Shalom Nagar

Shalom Nagar was born in 1936 in Khamir

Nagar was born into a religious Jewish family in Yemen. His father died when he was a child, and he lived on the streets of Sanaa, sleeping under market stalls and working odd jobs such as porter.

In 1948 he and a brother walked through the desert to Aden and flew to Israel. They were taken to Kibbutz Shefayim but ran away to the Rosh HaAyin transit camp, and he was then sent to the religious moshav Kfar Haroeh.

He joined the IDF and later the Paratroopers Brigade, where he also worked as a sapper. In this period he left religious practice and became secular.

After the army he worked for the Border Police and then joined the Israel Prison Service at Ramla Prison. He was one of 22 guards assigned to Eichmann and was chosen, reportedly by lottery, to carry out the hanging in 1962. His role was kept secret until 1992.

Afterward he suffered from nightmares and returned to religion. He worked as a prison guard in Hebron and as a kosher slaughterer, and helped establish Kiryat Arba. He died in 2024.