Herberts Cukurs

Herberts Cukurs (born May 17, 1900 in Liepāja, Latvia - died February 23, 1965 in Montevideo, Uruguay) was a famous Latvian aviator.

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 the infamous Arajs Commando, a Latvian auxiliary unit of the Nazi German SD. This unit murdered approximately 20,000 Jews in Latvia and Belarus, including Jews deported from Germany and Austria, as well as Roma, mental patients, Soviet partisans, and civilians.

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

Cukurs's guilt has never been proven in any trial, and much of the available literature suggests that Cukurs's main responsibility was working in the garages as a mechanic for the Arajs Commando. Nevertheless, historian Andrew Ezergailis contends that Cukurs participated in the atrocities committed in the Riga Ghetto in conjunction with the Rumbula massacre on 30 November1941.

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.