Obituary | The hangman’s tale

Shalom Nagar was picked by lottery to kill Adolf Eichmann

The Israeli prison officer turned ritual slaughterer died on November 26th, aged 88

Shalom Nagar
Photograph: Geert van Kesteren

At midnight on May 31st 1962, Shalom Nagar looked his prisoner in the eye. They stood perhaps a metre apart, in a room on the second floor of Ramla prison in central Israel. Adolf Eichmann was tied at the wrists, knees and ankles and stood on a trapdoor, as instructed. He still wore his brown plaid slippers. A thick rope was knotted round his neck. He had refused a blindfold. Just before, he had smoked a cigarette and drunk half a cup of white wine. The smell of both was on his breath.

This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Shalom Nagar”

From the December 14th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

John Kinsel Navajo code talker

John Kinsel used his own language to fool the Japanese

One of the last Navajo code-talkers died on October 19th, aged 107

Celeste Caeiro at age 90 holds a bouquet of carnations during a military parade to celebrate the Carnation Revolution's 50th anniversary in Lisbon, Portugal  on April 25th 2024

Celeste Caeiro’s small gesture named a revolution

The Portuguese restaurant worker and single mother died on November 15th, aged 91


Frank Auerbach in his studio

Frank Auerbach aimed only at one memorable image

Britain’s most obsessive figurative painter died on November 11th, aged 93


Baltazar Ushca climbed Chimborazo twice a week

The last Ecuadorean ice-harvester died on October 11th, aged 80

Quincy Jones ruled popular music for half a century

The producer, arranger and film-score writer died on November 3rd, aged 91

Lily Ebert lived to share her story of Auschwitz

The Holocaust survivor and memoirist died on October 9th, aged 100