Adolf Eichmann was promoted to Obersturmbannführer in 1940 and was still listed as one in the minutes of the Wannsee Conference January 1942. During the Eichmann trial for crimes against humanity in 1962, chief prosecutor Gideon Hausner drew attention to the significance and responsibility of Eichmann's Obersturmbannführer rank when, in response to Eichmann's claim that he was merely a clerk obeying orders, Hausner asked him, "Were you an Obersturmbannführer or an office girl?"[6]