Chapter 1
This story is about the execution of the most dreaded Nazi war criminal also known by the nickname of “Butcher of Riga”. Herberts Cukurs, born in Russia and settled in Latvia was an aviator. Nazi Germany occupied Latvia in the summer of 1941 during World War II.
Cukurs became a member of the dreaded Arajs Commando force. During 1941-1945, Herberts Cukurs was responsible for many atrocities against humanity. He played a major role in the massacre of Latvian Jews at Riga.
Herberts Cukurs never stood trial even after World War II has ended though multiple witnesses were linking him to the mass murder of Jews during the Nazi regime.
He was aptly named as the “Butcher of Riga” due to the gruesome atrocities caused by him against the Jews and burning of synagogues in Riga.
Chapter 2
After the end of World War II, Herberts Cukurs retreated to Germany and then migrated to Brazil during the winter of 1945. He established a travel and tour business flying the tourists on sightseeing sorties in Brazil.
In the pretext of the information that West Germany was going to pass a resolution in the parliament that would nullify all the charges against nationals involved in the massacre of Jews during the Nazi regime, on 1st September 1964, Yosslle Yariv Commander of Israel special operation summons an agent named Yaakov Meidad to their special office in Paris.
It was mentioned by Yosslle Yariv, that even the world forgets about the atrocities on Jews by these dreaded butchers of humanity we cannot forget them.
To remind the world about these atrocities against Jews we have to execute Herberts Cukurs. So Yaakov Meidad was sent on a mission to track down Herberts Cukurs and execute him.
Chapter 3
Yaakov Meidad, was a middle-aged bald man, started his work on finding Herberts Cukurs. He went to Rotterdam, creates a bank account under the name of Anton Künzle and visiting cards.
He then flies to Zurich and buys some fake moustache and with them, he creates a fake identity for himself as an Austrian investor. With this fake identity of an Austrian investor, Anton Künzle sets up his own office at Rotterdam.
A month later he goes to Paris and from there he flies to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Anton Künzle was exited as well as frightened, as he was never involved in a single-handed operation on foreign land.
His task of befriending a man named Herberts Cukurs was very challenging as Cukurs can identify a Jew easily moreover Cukurs knew that someday or other someone would come in his search to Brazil, so he was very cautious.
Herberts Cukurs was under the protection of Brazilian police and his two sons used to take good care of him. Cukurs also maintained a diary with the name of his enemies and used to update this diary frequently.
Chapter 4
Anton Künzle knew that if he meets Herberts Cukurs directly, he will land himself in big trouble. So he decides to stay in Rio de Janeiro for a couple of more days gathering information about the Brazilian tourism industry. After attaining much knowledge about the Brazilian tourism industry and how it functions he moves to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
He inspects the Interlagos Lake in Sao Paulo in Brazil where the boats and seaplane of Herberts Cukurs were parked. Next day Künzle goes to the lake again and finds that a well-built man in aviation suit was standing beside the plane.
Künzle approaches the man and introduces himself as an Austrian businessman interested in investing and participating in the Brazilian tourism industry. Künzle asks the aviation pilot some professional questions to which the pilot does not display any interest in answering.
Künzle then asks the pilot to take him on a tour of Brazil in his Plane for which he is willing to pay the amount. The pilot suddenly became friendly on hearing this and guides Künzle in his plane for a sortie of Brazil. During the flight, the pilot identifies himself as Herberts Cukurs.
Though Künzle knew about this man but wanted to hear his name from his own mouth.
Chapter 5
After the flight Herberts Cukurs invites Künzle for drinks in one of his sea boats. After a few drinks, Herberts Cukurs starts narrating his war stories of World War II.
He further goes on to ask Künzle whether he has participated in World War II, to which Künzle replies in affirmative and says that he fought from the Russian side and also displays a Russian Tattoo in his chest to assure Cukurs about the truthfulness of the story.
During this meeting, Künzle observed that financial condition of Cukurs was not good. His seaplane and boats were in dire need of repair. Künzle then starts talking about his business and about his partners and how he wants to invest heavily and become a part of the Brazilian tour industry.
Künzle also adds that he is in search of such a person who has substantial knowledge about the Brazilian tourism and gives Cukurs the offer to join him and his team as a partner for which he will be paid a substantial amount for his service.
