美国国家公共电台 NPR The Doctor Who Helped Israeli Spies Catch Eichmann But Refused Recognition For It

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Israel's secret operation to capture Nazi¹ officer Adolf Eichmann has been retold over and over in books and movies. The agents were crowned national heroes in Israel, but one key figure remained in the shadows with his own secret to keep. It's only come to light in recent years. NPR's Daniel Estrin tells the story.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE²: At the center of this story is an old, tarnished³ needle, like for a syringe. It's attached to a little metal handle with some leather wrapped around it.

So then just took out this silver box out of his briefcase⁴?

DANNY ELIAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ESTRIN: Oh, wow. That's...

ELIAN: Eichmann needle, OK?

ESTRIN: Eichmann needle.

This was the needle used to sedate⁶ Adolf Eichmann, the man who oversaw⁷ the deportation⁸ of Jews to their deaths in the Holocaust⁹. After the war, Eichmann escaped to Argentina. Agents for the Mossad, Israel's version of the CIA, tracked him down and captured him in 1960. But they knew they'd have to get him through an airport to a plane. They put him in a flight crew uniform, and an Israeli doctor drugged him.

AVNER AVRAHAM: That's why the doctor was with him. He needed to keep him like a puppet.

ESTRIN: Former Mossad agent and Eichmann expert Avner Avraham.

AVRAHAM: Like, he's not sleeping. He cannot speak. He cannot scream. He cannot - he looks very sick.

ESTRIN: The mission succeeded. And Eichmann was flown to Israel to stand trial, where Holocaust survivors¹⁰ told their stories before the eyes of the world. Then Eichmann was hanged.

This is the story of the doctor on the Mossad team who injected the sedative¹¹ into Eichmann's arm during the capture. He wasn't a spy. He was a renowned¹² anesthesiologist, Dr. Yonah Elian. He died several years ago, but I met his son Danny in a cafe. Like his dad, Danny is also a doctor. He was a teenager when he overheard from a friend about his dad's role in capturing Eichmann. His dad never wanted to talk about it.

ELIAN: (Through interpreter) Many times I asked him, Abba, why won't you talk about this? What's so secret? Everybody knows about it, so what's the big deal?

ESTRIN: Eventually, his father gave him a little.

ELIAN: (Through interpreter) He'll talk about that as a doctor, he didn't feel quite right about using his knowledge, his power against somebody's will. It's against the Hippocratic oath.

ESTRIN: The Hippocratic oath, the pledge that med students take that a doctor should first do no harm to their patients.

ELIAN: (Through interpreter) I told him. I understand the argument, but the Hippocratic Oath is - I mean, it's so unfitting for the situation. And I told him, Abba, this is not just any person. This is Eichmann. We're talking about a mass murderer, mass killer¹³. But that's - he was adamant¹⁴ about that.

ESTRIN: His father even refused to go to the Israeli Parliament to accept an award for his role. Something here was strange. Israel is a country where so much is up for debate, but there's no debate about Eichmann. The doctor's daughter Miri Halperin Wernli didn't pry¹⁵.

MIRI HALPERIN WERNLI: It's not that unusual. Many people are involved in the Mossad in Israel. There are things that you don't ask.

ESTRIN: And there was something else their father didn't talk about. It only came to light many years later when Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman published an expose about a secret government vault¹⁶.

RONEN BERGMAN: In that safe, they found a file which proved that something that was whispered as a sort of an urban legend throughout the years was, in fact, 100% right.

ESTRIN: It was a story of a different Mossad kidnapping, of an Israeli army officer accused of trying to sell military secrets to the Egyptian embassy in Rome. Agents put him on a plane back to Israel to stand trial, and they recruited Dr. Elian to sedate him for the flight. But the doctor's drugs somehow killed the Israeli officer. This would not make the Mossad look good in Israel.

BERGMAN: We do not kill Jews.

