Operation Finale is the story of the capture of what historic figure?

Operation Finale is the story of the capture of Adolf Eichmann, a senior Nazi official who helped organize the deportation of millions of European Jews during the Holocaust. The 2018 film dramatizes the Israeli Mossad operation that located and seized him in Argentina in 1960.

Eichmann had escaped Europe after World War II and lived under the alias Ricardo Klement near Buenos Aires. Israeli agents identified him, captured him on May 11, 1960, and secretly transported him to Israel aboard an El Al aircraft. His capture became an international incident because Argentina objected that its sovereignty had been violated.

Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem began in 1961 and was widely reported around the world. He claimed that he had merely followed orders, but prosecutors presented evidence showing his central role in the Nazi deportation system. He was convicted of crimes against the Jewish people and humanity, sentenced to death, and executed in 1962. The film focuses on the capture rather than retelling the entire Holocaust.