ODESSA

See Odessa (disambiguation) for other uses of the word "Odessa".

ODESSA (German for Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen; "The Organization of Former SS-Members") was an alleged Nazi Germany fugitive network set up towards the end of World War II by a group of SS officers. With alleged ties to Argentina, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the Vatican, ODESSA ostensibly operated out of Buenos Aires and helped Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele, Erich Priebke and many other war criminals find refuge in Latin America and the Middle East.

SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny was believed to have been active in this organization, but this supposition has never been proved. Similarly, General Reinhard Gehlen's entire intelligence organisation that was employed and protected by US intelligence within a few months of the end of the war (and which subsequently became an important part of NATO intelligence in eastern Europe), came under suspicion.

Breathing new life into the recurring speculations about ODESSA, a note purportedly coming from the organization claimed responsibility for the 9 July 1979 car bombing in France aimed at anti-Nazi activists Serge and Beate Klarsfeld.

Contents

1 The existence of ODESSA 2 Argentina's Nazi files 3 Pertinent quotes 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

The existence of ODESSA

According to Simon Wiesenthal, ODESSA was set up in 1946 to aid fugitive Nazis. Other sources, such as many interviews by the ZDF German TV station with former SS men, suggest that ODESSA never was the single world-wide secret organization that Wiesenthal described, but that there were several organizations, both overt and covert (including the CIA and several Latin American governments), that helped ex-SS men.

To some extent whether ODESSA was a criminal conspiracy that protected and smuggled out war criminals or an informal network by which various German and Allied elements protected "useful" former SS anti-communists from war crimes charges is purely a matter of viewpoint since, short of finding a genuine documentary constitution for it, any facts or actions would fit both descriptions equally.

Long before the ZDF TV network, biographer Gitta Sereny wrote in her 1974 book Into that Darkness (see References below) that the ODESSA network was of minor importance if it existed at all. She attributed the fact that several criminal SS-men could escape to the post war chaos and the lack of means of the Catholic church, the Red Cross and the American military to verify the claims of people who came to them for help or were imprisoned. She also wrote that one pro-German bishop called Aloïs Hudal in Rome who knowingly helped several ex-SS men to escape out of Europe must have had some help or permission from other people in the church hierarchy. One of the ex-SS men that he helped is the fomer commander of the extermination camp at Treblinka, Franz Stangl.

Uki Goñi, in his 2002 book The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina (see References) suggests that Sereny's more complex, less conspiratorial, story is closer to the real truth. The book prompted a US House of Representatives resolution in 2003, urging Argentina to open their hitherto secret documents concerning this matter.

Argentina's Nazi files

On 14 May 2003, based on the revelations contained in (Uki Goñi's book) The Real Odessa, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution urging Argentina to release its secret Nazi records; the resolution was sponsored by New York Representative Maurice Hinchey.

The following is an extract of House Resolution 235 (for the full text, see the External links section):

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 14, 2003

(...)

RESOLUTION

Urging the Government of Argentina to build upon the steps it has taken to shed light on the relocation to Argentina of Nazis and other war criminals following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and the subsequent end of World War II and release all official records pertaining to the relocation to Argentina of Nazis and other war criminals following these events.

Whereas Nazis and other war criminals seeking to avoid prosecution for their role in the Holocaust, one of the most horrific crimes ever witnessed by human kind, were permitted to relocate to Argentina following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and the subsequent end of World War II;

Whereas some of the most notorious criminals of the Holocaust resided in Argentina, including Adolf Eichmann, Edward Roschmann, Erich Priebke, Kurt Christmann, and Ante Pavelic;

(...)

Whereas Argentina has not responded to requests from numerous researchers for access to Argentina's archives on the relocation of Nazis and other war criminals;

(...)

Whereas the release of such records by the Government of Argentina will be viewed as an important and positive gesture to all people who seek an accurate accounting of history: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the Government of Argentina should--

(1) build upon the steps it has taken to shed light on the relocation to Argentina of Nazis and other war criminals following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 and the subsequent end of World War II; and

(2) make public all of Argentina's official records pertaining to the relocation to Argentina of Nazis and other war criminals.

END

From December 2002, the Argentine government in Buenos Aires refused calls from the Wiesenthal Center for the release of 58 files dealing with the escape of Nazi war criminals to Argentina. In July 2003, two months after the passing of House Resolution 235, two of the files were opened.

Also, Argentina's government had, in 1938 (on the verge of World War II, and with Hitler's politics regarding Jews already on the move), sanctioned an immigration law restricting access to any individual scorned or forsaken by his country's government. This was implicitly targeted for Jews and other minorities fleeing Germany at the time. This law was discovered and denounced by writer Uki Goñi. This legislation, though already in disuse for many years, was finally vetoed on June 8, 2005.

Pertinent quotes

• "We knew what we did. It was absolutely necessary that we used every son of a bitch as long as he was an anti-communist".
      —Harry Rositzke, CIA-Russia expert (in translation from ZDF.de's article "Mythos Odessa: Wahrheit oder Legende?"—see External links, below)

See also

• Operation Paperclip
• The Odessa File
• Hassan al Banna

References

• Goñi, Uki (2002). The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina (http://ukinet.com/blurb-eng.htm). Granta Books. 382 pp. ISBN 1862075816.
• Sereny, Gitta (1974). Into that Darkness. From Mercy Killings to Mass Murder.
  Republished (1983) as Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience. Vintage. 400 pp. ISBN 0394710355.

External links

• Information on ODESSA (http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/odessa.html) – From the Jewish Virtual Library
• ZDF.de (2002). "Mythos Odessa: Wahrheit oder Legende?" ("The Myth of ODESSA: Truth or legend?") (http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/21/0,1872,2023733,00.html) (in German)
• ODESSA and Nazis in Latin America (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040130.html) – From The Straight Dope
• Full text of (US) House (of Representatives) Resolution 235: "Argentina urged to open Nazi files" (http://ukinet.com/congress.htm) – From Uki Goñi's website
• Aftermath, the Vatican Ratline (http://hist.academic.claremontmckenna.edu/jpetropoulos/holocaust/aftermathintro.htm)de:Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen

it:ODESSA ja:オデッサ (ODESSA)