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The ratline : the exalted life and mysterious death of a Nazi fugitive / Philippe Sands.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2021Copyright date: ©2020Edition: First American editionDescription: xviii, 417 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525520962
  • 0525520961
Other title:
  • Exalted life and mysterious death of a Nazi fugitive
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Note to the Reader -- Principle Characters -- Prologue : Rome, 13 July 1949 -- Part I : Love -- Part II : Power -- Part III : Flight -- Part IV : Death -- Epilogue : Rome, 13 July 2019
Summary: "The life and mysterious death of Otto Wächter, former Governor of Nazi-occupied Poland, who died in the Vatican after World War II"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: Baron Otto von Wächter, Austrian lawyer, husband, father, high Nazi official, senior SS officer, former governor of Galicia during the war, creator and overseer of the Krakow ghetto, indicted after as a war criminal for the mass murder of more than 100,000 Poles, hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the British, by Simon Wiesenthal, on the run for three years, from 1945 to 1948. Philippe Sands pieces together, in riveting detail, Wächter's extraordinary, shocking story. Given full access to the Wächter family archives-journals, diaries, tapes, and more-and with the assistance of the Wächters' son Horst, who believes his father to have been a "good man," Sands writes of Wächter's rise through the Nazi high command, his "blissful" marriage and family life as their world was brought to ruin, and his four-year flight to escape justice-to the Tirol, to Rome, and the Vatican; given a new identity, on his way to a new life via "the Ratline" to Perón's Argentina, the escape route taken by Eichmann, Mengele, and thousands of other Nazis. Wächter's escape was cut short by his mysterious, shocking death in Rome, in the midst of the burgeoning Cold War (was he being recruited in postwar Italy by the Americans and the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps or by the Soviet NKVD or by both; or was he poisoned by one side or the other, as his son believes-or by both?) An extraordinary discovery, told up-close through access to a trove of family correspondence between Wächter and his wife-part historical detective story, part love story, part family memoir, part Cold War espionage thriller. -- Provided by publisher.Summary: Baron Otto von Wächter: Austrian lawyer, husband, father, high Nazi official, senior SS officer, former governor of Galicia during the war, creator and overseer of the Krakow ghetto, indicted after as a war criminal for the mass murder of more than 100,000 Poles, hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the British, by Simon Wiesenthal, on the run for three years, from 1945 to 1948. Sands, given full access to the Wächter family archives and with the assistance of the Wächters' son Horst, writes of Wächter's rise through the Nazi high command, his family life as their world was brought to ruin, and his four-year flight to escape justice. Given a new identity, on his way to a new life via "the Ratline" to Perón's Argentina, Wächter died in Rome. Was he being recruited in postwar Italy by the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps or by the Soviet NKVD-- or by both? -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library Biography WACHTER, O. S221 Available 33111009797750
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography WACHTER, O. S221 Available 33111010491930
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A tale of Nazi lives, mass murder, love, Cold War espionage, a mysterious death in the Vatican, and the Nazi escape route to Perón's Argentina,"the Ratline"--from the author of the internationally acclaimed, award-winning East West Street.

"Hypnotic, shocking, and unputdownable." -- John le Carré, internationally renowned bestselling author

Baron Otto von Wächter, Austrian lawyer, husband, father, high Nazi official, senior SS officer, former governor of Galicia during the war, creator and overseer of the Krakow ghetto, indicted after as a war criminal for the mass murder of more than 100,000 Poles, hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the British, by Simon Wiesenthal, on the run for three years, from 1945 to 1948 . . .

Philippe Sands pieces together, in riveting detail, Wächter's extraordinary, shocking story. Given full access to the Wächter family archives--journals, diaries, tapes, and more--and with the assistance of the Wächters' son Horst, who believes his father to have been a "good man," Sands writes of Wächter's rise through the Nazi high command, his "blissful" marriage and family life as their world was brought to ruin, and his four-year flight to escape justice--to the Tirol, to Rome, and the Vatican; given a new identity, on his way to a new life via "the Ratline" to Perón's Argentina, the escape route taken by Eichmann, Mengele, and thousands of other Nazis. Wächter's escape was cut short by his mysterious, shocking death in Rome, in the midst of the burgeoning Cold War (was he being recruited in postwar Italy by the Americans and the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps or by the Soviet NKVD or by both; or was he poisoned by one side or the other, as his son believes--or by both?) . . .

An extraordinary discovery, told up-close through access to a trove of family correspondence between Wächter and his wife--part historical detective story, part love story, part family memoir, part Cold War espionage thriller.

"Breathtaking, gripping, shattering." --Elif Shafak

"A Borzoi Book" -- title page verso.

"Originally published in Great Britain in 2020 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd., London, in 2020" -- title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"The life and mysterious death of Otto Wächter, former Governor of Nazi-occupied Poland, who died in the Vatican after World War II"-- Provided by publisher.

Note to the Reader -- Principle Characters -- Prologue : Rome, 13 July 1949 -- Part I : Love -- Part II : Power -- Part III : Flight -- Part IV : Death -- Epilogue : Rome, 13 July 2019

Baron Otto von Wächter, Austrian lawyer, husband, father, high Nazi official, senior SS officer, former governor of Galicia during the war, creator and overseer of the Krakow ghetto, indicted after as a war criminal for the mass murder of more than 100,000 Poles, hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the British, by Simon Wiesenthal, on the run for three years, from 1945 to 1948. Philippe Sands pieces together, in riveting detail, Wächter's extraordinary, shocking story. Given full access to the Wächter family archives-journals, diaries, tapes, and more-and with the assistance of the Wächters' son Horst, who believes his father to have been a "good man," Sands writes of Wächter's rise through the Nazi high command, his "blissful" marriage and family life as their world was brought to ruin, and his four-year flight to escape justice-to the Tirol, to Rome, and the Vatican; given a new identity, on his way to a new life via "the Ratline" to Perón's Argentina, the escape route taken by Eichmann, Mengele, and thousands of other Nazis. Wächter's escape was cut short by his mysterious, shocking death in Rome, in the midst of the burgeoning Cold War (was he being recruited in postwar Italy by the Americans and the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps or by the Soviet NKVD or by both; or was he poisoned by one side or the other, as his son believes-or by both?) An extraordinary discovery, told up-close through access to a trove of family correspondence between Wächter and his wife-part historical detective story, part love story, part family memoir, part Cold War espionage thriller. -- Provided by publisher.

Baron Otto von Wächter: Austrian lawyer, husband, father, high Nazi official, senior SS officer, former governor of Galicia during the war, creator and overseer of the Krakow ghetto, indicted after as a war criminal for the mass murder of more than 100,000 Poles, hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the British, by Simon Wiesenthal, on the run for three years, from 1945 to 1948. Sands, given full access to the Wächter family archives and with the assistance of the Wächters' son Horst, writes of Wächter's rise through the Nazi high command, his family life as their world was brought to ruin, and his four-year flight to escape justice. Given a new identity, on his way to a new life via "the Ratline" to Perón's Argentina, Wächter died in Rome. Was he being recruited in postwar Italy by the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps or by the Soviet NKVD-- or by both? -- adapted from jacket

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