In the Spring of 1960, Peter Zvi Malkin joined a team of Israeli intelligence agents who traveled to Buenos Aires to kidnap Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader who participated in organising the Holocaust and fled Europe following WWII. Malkin, who was called "the last century's greatest intelligence agent" when he died in 2005, captured Eichmann and brought him to justice.
That mission to apprehend Eichmann is the basis for Operation Finale, the upcoming movie starring Oscar Isaac as Malkin,
As the New York Times described Malkin in an obituary:
A master of disguises, Mr. Malkin often posed as an itinerant painter during intelligence-gathering missions. Repelled and fascinated by Eichmann during the time he spent guarding him in Argentina, he began surreptitiously sketching his portrait. Eichmann was later spirited out of the country by Mossad to stand trial in Israel; he was convicted of crimes against humanity and other charges and executed in 1962.
As the Times obituary notes, because of the extreme secrecy of Mossad, his role in capturing Eichmann was confidential for many years. "He broke his silence only when his mother was on her deathbed. 'Mama,' he told her, 'I captured Eichmann. Fruma is avenged.'"
The movie—which also stars Ben Kingsley as Eichmann, Lior Raz, Melanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, Joe Alwyn, and Haley Lu Richardson—is directed by Chris Weitz and due out this fall.
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
