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July 9, 2012

Unraveling the Myth of 'ODESSA'

Guy Walters, The Telegraph

I see that today's papers are full of accounts of Gudrun Burwitz, the daughter of Heinrich Himmler, and her organisation Stille Hilfe (Silent Help), that is reputed to help Nazis on the run. Predictably, the reports mention how Stille Hilfe co-operates with the 'Odessa', the clandestine Nazi escape network. I'm not qualified to discuss the activities of Stille Hilfe, but I do know a thing or two about the 'Odessa', and I believe the organisation is more the product of fantasy than reality. I apologise that this is a longish post, but it's a subject close to my professional heart, and nothing gets my goat more than when people talk knowledgeably about 'Odessa'.

The most obvious problem with Odessa is the name. If you were organising a super secret escape network for SS men,...

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TAGGED: Germany, Nazi party

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