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The Real Odessa

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As Russian forces closed in on Berlin and Hitler’s premiership drew to a close, many Nazi officials fled Germany. In this startling, meticulously researched account, acclaimed journalist Uki Goñi unravels the complex network that led them to Argentina. Relying on international support—in Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Italy—and the enthusiasm of the Vatican and President Juan Perón, Goñi shows how this ratline allowed Adolf Eichmann—the architect of the Final Solution—Josef Mengele, Eric Priebke, and many more, into the country. Both riveting and rigorous, this remarkable investigation sheds vital light on both a disquieting episode in Europe’s history and the ties between Argentinian Catholic Nationalism and Fascist movements in Europe.

©2015 Uki Goñi (P)2022 Dreamscape Media, LLC 20th Century Americas Military Modern Politics & Government South America War & Crisis War
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There is wonderful research done for this book, the classic leg-work & recond shuffling kind where the historian has spent much time immersed in dusty archives uncovering illuminating files officials don't want found. It is therefore hugely disappointing to me not to find a clearly written linear narrative of this important and interesting story. Surely one is possible. We jump around from explanations of research methods, to this story, to that story, to historical context, to present day, and then to different points of time, not in chronological order. Add, lots of asides too. Perhaps it's a reflection of the condition of the record office the writer found himself in. I'm not convinced the 'how' part of the war criminals escape from Europe was all that well explained, not in any 'zoomed in' way at least. The three interviews (not interviews) at the end did something of this in miniature. Surely the basic structure should have been name, where he's from, the crimes of which he's acused, steps taken to escape justice and what happened to him, presented in chronological order. I think there should have been some explanation of how the historian was using the word 'Nazi'. It's very frequently used here and becomes difficult to listen to over and over, especially with the variety of individuals, axis powers and military coalitions involved in these ratlines. It seems a bit lazy to me at times. There is something of, it seems to me, an embarrassing moment he tells the reader: you know, "Nazi doesn't appear in Argentinian immigration records even once." Can he really be so unconscious of how little widespread it was used at the time. The narrator does a good job.

Tough going.

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