Linda Kinstler, "Come to This Court and Cry: How the Holocaust Ends" (PublicAffairs, 2023)
In 1965, five years after the capture of Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, one of his Mossad abductors was sent back to South America to kill another fugitive Nazi, the so-called \u201cbutcher of Riga,\u201d Latvian Herberts Cukurs. Cukurs was shot. On his corpse, the assassins left pages from the closing speech of the chief British prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg:\n\u201cAfter this ordeal to which mankind has been submitted, mankind itself . . . comes to this Court and cries: \u2018These are our laws\u2014let them prevail!\u2019\u201d\nYears later, the Latvian prosecutor general began investigating the possibility of redeeming Cukurs for his past actions. Researching the case, Dr. Linda Kinstler discovered that her grandfather, Boris, had served in Cukurs\u2019s killing unit and was rumored to be a double agent for the KGB. The proceedings, which might have resulted in Cukurs\u2019s pardon, threw into question supposed \u201cfacts\u201d about the Holocaust at the precise moment its last living survivors\u2014the last legal witnesses\u2014were dying.\nRich with scholarly detective work and personal reflection,\xa0Come to This Court and Cry: How the Holocaust Ends\xa0(PublicAffairs, 2023) (Public Affairs, 2023) is a fearlessly brave examination of how history can become distorted over time, how easily the innocent are forgotten, and how carelessly the guilty are sometimes reprieved.\nThis interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies