Customer Reviews

The Real Odessa: How Peron Brought the Nazi War Criminals to Argentina

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Everyone has heard about the myth of Odessa, the secret organization with hidden contacts intended to provide sanctuary for the worst nazi criminals after the end of the Second World War

After six of years of deep research in Argentina and Europe, Mr. Goñi shows clearly how the actual Odessa operated smuggling nazis from the Old continent to the South American secluded country, unveiling a contact network made by pro-nazi Peron Argentine government assistants, corrupted diplomats, first rescued nazi criminals with new identities back in Europe, far right Europe politicians acting as liaisons and priests of the Catholic Church in the Vatican

Every interview, record, event and character mentioned is cited with its reference source allowing the reader to delve further in every single topic of his choice

Many novels are written about the Nazi war criminals and their secrecy as a marketing tool in order to attract avid suspense readers and make run of the mill bestsellers, unlike those stories, this is an objective and factual work written as a documentary that can be used in any college course as a contemporary history text book.

Great job

The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Peron's Argentina. Uki Goni. New York: Granta Books, 2002, 382 pp. $29.95.

Reviewed by Kenneth Maxwell, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2003

A chilling, detailed story of one of Argentina's most shameful secrets: the enthusiastic role of dictator Juan Peron in providing cover for major Nazi war criminals as the Third Reich collapsed, allowing them to lead prosperous and protected lives after the war. Few characters get off easily in this passionate account, which untangles the networks and escape mechanisms that made it all possible. Coming to Peron's assistance were numerous institutions and individuals: the Vatican, the Argentinean Catholic Church, the Argentinean government, and the Swiss authorities who cooperated through a secret office set up by Peron's agents in Bern. Operatives from Heinrich Himmler's secret service arrived in Madrid as early as 1944 to prepare an escape route; in 1946, this operation moved to Buenos Aires, establishing its headquarters in the presidential palace. Eventually, this operation's tentacles stretched from Scandinavia to Italy, aiding French and Belgian war criminals and bringing in gold that the Croatian state treasury had stolen from 600,000 Jewish and Serb victims of the Ustasha regime. Ingrained antisemitism, anticommunism, greed, and corruption all fortified these clandestine protection rackets. Today, the stain remains, as does the secrecy. This astonishing book delineates in gripping detail what was long suspected -- and also hints at how much remains to be told.

THE REAL ODESSA is an interesting expose of the escape of Nazi criminals into Argentina during the time of Juan Peron's reign. As a former exchange student to Argentina, an admirer of Eva Peron, and a person in the process of conversion to Judaism, it is understandable why THE REAL ODESSA would hold interest for me.

Rumors and accusations of nazism have long circled around the figure of Juan Peron, leading many to think that Peronism was simply the South American extension of the Nazi party. Books like THE REAL ODESSA are now being published to bring the truth forward. Part of that truth is that Juan Peron himself was not a Nazi and did not subscribe to any Nazi ideology. As Lawrence Levine notes in INSIDE ARGENTINA FROM PERON TO MENEM, Peron's own views and his political associations were not anti-Semitic: "Peron sought out the Jewish community in Argentina to assist in developing his policies...." Levine also notes that one of Peron's most important allies in organizing the industrial sector was Jose Ber Gerbald, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Perhaps Robert D. Crassweller states it more succinctly in the appropriately titled PERON AND THE ENIGMAS OF ARGENTINA: "Peronism was not nazism...."

So, if Peronism was not nazism, why exactly did Juan Peron, as THE REAL ODESSA points out, help Nazis excape from justice? Because, as Tomas Eloy Martinez, author of SANTA EVITA, says, Peron was hoping to acquire advanced technology developed by the Germans during the war. (Martinez also notes that Evita herself played no part in any dealings with the Nazis, which I find ironic seeing as how her picture is used on the cover of THE REAL ODESSA.) Peron was not a Nazi; but he *was* a politician, and one not opposed to shady dealings at times. (And yet another confounding thing is that, as Joseph Page writes in PERON: A BIOGRAPHY, there were no concentration camps in Peron's Argentina, Peron was at heart a pacifist, and it was the military government that ousted Peron that killed tens of thousands of people.)