ESTRIN: The Mossad doesn't kill Jews. So the plane flies back up over the Mediterranean¹⁷ Sea, and the body is tossed out of the plane. Dr. Elian is ordered to keep quiet about the cover-up. Decades later, the journalist exposes the story, and Danny confronts his father about what happened. His father tells him it was an old military plane, and the atmospheric¹⁸ conditions affected¹⁹ the way the man reacted to the sedative. And that's why he died. It's not an emotional confession²⁰. It's more like two doctors discussing a case.

ELIAN: (Through interpreter) But I know that this thing, like, this story, this incident really sat with my father. I mean, it really, really stayed with him.

ESTRIN: By this time, his father was in his 80s, and one day he told Danny he had something to show him. It was the needle he used to drug Eichmann, kept in a little plastic baggie with a label in English, Eichmann needle. Danny didn't even know his father had kept it. And then just some months later, the doctor took his own life. Danny says it was because his father was getting old and ill and depressed²¹. He left no note, but he did leave the needle.

HALPERIN WERNLI: It was a significant needle for him.

ESTRIN: The doctor's daughter, Miri.

HALPERIN WERNLI: I think it meant something to him without expressing what it was.

ESTRIN: But Danny wanted to learn more about the missions his father wouldn't discuss. One of the people who paid a condolence call after his father's death was legendary²² spymaster Rafi Eitan. He promised to tell Danny some stories about his dad.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR OPENING)

RAFI EITAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ELIAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ESTRIN: Danny and I went to see him a year before the spymaster himself died. He'd recruited the doctor for the Eichmann mission.

EITAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ESTRIN: He spoke⁵ about the failed mission and about the Eichmann capture. After the meeting, as we were driving away, Danny said he came away with clarity.

ELIAN: Much a need - take-home message (foreign language spoken).

ESTRIN: He now understood the timeline. The mission where the man died and was thrown out of the plane was his dad's first mission with the Mossad. The way Danny sees it, despite the trauma²³ that caused his father, when his country needed him again to capture Eichmann, he got back on a plane. For Danny, that made his father a hero.

ELIAN: Eichmann needle, OK?

ESTRIN: Can I hold it? (Foreign language spoken).

ELIAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ESTRIN: The last time I saw Danny, he let me hold the needle. For a while, he donated it to a Mossad exhibit about the Eichmann capture. But then he took it back. He felt like it belonged in the family. It connected two moments in his dad's life when he served his country. In one, he was supposed to be a hero - in the other, a ghost.

ELIAN: (Foreign language spoken).

ESTRIN: Danny says the needle is important but can't replace the stories and confessions²⁴ his dad never told. So he keeps it in a drawer at home. And one day, he'll give it to his children and let them decide what to do with the legacy²⁵. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

1 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

4 briefcase   

n.手提箱，公事皮包

参考例句：

• He packed a briefcase with what might be required.他把所有可能需要的东西都装进公文包。
• He requested the old man to look after the briefcase.他请求那位老人照看这个公事包。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 sedate   

adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的

参考例句：

• After the accident,the doctor gave her some pills to sedate her.事故发生后，医生让她服了些药片使她镇静下来。
• We spent a sedate evening at home.我们在家里过了一个恬静的夜晚。

7 oversaw   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He will go down as the president who oversaw two historic transitions. 他将作为见证了巴西两次历史性转变的总统，安然引退。 来自互联网
• Dixon oversaw the project as creative director of Design Research Studio. 狄克逊监督项目的创意总监设计研究工作室。 来自互联网

8 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

9 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

10 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

11 sedative   

adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西

参考例句：

• After taking a sedative she was able to get to sleep.服用了镇静剂后，她能够入睡了。
• Amber bath oil has a sedative effect.琥珀沐浴油有镇静安神效用。

12 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

13 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

14 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

15 pry   

vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起)

参考例句：

• He's always ready to pry into other people's business.他总爱探听别人的事。
• We use an iron bar to pry open the box.我们用铁棍撬开箱子。

16 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

17 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

18 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

19 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

20 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

21 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

22 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

23 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

24 confessions   

n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔

参考例句：

• It is strictly forbidden to obtain confessions and to give them credence. 严禁逼供信。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions. 既不诱供也不逼供。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

25 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。