Book description
At the end of the Second World War some of the highest ranking
members of the Nazi party escaped from justice. Some of them are names
that have resonated deeply in twentieth-century history - Eichmann,
Mengele, Martin Bormann and Klaus Barbie - not just for the
monstrosity of their crimes, but also because of the shadowy nature of
their post-war existence, holed up in the depths of Latin America,
always one step ahead of their pursuers.
The nature of their escape was as gripping as any good thriller.
They were aided and abetted by corrupt Catholic priests in the
Vatican, they travelled down secret 'rat lines', hid in foreboding
castles high in the Austrian alps, and were taken in by shady
Argentine secret agents. The attempts to bring them to justice are no
less dramatic, with vengeful Holocaust survivors, inept politicians,
and daring plots to kidnap or assassinate the fugitives.
Guy Walters has travelled the world in pursuit of the real account
of how the Nazis escaped at the end of the war, the attempts,
sometimes successful, to bring them to justice, and what really
happened to those that got away. He has interviewed Nazi hunters,
former members of Mossad, and poured through archives across the globe
to bring this remarkable period of our recent history to dramatic and
vivid life.
Guy Walters
is the author of six books on the Second World War, including
Berlin Games
. A former journalist on
The Times
he writes widely on historical topics for the national press. He lives
in Wiltshire with his wife the author Annabel Venning and their two
children.
