Mossad Assassination of Herberts Cukurs

The Mossad Assassination of Herberts Cukurs was a 1965 killing in Montevideo that brought the reach of a Mossad commando unit into the lives of Nazi fugitives in South America. The discovery of Cukurs’s body and the verdict left with it turned a former collaborator’s crimes into an explicit rationale for vengeance—and made Josef Mengele more fearful of being found.

Background and Target

Cukurs was known as the “hangman of Riga” and the “Latvian Eichmann.” The account identifies him as a famous aviator who had taken part in the persecution and murder of Jews, including attacks on synagogues. His reputation as a public figure stood in stark contrast to the crimes attributed to him.

Killing and Verdict

In February 1965, Cukurs’s corpse was found in a crate in Montevideo. A Mossad commando unit calling itself “those who will never forget” had killed him. The executioners left a typed verdict with the body, declaring him responsible for the assassination of 30,000 men, women, and children and condemning the cruelty of his crimes. The document framed the killing as punishment for past atrocities, not as an unexplained disappearance.

Effect on Mengele

News of Cukurs’s death made Mengele more vigilant. He acquired additional dogs and more powerful binoculars, and spent longer periods watching the surrounding countryside from his lookout tower. One night, seeing headlights approach and hearing his dogs react, he loaded his gun and aimed into the dark; when he heard a voice call out, he realized that the visitor was Roberto, returning from an evening out with friends. The false alarm makes concrete how Cukurs’s killing intensified Mengele’s fear of capture: even an ordinary return to the farm could look like the arrival of pursuers.