Famous Airman Turned Mass Murderer
Herberts Cukurs was a Latvian aviation pioneer and war criminal who participated in massacres of Jewish people during World War Two. He is best remembered today for his daring solo flights in the 1930’s and for his assassination in Uruguay in 1965.
Early Life and Rise to Fame
Herberts (his first name is spelled Herbert, without the s, on some of his documents) Cukurs was born on May 17, 1900 in present-day Latvia. As a young man he became interested in the growing field of aviation. He was a very skilled pilot who built or modified his own airplanes. He was a pioneer of long-distance aviation, flying solo from Latvia to the Gambia, and later from Latvia to Japan (he did not make these flights non-stop). He was considered the Charles Lindbergh of Latvia and was a great hero and the source of much pride in his homeland.
World War Two and Atrocities
When World War Two broke out, Latvia was occupied by Nazi Germany. Cukurs collaborated with the invaders and joined the Arajs Kommando unit, a sort of Latvian Gestapo. This unit was responsible for many wartime atrocities, including multiple massacres of Jews and the execution of countless gypsies and Latvian civilians suspected of aiding the Russians. Between October and December of 1941, thousands of Latvian Jews were massacred in the Riga Ghetto by Arajs Kommando units: eyewitnesses stated that Cukurs was there and participated willingly.
Flight to Brazil
Despite being one of the highest-profile war criminals from Latvia (and having his name mentioned at the Nuremberg Trials), Cukurs was able to escape, first to Paris and then to Brazil. He settled in São Paulo, where he operated a small charter flight business taking tourists on short airplane rides around the city and harbor. Although his family had joined him, he was a bitter man who resented his fall from aviation hero to fugitive war criminal.
Assassination by the Mossad
Israeli Mossad agents captured fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1960: after a trial, they executed him in 1962. Israel decided the time had come to send another message to the war criminals still in hiding. The decision was made to assassinate Cukurs. Agent Yaakov Meidad, who had participated in the Eichmann capture, was sent to Brazil to befriend and set up Cukurs. Posing as an Austrian war veteran and possible investor and using the false name Anton Künzle, Meidad was able to make a connection with Cukurs. Playing on Cukurs’ greed – the fugitive was living in near-poverty with his family – Meidad convinced him to travel to Uruguay to be part of a business deal.
Death of Cukurs
The Mossad team had decided to take Cukurs out in Uruguay for two important reasons: it had a smaller Jewish population than Brazil, so retaliations against Jews for his murder would be less severe, and because unlike Brazil, Uruguay did not have the death penalty, which could apply to the Mossad team as spies or assassins if they were captured. Four fit, well-trained assassins were sent to Uruguay via different, circuitous routes in February of 1965. Cukurs did not fully trust Meidad/Künzle: he had taken photos of his new “friend” and left them with his family, telling them that if something happened to him, this was the man who was responsible. Meidad met Cukurs in Montevideo and put him at ease by putting him up in a fancy hotel. He then lured Cukurs to an isolated home where the rest of the team was waiting. Cukurs was jumped when he entered, beaten, and shot in the head. The date was February 23, 1965.
Discovery of the Body and Fallout
The Israeli team stuffed the body into a trunk and left a note with it, in which Cukurs’ crimes were described and which was signed by “those who will never forget.” Once the Mossad team was clear of South America, Uruguayan news outlets were notified where they could find the body. The story became international news once it broke. There were some reprisals against Jews in Brazil and Uruguay, but they were not as bad as had been feared. Cukurs’ family gave the police the photos of "Anton Künzle," but this was a useless lead: Meidad was long gone, safely back in Israel.
Was Cukurs Innocent?
Around 2005, a movement began in Latvia to rehabilitate the image of Herberts Cukurs. Historian Andrew Ezergailis went on the record as saying that although Cukurs’ involvement in Arajs Kommando is indisputable, there was no direct evidence linking him to specific atrocities. This has caused Latvian politicians to publicly question why Cukurs had not been kidnapped and tried like Adolf Eichmann: did the Mossad (which by then had admitted its role in Cukurs’ assassination) not have any evidence against him? Cukurs’ family had long denied that Herbert had been responsible for anything more than bad judgment in joining the Arajs Kommando. Although this movement to rehabilitate Cukur’s image appears to have lost steam, many Latvians feel his assassination was unwarranted.
Legacy of Herberts Cukurs
It is unfortunate for Cukurs that World War Two broke out when it did, and that he made the choices he made once it had. If it were not for his actions with Arajs Kommando, Cukurs would undoubtedly be remembered as one of the greatest Latvians ever, a brave pioneer of aviation whose contributions as an airplane builder were considerable and whose deeds as a pilot are impressive even today.
Although modern-day Latvians wonder if Cukurs would have been convicted at trial, the Israelis were certain they had their man. American Historian Efraim Zuroff mentions several eyewitness accounts that place Cukurs at the scene of horrible Jewish massacres in Riga, where he was a willing, active and cruel participant. The testimony of these eyewitnesses was available to the Israeli authorities in 1965 when they decided to go ahead with the assassination. The accounts tell of inhuman cruelty displayed by Cukurs, who personally murdered many Jews in cold blood, including shooting a small boy at the December 8, 1941 Rumbula Massacre who was crying because he could not find his mother. It was for his cruelty that he earned the nickname “the Butcher of Riga,” a moniker he shares with Eduard Roschmann, commandant of the Riga ghetto.
At the very least, Cukurs was guilty of being a prominent member of Arajs Kommando, a state-sponsored terrorist organization, the involvement of which in unspeakable atrocities is well documented. In addition, if Israel wanted to assassinate a war criminal to make a point, there were certainly still plenty to choose from in 1965: they had no need to murder anyone whose guilt was in question.
Israel certainly made its point. Although the murder note was anonymous, there was little doubt as to who was behind Cukurs’ assassination. Nazi war criminals still at large, such as Franz Stangl and Josef Mengele, were put on notice that the long arm of the Mossad could reach them in any corner of South America. West Germany, which had been thinking about ending war crimes trials, also got the message and decided to extend the trials.
Cukurs had been largely forgotten by the world outside of Latvia and Israel (and maybe Uruguay) when the History Channel ran an episode of “Nazi Hunters” based on his case in 2010. It is well worth watching because of the dramatizations and the interviews, which include Yaakov Meidad and Cukur’s son.
