The Mossadmis Who Caught Eichmann
Does not trust Arafat : "He is a liar"
Robert Duvall to star in T.N.T's the Man Who Captured Eichmann

By: Gad Nahshon

"I'm a story teller. I love to lecture. Many young people read my books. Some even cry. One young woman bought my book Eichmann in my Hands. She sobbed and said I cannot believe that the Holocaust took place, she observed after her visit to the Holocaust museum. I still received many letters from readers from all over the world since my book was translated into ten languages. Some young Germans confessed that they are pro-Nazis, but after reading my book they told me that they do not want to be identified as German anymore. They prefer to be Jews or Jacob's" said the famous Mossad agent Peter. Z. Malkin to his friends 'Tzika'. I met him recently in his 40th Street apartment in New York because he is waiting for his new exposure : A television film based on his autobiographical best seller : 'Eichmann in my Hands' (Warner Books, New York, 1990). By the way Malkin published four more thrillers such as 'Carlos must die' and 'Tripoli'.

A press release of TNT announced the following information : "Oscar winner Robert Duvall will star as the infamous nazi who organized the delivery of millions of Jews to Hitler's concentration camps in Turner Network Television's The Man who Captured Eichmann." Duvall and Stan Margulies are the producers and Ron Hardwood is the screenwriter. Malkin is excited to see this drama which was defined as : "A true-life thriller in the best tradition of LeCarre Ludium Follet and Fleming." Peter Malkin, 67, is a unique personality : a strong, smart expert of human relations and has a high degree of curiosity. He also believes in the power of the intuition. He is a true perfectionist. Therefore it is not surprising that he was one of Israel's most famous and successful Mossad senior officer. Of course many of his personal operations are still top secret. As a matter of fact Malkin's identity as Eichmann's captor and his association with the Mossad was kept secret from the public and from his own family in Haifa. Malkin who lost relatives in the Holocaust while growing up as a young man in Haifa always kept in his mind the lost of his sister Fruma. She was murdered by the Nazis and by the orders to genocide the Jews, the Nazi final solution given by the chief Adolph Eichmann.

Only in 1967 Malkin broke his silence as he whispered at his mother's deathbed: "Mama Fruma was avenged." As a matter of fact he dedicated his bestseller to his sister Fruma. The book 'Eichmann in my Hands' was praised by many such as Israel's ex-President Chaim Herzog for example and by Elie Wiesel who wrote: "A fascinating narrative by the person who caught Eichmann." Malkin was also a media darling and a star of many documentaries or talk shows such as Larry King.

Today, Malkin, a storyteller dedicates himself to the mission of educating the young generation. They must listen to his fascinating accounts. The human race must never forget: "you were the highlight of Hillel since I have been here for three years - The students felt it, the community felt it and I knew it!" wrote Debbie Rubenstein to Peter Malkin in Nov. 1995 after he told his story at the Hillel House at the University of Connecticut. Peter Malkin is also a born artist and a unique one according to professional critics such as Adam Baruch. Malkin has painted since he was 16 years old. His soul has been an artistic one. Malkin used his talents for performing his Mossad's goals and targets. Malkin who joined the Mossad in 1950 became its expert for 'artistic' disguises and a master of improvisations. He demonstrated his unique professional talents as a chief of espionage and counterintelligence operations all over the world and in cities such as Paris. When he was stationed in Vienna Malkin performed his secret duties and studied art as well. Some writers, for example, Joan Oleck described Malkin in her excellent article (Moment - October 1995) as a secret agent who always has had his double life. Indeed Malkin today is, also a successful artist and an expert on art history. her thesis is based on this notion : "It was during the 10 days and nights he guarded Adolph Eichmann in a safe house in Argentina that Peter Z. Malkin found the surest, truest connection between his profession as an Israeli secret agent - and his life's work as an artist."

The outcome of this unique unprecedented human situation, the incredible encounter between the Israeli Mossad agent whose family was murdered in the Holocaust and Eichmann the monster and architect and executioner of the 'Final Solution' were Malkin's 60 drawings made across the pages of a South-American guidebook during the period in which Malkin was appointed by his 'boss', the legendary Issar Harel, as a member of the special commando team that was assigned to the capture of Eichmann in 1960. Eichmann was captured in Buenos Aires and then was smuggled to Israel to face a trial. This historical event, the famous Eichmann Trial ended when Eichmann was hanged in Jerusalem in May 31, 1962. But to Malkin, Eichmann has been an enigma.

