Peter Malkin

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Peter Zvi Malkin (his Hebrew name is צביקה מלחין , Tzvika Malkhin), (May 27, 1927-March 1, 2005), was an Israeli secret agent, and member of the Mossad intelligence agency. Born Zvi Malchin in Zolkiewka, Poland. In 1936, his family returned to Palestine to escape the rising tide of anti-Semitism; his sister, Fruma, and her three children who remained behind with 150 other relatives, died in the Holocaust.

At the age of twelve, Malkin was recruited into the Palestine Jewish underground. In 1950, he was invited to join the new Jewish state's fledgling security service as an explosives expert.

Malkin spent twenty seven years in the Mossad, first as an agent and later as Chief of Operations. As Chief of Operations he took a lead role in Israel's most celebrated intelligence coups and later covert operations. Among those was the capture of Israel Be'er, a Soviet spy who had penetrated the highest levels of Israeli government. He also led an operation against Nazi nuclear rocket scientists who assisted an Egyptian weapons development program after World War II.

Malkin's most famous operation would come on May 11, 1960, when he and several other Mossad agents physically captured Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany, and a member of the SS (Schutzstaffel), in Argentina. "One moment, sir" were the words he uttered as he tapped Eichmann on the shoulder, before wrestling him to the ground and putting him in the getaway car to be smuggled to Israel.

Malkin was widely considered to be one of the greatest Mossad agents in Israeli history. In 1989, Israeli newspaper Maariv cited him as "one of the greatest figures ever in the history of the Mossad." Israeli journalist Uri Dan called him a "an extraordinary secret warrior."

After retiring in 1976, Peter Malkin devoted his time to painting, a profession he used as a cover during his Mossad years. He has also authored five books, and served as a private international consultant on anti-terrorism methods.

Malkin spent his last years in New York with his wife Roni and their three children. He died on March 1, 2005.