Micha Maor, survivor and spy who helped convict Eichmann, dies at 86
While working for the Mossad, Maor obtained documents proving Nazi’s involvement in the extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust
Michael (Micha) Maor, a Holocaust survivor who later worked for the Mossad to help obtain proof used to convict Adolf Eichmann, has died. He was 86.
Maor died Tuesday and will be laid to rest Wednesday at 11:00 AM in the central city of Modi’in, the Ynet news site reported.
Maor, who was born in 1933 in Halberstadt, Germany, fled the Nazis with his parents, first to Spain and then to Yugoslavia. His parents were killed when German forces entered Yugoslavia in 1944 and he survived the rest of the war in an orphanage before making his way to Palestine in 1945.
Following military service as a paratrooper and officer, he studied photography in Germany, while working for the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency.
“Among other professional achievements, he attained documents from the offices of the General Prosecutor of Baden Essen proving Eichmann’s involvement in the extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust,” according to Yad Vashem.
Eichmann, who was responsible for organizing the genocide of European Jewry Europe after World War II, but the Mossad, captured him in 1960 in Argentina and smuggled back to Israel.
Eichmann was convicted on 15 criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the Jewish people, and was sentenced to death on June 1, 1962 — the only time Israel has enacted the death penalty.
Back in Israel, Maor continued to work as a photojournalist while, at the same time, assisting the Mossad. After another stint in the IDF, he established the intelligence branch of the Border Guards in the Israel Police, serving as their national intelligence officer for 15 years.
He is survived by his wife Sarah, three children and four grandchildren.
