Tag: Adolf Eichmann

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The French Anne Frank

As a young boy growing up in Holland during the mid-1960s, I was introduced to Anne Frank and her tragic story. We were required to read her diary as well as attending the all-day field trip to the “Anne Frank House” in Amsterdam where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis until they were betrayed and deported ⏤ only her father survived.

There is a similar story in France, but it did not become known until 2008 when another diary was published, and the world got a first-hand glimpse into Nazi atrocities. The author, Hélène Berr, has since become known as the “French Anne Frank.”

Hélène Berr shortly before her arrest and deportation. Photo by anonymous (c. 1944).
Hélène Berr shortly before her arrest and deportation. Photo by anonymous (c. 1944).

Did You Know?

Do you know how the term “Nazi” came about? Hitler’s political party was officially called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei:

NAtionalsoZIalistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.

The German word “Reich” means “empire.” The first German Reich lasted 844 years and was commonly known as the Holy Roman Empire until it was dismantled by Napoléon in 1806. The second Reich lasted approximately 48 years between 1871 and the end of World War I. Hitler’s Third Reich lasted twelve years with horrifying consequences which unfortunately, some aspects have endured to this day.

Hélène Berr (1921-1945) was born into an upper middle-class French family. In addition to Hélène, Raymond and Antoinette Berr’s family consisted of Jacqueline (1915-1921), Yvonne (1917-2001), Denise (1919-2011) and Jacques (1922-1998). The family lived in Paris at 5, avenue Elisée-Reclus until the French police knocked on their door in March 1944.

Hélène began her diary on 7 April 1942. She ceased writing seven months later on 28 November 1942 but resumed once again on 25 August 1943. There are many entries which document the actions and events perpetrated by Vichy and the Nazis in Paris and France. Reading her diary, you will confront Hélène’s emotions towards the policies of Vichy and the Nazis as well as personal issues. Unlike Anne Frank, we won’t hear from Hélène until 2008 when her diary is published. Read More The French Anne Frank

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Odessa: Myth or Truth?

The answer is both. Odessa or Organisation der ehemaligen SS−Angehörigen (Organization of Former SS Members) was the code word used by the American Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) to describe an umbrella operation to aid former Nazis in their escape to South America. You’re probably familiar with the fictional Odessa from having read Frederick Forsyth’s 1972 book, The Odessa File, or more likely, having seen the 1974 movie by the same name (starring Jon Voight). Forsyth portrayed Odessa as a secret organization run strictly by and for former Nazi SS men escaping certain retribution by the Allied governments at the end of World War II. Forsyth wrote that Odessa was responsible for the formal escape route out of Europe and into South America where the fanatical former Nazis would try and establish a Fourth Reich.  Watch the movie trailer here.

Copy of first edition cover of Forsyth novel, “The ODESSA File.” Photo by anonymous (c. 1972). PD-Low-resolution purpose for discussing book. Wikimedia Commons.
Copy of first edition cover of Forsyth novel, “The ODESSA File.” Photo by anonymous (c. 1972). PD-Low-resolution purpose for discussing book. Wikimedia Commons.
Studio poster for the movie “The Odessa File.” Photo by anonymous (c. 1974). ©Columbia Pictures. Wikimedia Commons.
Studio poster for the movie “The Odessa File.” Photo by anonymous (c. 1974). ©Columbia Pictures. Wikimedia Commons.

In reality, the organization of the Nazi and other war criminal’s escape routes entailed a much broader web of networks. As the Argentine author, Uki Goñi, put it, “layered rings” of non-Nazi entities sympathetic to Hitler and the Nazi regime were primarily responsible for the organization, implementation, and execution of moving its human cargo across the Atlantic. It wasn’t the singular, secretive, and Nazi SS-organized group as Forsyth portrayed in his book. Goñi’s exhaustive research (a lot of it due to declassified documents) found these “rings” to consist of four primary groups: the Vatican/Catholic Church, Allied intelligence agencies, Swiss authorities, and secret Argentine organizations supported by Juan Perón and his government. Beneficiaries of these escape routes included not only former SS men but war criminals from France (including Vichyites), Croatia, Slovakia, and Belgium. High ranking members of the Ustaše (Croatian) and Rexist (Belgium) fascist parties successfully used these routes to evade capture and certain death.

This is a story too large for one blog. I can only stimulate your appetite to read more about Odessa and the details of more than 10,000 of the most notorious and brutal Axis war criminals escaping to South America between 1945 and 1950. Read More Odessa: Myth or Truth?