Malkin's drawings were also an artistic attempt to understand this monster who looked like a gray officer of a small bank. In 1991 the publisher Sonex Ime from Zurich published Peter Z. Malkin's unique 'Silk-screens portfolio. The Israeli critics and curator Adam Baruch wrote in the Forward : "Before you is a rare and important document. Malkin drew Eichmann , Hitler, Jews landscapes, victim's houses, women, monsters, hope." Baruch argues that this guidebook was to Malkin a kind of "personal redemption through drawing , an almost therapeutic activity." Perhaps a safety valve, a front to release the high tension of encountering this enigma. Malkin did not try to describe events through his 60 drawings. "They are attempts to decipher the object being painted to understand it," explained Baruch : "I guarded Eichmann for 10 days in a villa. And while he was lying on his bed I was able to imagine whatever I liked. With my colored pencils I wandered over the pages of the book..." Malkin noted but he came to the following conclusion. When he painted Hitler and Eichmann they always seemed to him to be too 'human' or simple people. "I tried again and again and he (Hitler) looked a bit different but always 'nominal' with no possibility of expressing the evil in his eyes. The truth is that with Eichmann too it was impossible to find the evil. Perhaps evil is just impossible to paint?" By art and lectures Malkin brings the message of the Holocaust: "The Eichmann story is not an Israeli story, it's a Jewish story. The killing was not important. The most important thing was to tell the story" said Malkin.

Malkin loves New York: The people, the street, the faces. He has a family and children but basically he is a lonely man: "I could not tell people who I was" Malkin explained and noted: " you can be alone and feel good" Even his links to Israel are problematic. "Because from the age of 20 I started to wander around the world," he told Joan Oleck ('Moment'). Well of course his heart is in Israel, his only homeland but in his New York apartment I came across a very worried person, an ex-Mossadimik who does not trust Israel's leaders and politicians: can they guarantee the survival of Israel in the 21th century?

"Are we really listening to the messages of our enemies? Is the other side to the peace process credible? I do not trust Arafat. He is a liar. He wants everything. He will always put pressures on us" said Malkin who is also a consultant for security issues. He was an advisor to some corporations and governments on defense and anti-terror topics. I asked him to relate to the issue of terror in Israel and he answered: "My approach to the issues is to focus on the human behavior and psychology. Who is a good spy? Why do people commit suicide?

Discussing the Palestinian Arab terror we should never say: There is no solution as the Israeli leaders or military leaders told the Israeli public. You have to ask the right questions: Who sent the terrorist to the suicide mission? Who supplies him with the logistic information? Who trained him? Perhaps the terrorist was not the one who produced the explosion. There was another terrorist in the area who did it by using a remote control device. Conclusion, it was not a suicidal mission at all! In order to combat terror we need to develop a method of thinking, planning and controlling the area." Malkin is also worried about the quality of the Israeli intelligence community. He was shocked by the assassination of Rabin. It was a shame. No one prepared the area for a situation of emergency. The area was not closed. No one checked the area as a neutral special supervising unit should have done in order to develop the proper level of alertness. "As a professional agent I have, always, improvised means to deter the common tendencies among my people in the Mossad for laziness or the fatigue of the routine work," emarked Malkin, the security expert.

Malkin was willing to share with me a few of his memories concerning his counterespionage activities. "I am the agent that in 1961 caught the famous Soviet spy in Israel Israel Baer. He was not Jewish. He was a mole that the Russians sent to Palestine. There were many stories about his end. But the truth is that we caught him only because we were following the Russian spy colonel Sokolov. And then we saw that Baer met him secretly." But Malkin always prepares to focus on the Germans and the Holocaust. : "We want to keep the memories alive. 6 million died. There are at least 6 million stories. In the past many Jews were silent. They did not have a perspective. Today there is a new openness among Jews. Each family has its own story to tell to the world. Now our children ask the questions. On the other side of the coin the Germans tend to stop the avalanche of these stories. The stories of the Holocaust are not a temporary fashion. The German's Holocaust will influence mankind for many generations. A recent poll pointed out that 64% of the Germans do believe that they by now have done enough to compensate the Jews. But I told the Germans. Did you really pay for the millions that you killed? Did you pay for my sister Fruma and her children the loved ones that you murdered? No, your criminal file is widely open. Every time that I recall the Wanasee conference my blood boils inside my body!"


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