi henchman Adolf Eichmann, a hidden story comes to light
The first startling letter I uncovered was written in July 1953 by Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It marked the first time the US government had received a public request for information about a Nazi war criminal:
Dear Mr. President,
May I respectfully bring to your attention the following important request and I cordially urge your kind consideration of this vital matter.
An item appeared in the newspapers of July 5th that the infamous Nazi mass murderer, Karl (Adolf) Eichmann, was seen travelling on the Damascus train in the company of the notorious Mufti and the Nazi General Katzmann. Eichmann was sought far and wide after the last war by military and diplomatic agents who desired to bring him to trail for his vast crimes…
I, personally, being connected with many rescue endeavors during the war and coming in contact with living witnesses, have substantial proof about this man’s heinous acts of willful murder against untold thousands.
May I therefore appeal to you, Mr. President, in the name of democracy and human decency, to use your power of office to apprehend this mass murderer so that he may be stopped from further acts of tyranny and slaughter and cease to be a menace to freedom loving peoples everywhere….
You, who have fought the cause of freedom so valiantly, should use every effort to stop this man….
Respectfully Yours,
Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz,
President and Dean
Mirrer Yeshiva Central Institute
What was this? Was the great Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz ztz”l a Nazi hunter? Did the American government take his request seriously? Did he have some special in with the president? As I read through more of the file and did some additional research, a clearer story began to emerge.
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