I recommend all of the above mentioned books in addition to THE REAL ODESSA for understanding the often perplexing and contradictory movement known as Peronism.

This is a very good account of the fleeing to Argentina but readers should keep in mind that this was only one country who offered a safe haven to war criminals. The Real Odessa chronicles how Perón's government brought Nazi war criminals to Argentina yet ignores the other countries who did the very same thing for a wide variety of reasons. The five primary hiding places were Syria, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and... ta-da! --the United States. I would like to see a more complete history of the help given to Nazis. Some countries did it for pay, the United States for intelligence information. In either case, murderers were knowingly set free among citizens of five nations.

I cannot remember what led me to this book but thankfully I did get to read it. And having read it am still suffering the effects. I consider this to be the sign of a great book.
While the details are many, Mr. Goni manages to relate them in a cogent and cohesive fashion - no small feat considering the depth of his research.
Less a blame game than an outright castigation of idealogues, this book is an absolute must in understanding WW2 and its aftermath.
I followed the book with a viewing of "Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie" which touches on many of the same subjects covered in the book.
Greater horror stories have never been written by man.

It is getting dark in the Alps. A night trip begins. The journey starts from the local Church in the town of Vinaders close to Insbruck in Austria. The path is exhausting and steep going through the Alps. First you reach the Italian border, and then descend to Brennerbad and reach the local Church there. This might sound like the kind of adventurous hike organized by a local tourist agency today. In 1945 as the Second World War came to an end, this night hike was undertaken many times by travelers who where in fact Nazi war criminals. They were guided by members of a secret agency soon to be known as the ODESSA. Their aim was to escape from justice and head for freedom in Latin America. Hardcore Nazis, Ustashi, Belgian Raxists and Slovaks were among the many fugitives who, as Uki Goni reveals in his book "The Real ODESSA", escaped from war-torn Europe for a new life and a new identity in Argentina and, later on, countries such as Paraguay and Uruguay.

Since the end of the war, the subject of how Nazi war criminals were smuggled into South America has been speculated over by journalists, historians and even fictional writers, notably Frederick Forsyth in his novel "The ODESSA File". "The Real ODESSA" is one of the first books to describe in detail the inner workings of this secret organization, the existence of which has been denied for many years. The night trip mentioned above is one such detail revealed by the Argentine-born author who describes other similar escape routes or "ratlines."

Perhaps the most revealing aspects of Goni's book are to do with the collaboration of the Argentinian government, led by President Juan Peron, and the fleeing Nazis, who found a safe haven in Argentina and some of the surrounding countries. Goni did an incredible amount of research in the Argentinian national archives, particularly immigration records. He manages to identify about three hundred war criminals who were provided with a safe haven in Argentina, among them Erik Priebke, Gerhard Bohne, Jozef Schwammberger as well as the creams of the crop, Jozef Mengele and Adolf Eichman.

After doing six years of research and conducting hundreds of interviews, Goni expertly highlights the complicity of Juan Peron's government, as well as the involvement of Vatican priests, in allowing these mass murderers to escape justice. The ease with which the war criminals were able to emigrate to Argentina contrasts with the difficulties faced by Jews who, when trying to escape persecution in Nazi Germany, were denied entry to Argentina. Goni devotes an entire chapter, titled "War Games", which describes how Juan Peron and Hitler deliberately made it impossible for Jews to find a safe haven in Argentina by branding them as undesirable.

The revelations in Goni's excellent book are explosive and embarrassing, even damaging. In 1996, when officials within the Argentine government became aware of Goni's research, they panicked and tried to burn all the documents in the archives. However, fortunately for historians, researchers and the public, Goni had already discovered much of the truth about Peron's close association with the Nazis and the involvement of anti-communist Vatican officials like Bishop Hudal. Goni reveals that it was Peron's intention, with Hudal's support, to get as many Nazis into Argentina, believing them to be "freedom fighters" against communism.

