Herberts Cukurs

Herberts Cukurs (born May 17, 1900, in Liepāja, Courland - died February 23, 1965, in Montevideo, Uruguay) was a famous Latvian aviator and deputy commander of the Arajs Commando, a Latvian auxiliary unit of the Nazi German SD [http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=245494&ct=948863 Simon Wiesenthal Center] ] . His participation in atrocities during World War II earned him the nickname "The Hangman of Riga". [>cite book |last= Gad Shimron |first= Anton Kunzle |title= The Execution of the Hangman of Riga: The Only Execution of a Nazi War Criminal by the Mossad |year= 2004 |publisher= Mitchell Vallentine & Company |language= English |isbn= 0853035253 ]

Aviation pioneer

As a pioneering long-distance pilot, he won national acclaim for his international solo flights in the 1930s (Latvia-Gambia and Riga-Tokyo).

Participation in the Holocaust

During World War II, however, he earned notoriety as deputy commander of Arajs Commando. This unit murdered approximately 20,000 Jews in Latvia and Belarus, including Jews deported from Germany and Austria, as well as Roma people, mental patients, Soviet partisans, and civilians.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center holds Cukurs directly responsible for mass murder, execution, forceful expropriation of property and the torture of hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust.

Cukurs's guilt has never been proven in any trial, and as historian Andrew Ezergailis points out, much of the available literature suggests that Cukurs's main responsibility was working in the garages as a mechanic for the Arajs Commando. Nevertheless, Ezergailis contends that Cukurs participated in the atrocities committed in the Riga Ghetto in conjunction with the Rumbula massacre on 30 November1941. [cite book |last= Ezergailis |first= Andrievs |title= Holokausts vācu okupētajā Latvijā 1941–1944 |year= 1999 |publisher= Latvijas vēstures institūta apgāds |location= Riga |language= Latvian |isbn= 9984601021 |pages= pp. 222, 230 Also available in English as: Andrew Ezergailis, "The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944: The Missing Center" (1996), ISBN 9984905438.]

Postwar fate

After the war he emigrated to Brazil via France. Cukurs established a business in São Paulo renting rafts.

He was assassinated by Mossad agents while traveling to Uruguay after it was found out that he would not stand trial for his participation in the Holocaust.

References

External links

* [http://www.cukurs.lv Dedicated website] , with images and publications (in Latvian, German, Hebrew)
* [http://latvianaviation.com/Events/E1934_05_25.html Flight to Gambia ]
* [http://latvianaviation.com/Events/CukTokyo.html Flight to Tokio ]
* [http://www.seabee.info/rc3_brazil.htm Cukurs in Brazil ]
* [http://paginas.fotolog.ig.com.br/ig/36/53/829749/fotolog/listaposts.html Images ]