Herberts Cukurs

Herberts Cukurs was a Latvian aviator associated in the book with the persecution and murder of Jews during the Holocaust. Known as the Hangman of Riga and the Latvian Eichmann, he was killed by a Mossad commando in February 1965. His death matters to the narrative not only as an act of retribution, but as a direct trigger for Josef Mengele’s renewed fear of being found.

Identity and Record

Cukurs is introduced as a famous aviator whose public reputation contrasted with the crimes attributed to him. The book says he set fire to synagogues where Jews were held and identifies him with the killing of large numbers of civilians. A verdict pinned to his body accused him of personal responsibility for the deaths of 30,000 men, women, and children. The passage presents this as the commando’s stated justification for executing him, rather than as the outcome of a trial.

Killing and Aftermath

In February 1965, Cukurs’s body was found in a crate in Montevideo. The book attributes his killing to a Mossad commando that called itself those who will never forget. The typed verdict left with his body invoked the scale of the crimes attributed to him and his alleged personal responsibility. The episode presents an extrajudicial killing as an assertion of accountability, while making clear that the judgment was delivered by the assassins themselves.

Effect on Mengele

Cukurs’s death is described as the death of Mengele’s friend, and its effect on Mengele is immediate: he becomes more vigilant. He adds dogs, obtains more powerful binoculars, and spends longer watching the countryside from his lookout tower. One night, approaching headlights and unfamiliar voices lead him to load his gun and aim into the darkness; he cannot make himself descend from the tower. The apparent threat proves to be Roberto returning from a night out with friends. The false alarm shows how Cukurs’s killing has altered the atmosphere around Mengele: even an ordinary arrival at the gate now provokes a fear of imminent capture.