Nazis on the Run How Hitler's Henchmen Fled Justice

by Steinacher, Gerald

• ISBN13: 9780199642458
• ISBN10: 0199642451
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

InNazis on the Run, historian Gerald Steinacher provides the true story of how the Nazis escaped their fate. Drawing on extensive research in newly opened archives, Steinacher not only reveals how Nazi war criminals escaped from justice at the end of the Second World War, fleeing through the Tyrolean Alps to Italian seaports, but he also highlights the key roles played by the Red Cross, the Vatican, and the Secret Services of the major powers. The book takes a hard look at the International Committee of the Red Cross, proving that identification papers issued by the Red Cross made it possible for thousands of Nazis, war criminals, and collaborators--including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengale--to slip through the hands of justice and to find refuge in North and South America, Spain, and the Near East. Steinacher underscores the importance of the South Tyrol as a "ratline" from Germany to Italy and also reveals that many leaders of the Catholic Church--sometimes knowingly, other times unwittingly--were involved in large-scale Nazi smuggling, often driven by the fear of an imminent communist takeover of Italy. Finally, the book documents how the Counter Intelligence Corps (the predecessor to the CIA) recruited former SS men to advise U.S. intelligence agencies and smuggled them out of Soviet-occupied areas of Austria and Eastern Europe into Italy and on to South America.

Author Biography

Gerald Steinacher is currently a Joseph A. Schumpeter Research Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University and Lecturer on Contemporary History at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xi
List of Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
The Nazi Escape Route through Italy	p. 1
Italy as a Country of Refuge	p. 3
Refugees, Prisoners of War, and War Criminals	p. 8
Illegal Immigrants	p. 15
Smuggling Goods and People	p. 23
South Tyrol, the Nazi Bolt-Hole	p. 32
Fake Papers	p. 43
The Co-Responsibility of the International Red Cross	p. 55
Red Cross Travel Documents	p. 56
How the ICRC Issued Travel Documents in Italy	p. 61
The Routine Nature of False Documentation	p. 69
The Red Cross Calls a Halt	p. 77
The Red Cross on the Escape Route	p. 84
Escaping with Ethnic German Identity	p. 90
The Vatican Network	p. 101
The Vatican Relief Commission	p. 102
The National Subcommittees	p. 110
The Network of Bishop Alois Hudal	p. 118
The Monsignor and the Croatian Fascists	p. 128
The Role of the Church in South Tyrol	p. 139
Denazification through Baptism	p. 148
The Intelligence Service Ratline	p. 159
Operation Bernhard	p. 161
The Special Case of Italy	p. 169
'Recycled' War Criminals	p. 177
The Origins of the Italian Ratline	p. 183
The Ratline Players	p. 195
Escape along the Ratline	p. 199
Destination Argentina	p. 211
Argentinian Immigration Policy	p. 212
The Recruitment of Specialists	p. 218
Argentinian Diplomats and Agents in Italy	p. 226
Peron's Escape Agents in Italy	p. 232
Austrian Pioneers in the Escape Network	p. 241
The Escape of the Concentration Camp Commandants	p. 248
A New Start in Argentina	p. 258
Conclusion	p. 271
Notes	p. 290
Bibliography	p. 342
Index of Names	p. 365
General Index	p. 372
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.