Adolf Eichmann on his role in the Final Solution (1957)

While on trial for war crimes in 1957, Adolf Eichmann gave the following explanation of his role in carrying out the Final Solution:

“I did not take on the job as a senseless exercise. It gave me uncommon joy, I found it fascinating to have to deal with these matters… My job was to catch these enemies and transport them to their destination… I lived in this stuff, otherwise, I would have remained only an assistant, a cog, something soulless…

I thought it over and I realised the necessity for it, I carried it through with all the fanaticism that an old Nazi would expect of himself and that my superiors undoubtedly expected from me. They found me, according to their experience, to be the right man in the right place…

This I say today, in 1957, to my own disadvantage. I could make it easy for myself. I could now claim it was an order I had to carry out because of my oath of allegiance. But that would be just a cheap excuse, which I am not prepared to give… To be frank with you, had we killed all of them, all 10.3 million, I would be happy and say, ‘Alright, we managed to destroy an enemy’…

I suggested the term [Final Solution]. At that time I meant it to describe the elimination of the Jews, their marching out of the German Nation. Later, these harmless words became a camouflage for the killing.”