Peter Z. Malkin

    Peter Z. Malkin is an acclaimed artist and an Israeli intelligence legend.
    In his 27 years in the Mossad and the secret service, first as an agent and later as Chief of Operations, he took a lead role in Israeli's most celebrated intelligence coups and later covert operations. "One of the greatest figures ever in the history of the Mossad" wrote the respected Israeli daily, Maariv, of Malkin in 1989. Most of his operations remain secret to this day; their outcomes have had a tremendous impact on the security of the country he served.
    In 1960, Malkin was placed in an unprecedented position–to use his skills as an agent and his talent as a painter to make history and record it at the same time. Malkin became a member of the elite commando team sent by the Head of the Mossad, Isser Harel, to capture Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and bring him to Israel. An expert in martial arts, Malkin was chosen to physically capture Eichmann, guard him in a safe house, and disguise him for his clandestine journey out of Buenos Aires to stand trial in Jerusalem.
    On his way to South America, Malkin bought a copy of The South American Handbook. He carried the small red book with him everywhere he went. It was natural for him to bring art supplies for his "cover" as an artist, but on this mission, the handbook became his canvas. A keen observer by profession, Malkin sketched the people, places, events, and memories that not only touched him, but also haunted him during his stay in Argentina. For Malkin, the capture of Eichmann was an act of moral justice on behalf of mankind, but it was also personal–born Zvi Malchin in British Palestine, he spent his early years in Zolkiewka, Poland and lost 150 relatives in the Holocaust, including his sister, Fruma, and her three children.
    Only pages apart, Malkin depicted Eichmann, Mussolini and Hitler, rented houses, members of his family, figures from the pageantry of the Carnaval, and lovers across the street from the safe house where Eichmann was guarded for ten days. The colored drawings were done with make-up, oil, pastels, colored pencils and dry watercolor–the others with pencil and ink, on the pages of the handbook.
    When he returned to Israel, he wrapped the "diary" in an old newspaper and cloth bag and hid it in his mother's house. Malkin forgot about it for years. 
    After his mother's death seventeen years later, he found the small red book just where he left it, but his involvement in the operation to capture Eichmann remained a secret for another fifteen years.
    In 1991, after the facts of the operation including Malkin's role were publicly revealed, he exhibited the paintings that became known as The Argentina Journal at the Israel Museum. Curators from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, preparing for the exhibition, carefully removed the pages from the spine of the book. The paintings were placed in 14 double-sided frames (like an open book); two images were viewed from the front of each frame, and two others from the back. Some images were hidden from view and were found only now, in the preparation for this book.
    For the first time since they were created in 1960, the paintings that comprise The Argentina Journal–with the painter's thoughts, feelings, memories, and descriptions of technique–are being published in their entirety. The paintings appear in the precise order as the pages in The South American Handbook. Some of the paintings have never been shown before, or their existence known. Since his retirement in 1976, Peter Z. Malkin has devoted his time to the artistic pursuits that served as his cover during his years in the Mossad. His paintings have won international acclaim in Brussels, Israel, Japan, London, New York and Paris. He is also the author of five books, including a personal memoir written with Harry Stein–Eichmann in my Hands, a much sought after lecturer around the world, and a private international consultant on anti-terrorism methods.

"What Peter Z. Malkin presents here is an "illustrated book." For Malkin's imagery possesses the power that is common to life and art. I was stunned and fascinated by their impact. It is simultaneously realistic and surrealistic–precisely descriptive as it verges on the visionary. It is constructed from the strands of present reality and from the strands of memory. It offers both factual and poetic testimony."