Compared to the number of war criminals who successfully escaped justice, very few were brought to trial and punished. This book, whilst a work of non-fiction by a journalist, sometimes reads like a novel, proving the old adage that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Goni has revealed an incredible amount of detail in his book though there remains much more in the archives. However, whilst it is not always possible to highlight everything it is important, according to Goni in an interview with the History Channel, that "we need to get as close to the truth as possible".

The most damning information that Goni found was that the Vatican had no qualms about helping "good, honest, catholics" from escaping their fates in Europe for what the did during WW2. Hundreds (maybe thousands) of SS and those who ran the 'concentration camp' system were smuggled out through Italy and Spain with the connivance of the Church and the IRC (International Red Cross). Everyone turned a blind eye to those men (like Mengele and Eichman) who used phony names on passport applications that were signed by 'fellow travelers'.

In many cases Argentina would allow five or six jews to immigrate on a ship that carried SS Officers and their families so as to look magnanimous. What's worse is that Pope Pius XII, who never made public statements about the plight of the Jews before and during the war, was complicit in giving protection and succor to the perpetrators of the 'worst genocide' ever committed. In fact, none of those who were later condemned at Nuremburg or escaped, were ever ex-communicated.

Monsignor Montini (who was later to be elevated as Paul VI) acted as co- Secretary of State for Pius during this time and met regularly with the groups in the Vatican who were working to help SS and others to emigrate to Argentina. Unfortunately, the Vatican still refuses to open up the Archives from Pope Pius XII and allow scholars to review documentation of correspondence between the Holy See and Buenos Aires during this time.

Though many of the Argentine archives relating to those who were smuggled out of Europe were destroyed in 1996, enough is left over in other places that show who help develop the 'ratlines' that allowed these murderers to escape prosecution for their deeds. Sadly in many cases both the governments of the US and UK assisted in helping these people hide in the hope of fomenting unrest back behind the 'Iron Curtain' or using their scientific knowledge.

Zeb Kantrowitz

A solidly researched, well-written piece of work on the Argentine side of the ratlines smuggling Nazi war criminals out of Europe after WWII. After reading Uki Goni's book, you'll never look quite the same way at the Vatican, the Red Cross, the Perons, or British and U.S. intelligence for that matter.

Goni, an Argentine journalist and son of a diplomat, was able to write this book despite government displeasure at his work, probably because he was too high profile to "disappear."

This review is kind of a twofer. I bought The Real Odessa after reading Phillip Kerr's A Quiet Flame. The Real Odessa was his source material. Like all great writers, Kerr bases his Bernie Guenther novels -- fiction -- on well-researched facts and intelligent speculation.

In 1920 decade,Argentina had a currency even more strong, as british pound.In fact, in 1938 Argentina had a better standard of living than Japan or Italy.Since Peron's times in 1950 decade, Argentina is just a third world country.
This book is about the link between Peron and the smuggling of nazists (and fascists) to Argentina.Good work, but I must remeber some failures:
1-I found this book weak, about the corrupt Juan Peron's wife, Evita Peron.She was even worse than described in this book.
2-About the nazi scientists that went to Argentina, this book is weak.They made too little results for too much spending.
3-The Argentina's calamity began in 1930, after a military coup.Its last chapter isn't over until today.Peron is the worsest argentine in all times.Peron wasn't a nazist(and this book shows this fact);but Peron was a corrupt and incompetent leader.More than anyone else, Peron sent Argentina to a third world level of living.

I was really interested in reading this book, honestly. But it is so poorly written that I gave up after 30 pages or so. I don't care if it's important stuff, true or whatever. If the writer can't get the job done of explaining it he should leave it to somebody else. It seems he just poured his notes from his journal on the paper in a chronological order, with no overall plan.

I give it a second star for the subject matter. If it was for the telling I'd want my money back.