The Execution of the Hangman of Riga

by Anton Huenzl

An internationally acclaimed aviation pioneer, Herbert Cukurs, running a hydroplanes rental company out of São Paolo, Brazil, liked his new an Austrian businessman, who asked for a short sightseeing flight. The pilot had no idea that his customer was not Austrian but a top agent in the Israeli Mossad, working under cover to set the trap for Cukurs - a criminal personally responsible for the murder of over 30,000 innocent Jews. This was the beginning of the 'war of wits' between the Nazi war criminal and the German-born Israeli (both of whose parents had perished in Nazi death camps). It was a unique duel, played out in the São Paolo residence of the Cukurs family, in the jungles of Brazil, by the lagoon of Porto Alegre and on the beautiful beaches of Punta del Este. In this unique book a former senior Mossad agent describes an operation carried out in 1964-65 to identify, locate and execute the notorious Nazi war criminal Herbert Cukurs, who was personally responsible for the murder of over 30,000 Latvian Jews. The main part of the operation was undertaken almost single-handedly by 'Anton Kuenzle'. He relates how he planned and carried out this risky operation, creating an identity as a successful businessman and offering Cukurs a lucrative deal to entice him away from his secure life in Brazil to a trap laid for him in Uruguay. There Cukurs met his fate at the hands of a Mossad hit team.

Genres: History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short read which regrettably didn't contain too much on Cukurs and his career as a Nazi collaborator.The Butcher of Riga lived openly in Brazil,where he fled after the war, till a team of Mossad agents caught up with him.The demise of said war criminal is bloody and brutal and though I wish he had been tried in a court its hard to feel sorry for an individual who was known as the Butcher of Riga,a title that he deserved for his disgusting murderous career.