Earlylands in Conversation - Ep. 6 - Award-Winning Author Linda Kinstler on the Strange Journey and Violent Death of the "Butcher of Riga"

Linda Kinstler is the author of the book Come to this Court and Cry, which was named a Wall Street Journal 2022 Book of the Year and won the 2023 Whiting Award for Nonfiction. In the words of The Guardian, the book is a “tremendous feat of storytelling, propelled by numerous twists and revelations, yet anchored by a deep moral seriousness.” The book traces the post-World War Two journey of Herbert Cukurs - celebrated Latvian aviator turned mass murderer known as the “Butcher of Riga" - who was abducted and assassinated by the Mossad in 1965. Simultaneously, Linda  weaves in her own fraught family history - including her grandfather’s ties to Cukurs' Nazi-affiliated unit and Soviet intelligence - while exploring how Holocaust memory, justice, and truth can be contested, distorted, and erased. Books referenced in the episode include:Axiomatic by Maria TumarkinOresteia by Aeschylus