German Court Orders Release of Secret Files on Top-Nazi Adolf Eichmann

1962: Adolf Eichmann stands in his glass cage, flanked by guards, in the Jerusalem courtroom where he was tried for war crimes committed during World War II. The basics of Adolf Eichmann's story are well-documented. He was commonly known as the "architect of the Holocaust" for his role in coordinating the Nazis' policy of genocide. He fled Germany only to be captured in Argentina by the Mossad, taken to Israel for trial, and hanged. (AP)

BERLIN –
BERLIN (AP) — A federal court has ordered the government to release secret files kept by the German intelligence service on top Nazi Adolf Eichmann after World War II.

The ruling announced Friday came after reporter Gabriele Weber sued to have the BND release the 4,500 pages of files. She says they could fill in gaps about Eichmann's postwar life and how he escaped to Argentina.

The BND had argued releasing the files could jeopardize the work of an informant and harm relations with a "foreign intelligence service" that provided some of the information.

But the Federal Administrative Court ruled that while the BND could withhold some files for those reasons it could not keep them all secret.

It was not immediately clear when the files would be turned over.