A German attorney who served on Adolf Eichmann’s defense team during his historic trial in Jerusalem was secretly working as an agent for West Germany’s intelligence service, according to a new investigation published by Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Dieter Wechtenbruch, who joined attorney Robert Servatius in defending Eichmann, was operating for West Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, the BND, under the codename “Laqueur” and registration number V-7461.

According to the investigation, Wechtenbruch’s mission was to provide his handlers with inside information about the defense team’s strategy and, crucially, help ensure that Eichmann’s trial did not expose the Nazi pasts of senior officials serving in the West German government at the time.

Wechtenbruch became an influential member of Eichmann’s defense team, serving as its spokesman to journalists and later even appearing in Hannah Arendt’s famous book, “Eichmann in Jerusalem.”

Before the trial, Wechtenbruch was interviewed by an Israeli agent identified by the alias “Almog.” The Israeli operative reportedly spent time with him at a cabaret in Munich and described him to his superiors as representing a “new Germany” free of Nazi stains.

Wechtenbruch died in April 2025. Just months later, a federal court in Leipzig rejected a journalist’s request for the release of documents connected to the affair, citing the need to protect the secrecy of German intelligence methods.

The revelation highlights the extent to which former Nazis continued to occupy influential positions in West Germany following World War II.

Among the most prominent examples was Hans Globke, who had played a significant role in interpreting and implementing the Nazis’ Nuremberg Laws before later becoming chief of staff to West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Ironically, Eichmann himself reportedly questioned the situation during his trial. After seeing Globke’s photograph in a 1941 document, Eichmann wondered how he could be standing trial while Globke was helping run West Germany.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)