Herberts Cukurs became interested in the deal. He invited Künzle to his farmhouse the next week to have more negotiations about the business deal. That day back in his hotel Künzle sends a coded message to Mossad headquarters where he mentions about Herberts Cukurs as “the disease”.
That night Herberts Cukurs also adds a new name in his list of enemies in his diary and that was Anton Künzle. He wrote Anton Künzle says he is a businessman from Austria.
Chapter 6
A week later, Anton Künzle visits Herberts Cukurs farmhouse for hunting. During the tour of the farmhouse, a nail pierces Künzle’s shoe. As soon as Künzle takes away his blood laden shoe, Cukurs takes out his Nazi revolver and points at the head of Künzle.
Künzle starts shaking with fear; he thinks that Cukurs may have known his original identity somehow and would kill him instantly and bury his body somewhere in the large farmhouse. Künzle was grappling for words and was trying to speak with a shaking tongue fully aware of the consequences.
In a sudden twist to the tale Cukurs offers his gun to Künzle, and asks him to take out the nail embedded in the shoe with the help of the gun’s handle. Künzle was relieved on hearing that, now he had the gun and Cukurs was standing in front of him. Künzle thought that he can kill Cukurs instantly and bury his body in the farmhouse, but he didn’t have the orders to kill Cukurs.
During the end of their conversation that day in Cukurs farmhouse, Künzle told him that he and his partners are looking for some office spaces in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay from where they would be operating their tourism business.
Chapter 7
Künzle said he will be leaving for Montevideo within a couple of days and requested Cukurs to come along as a partner to his tourism business. Mossad starts preparation for execution of Herberts Cukurs in Montevideo.
In February 1965 they send a team of five agents to Montevideo before the arrival of Künzle and Herberts Cukurs. Once in Montevideo, these agents rent a secure house that would be presented as Künzle’s office.
They hire a black Volkswagen car for transportation and purchase a large trunk from the market in which they would dump the body of Herberts Cukurs.
Meanwhile, on 16th February 1965, Herberts Cukurs goes to the police station to seek permission for visiting Montevideo stating business needs. Herberts Cukurs was under Brazilian police protection, after hearing the business proposal Brazilian police denied him permission for visiting Montevideo.
Brazilian police stated that Cukurs has been living in Brazil, since long under police; they would not be able to protect Cukurs in a different country. So Brazilian police requested Herberts Cukurs not to leave Brazil and fulfil his business needs here in Brazil itself.
Herberts Cukurs knew that Brazilian police were telling the truth and anything could happen to his life in a different country, he might get killed. But on the other hand, his financial resources were running out fast, and he needed a good amount of money to restore his tourism business to normal.
So he ignored the advice of Brazilian police and went ahead with his plan to visit Montevideo and accordingly he informs Anton Künzle about his visit.
Chapter 8
On 23rd Feb 1965, Herberts Cukurs reaches Montevideo airport where he was graciously received by Künzle. They both board the black Volkswagen and leave for the office that was hired by Mossad’s agents.
On reaching the house Anton Künzle leads the way followed by Herberts Cukurs. The five Mossad agents were already taken their respective position in the house.
As soon as Herberts Cukurs enters the house, Künzle closes the main door. All the five agents pounce on Herberts Cukurs from all directions, they soon realised that they had under-estimated Cukurs power and stamina.
Even at the age of 65 Cukurs was a powerfully built man. He easily overpowers 4 of the agents and runs towards the door. Seeing this Künzle pounces on him capturing Cukurs face with his hands. Cukurs landed a hard bite on Künzle’s hand almost ripping his little figure away.
Another agent in the meantime takes out a hammer and strikes Cukurs head. Unable to bear this hit Cukurs lands up in the floor. Another agent takes out a silencer fitted pistol and fires two shots in Cukurs head. Herberts Cukurs dies instantly.
These agents then pile up the body in the large trunk with a letter inside that said: “Verdict, Considering the gravity of the crimes which Herberts Cukurs is accused, notably his responsibility in the murder of 30,000 men, women and children, and considering the terrible cruelty shown by Herberts Cukurs in carrying out his crimes, we condemn and send Cukurs to Death”.
His body was later retrieved by Uruguay police from the Trunk. Thus the man acclaimed as “Butcher of Riga”, was finally eliminated in a deadly and thrilling operation.
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