Peter Malkin (Peter Malkin)
Israeli Intellegence Agent. He was the veteran Israeli Mossad agent who in 1960 captured Adolf Eichmann, chief architect of the Holocaust, from a street outside Buenos Aires. So repulsed that he wore gloves, Malkin approached Eichmann, living under an assumed name, with the greeting “un momentito, seƱor” before wrestling him to the ground and into a waiting car. The team of Mossad agents later smuggled him to Israel, where he was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1962. In his book “Eichmann in My Hands” (1990) Malkin wrote about the capture, recalling Eichmann’s reaction when he told him that his own nephew was among Eichmann’s victims. The former Nazi, genuinely puzzled, replied: “Yes, but he was Jewish, wasn’t he?” Born Zvi Malchin in Zolkiewka, Poland, Malkin was reared in the British mandate of Palestine and by age 12 was recruited to fight with the Haganah, the Jewish underground forces. He became an explosives specialist and was known for his disguises, often posing as an itinerant painter. He developed expertise in martial arts and eventually became chief of operations for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, later retiring in 1976 to New York City. (bio by: Fred Beisser)
Born
- May, 27, 1927
Died
- March, 03, 2005
Cemetery
- Kiryat Shaul Cemetery
- Israel