Robert Servatius

Robert Servatius (31 October 1894 – 7 August 1983) was a German lawyer, prominent in his profession in Cologne, and especially known for his judicial defenses of Nazi war criminals, including Adolf Eichmann.

Early life and education Servatius was born in Cologne on 31 October 1894 to a family of industrialists and farmers. He graduated from the Friedrich-Wilhelm high school, and served as an artillery officer in World War I. Notable defendants he represented at Nuremberg included Fritz Sauckel, Karl Brandt, and Paul Pleiger.

Eichmann trial Servatius represented Adolf Eichmann at his trial in Israel in 1961. A number of lawyers had offered to represent him, and Eichmann's family chose Servatius, who had offered to represent Eichmann in a telephone call to Eichmann's stepbrother.

Israeli law had to be changed to enable this, as until that time foreign lawyers had no right of audience in Israeli courts. The change enabled only those facing a capital charge to be represented by a non-Israeli lawyer.

Before he was appointed to defend Eichmann, Mossad investigated the history of Servatius, and found nothing which greatly troubled the investigators,

He was assisted in the defense of Eichmann by Dieter Wechtenbruch. Servatius arrived in Israel in October 1960, where he met with his client and began preparing a defense strategy. Following Eichmann's conviction and death sentence, Servatius handled his unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court and attempted to gain clemency for Eichmann from the Israeli president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.

Following Eichmann's execution, Servatius returned to West Germany, and made no comments to the media about the propriety and legality of the trial. Servatius died in Cologne in 1983 at the age of 88.