Ricardo Francisco Eichmann (born November 2, 1955) is an Argentine-born German archaeologist. He was the director of the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute between 1996 and 2020 and previously a professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Tübingen.

Ricardo Eichmann
Born
Ricardo Francisco Eichmann

(1955-11-02) November 2, 1955 (age 69)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
OccupationArchaeologist
Children2
ParentAdolf Eichmann (father)
Academic background
Alma materHeidelberg University
Academic work
DisciplineNear Eastern archaeology
InstitutionsUniversity of Tübingen
German Archaeological Institute

Early life

edit

Ricardo Francisco Eichmann was born on November 2, 1955 in Buenos Aires.[1][2] He is the youngest son of Adolf Eichmann and Vera Eichmann (née Liebl).[3][4] He has three older brothers.[5] Eichmann was five years old when his father was captured and taken from Argentina to Israel by Mossad.[6] As a teenager, Eichmann learned of his father's history from books. He rejected the Nazi ideology of his father and accepted that his execution was justified.[5]

From 1977, Eichmann studied prehistory and protohistory, classical archaeology and Egyptology at Heidelberg University. His 1984 dissertation was titled Prehistoric Aspects of Floor Plans in the Middle East.[7]

Academic career

edit

Eichmann is an archaeologist. From 1984 to 1994, he worked first as a scientific consultant and later as a research assistant in the Baghdad department of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin.[8] Eichmann was then briefly Professor of Near Eastern archaeology at the University of Tübingen from 1995 to 1996.[3] From 1996 to 2019 he was the first director of the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, being succeeded by Margarete van Ess in 2020.[9] His research interests include music archaeology in the Near East and Egypt.[10]

Personal life

edit

In 1995, he met Zvi Aharoni, the Mossad agent who was chiefly responsible for his father's capture.[6] Eichmann declines most requests for interviews. He has two sons.[5]

Selected works

edit
  • Eichmann, Ricardo; Schaudig, Hanspeter; Hausleiter, Arnulf (November 2006). "Archaeology and epigraphy at Tayma (Saudi Arabia)". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 17 (2): 163–176. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0471.2006.00269.x. ISSN 0905-7196.
  • Eichmann, Ricardo (2007). Uruk: Architektur. Von den Anfängen bis zur frühdynastischen Zeit (in German). Verlag Marie Leidorf. ISBN 978-3-89646-036-3.
  • Eichmann, Ricardo; Koch, Lars-Christian, eds. (2015). Musikarchäologie: Klänge der Vergangenheit (in German). Theiss. ISBN 978-3-8062-3007-9.

References

edit
  1. ^ Stangneth, Bettina (2 September 2014). Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 142. ISBN 9780307959683. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Operation Eichmann. The capture of Adolf Eichmann". Holocaust Research Project. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
  3. ^ a b Glass, Suzanne (7 August 1995). "'Adolf Eichmann' is a historical figure to me: Ricardo Eichmann speaks to Suzanne Glass about growing up the fatherless son of the war criminal hanged in Israel". The Independent. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  4. ^ Glick, Dor (6 July 2010). "Coffee with Eichmann". Ynetnews. Yedioth Internet. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Laub, Karin (June 5, 1995). "Eichmann's Son: My Father's Execution Was "Just Sentence". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2022-09-02. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
  6. ^ a b Ackermann, Gwen (22 June 1995). "Eichmann's Son Meets Israeli Who Kidnapped His Father". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2023-04-10. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  7. ^ Eichmann, Ricardo Francisco (1984). Aspekte prähistorischer Grundrissgestaltung in Vorderasien [Prehistoric Aspects of Floor Plans in the Middle East] (Thesis) (in German). Verlag Philipp von Zabern – via Architecture.
  8. ^ "Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Baghdad" [German Archaeological Institute, Baghdad Department]. DAInst.org (in German).
  9. ^ "Directors". Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Archived from the original on 2023-04-28. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  10. ^ Hickmann, E.; Eichmann, R; Koch, L. (2010). "Musical Perceptions, Past and Present: On Ethnographic Analogy in Music Archaeology". International Study Group on Music Archaeology (Symposium). Germany: Verlag Marie Leidorf. ISBN 978-3-89646-655-6.