He was a friend and colleague of my brother Jim in Los Angeles, and he had an amazing story to tell..They had happened to meet at a coffee shop on Ventura Blvd., in Sherman Oaks, and, after finding out they were both aspiring screenwriters, ended up forming a small partnership..Everybody and his dog has a script to sell in LA, and film and television contacts mean everything in SoCal..Gaining access to A-list, or even B-list actors to look at scripts, can make the difference between riches, and total failure. Easier said than done, however..I won’t reveal his name, for reasons of privacy, but he was sure an interesting fellow..Recruited at a US university by the Central Intelligence Agency, he was trained and sent to pre-Fidel Castro Cuba..It was the Cold War, and the CIA was battling communist uprisings all over the world. Let’s just say, lines were crossed in the name of realpolitik..For some reason, the CIA preferred people of Jewish extraction — perhaps because of their ability to blend into any society and avoid attention..Anyway, he found himself in Cuba in the 1950s, having a rather unenviable task.. Cuba in the 1950s.Cuba in the 1950s. .Infamous ex-SS Nazis, who should have been put on trial for war crimes, were placed in important intelligence positions across Central and South America, in the name of quashing communism..His job was to run such assets in Cuba — along with other classified tasks. Cuba was also facing a revolutionary force it needed to quell..His cover blown and forced to play a dangerous game — Batista’s Cuban intelligence knew what he was, and what he was up to from Day One — he became disillusioned with the spy business. He wanted out.. A bartender serves up Hemingway Daiquiris at the El Floridita in Havana.A bartender serves up Hemingway Daiquiris at the El Floridita in Havana. .They say, you can never, ever completely leave the “The Company,” but he did … quitting and becoming a screenwriter in LA, where he ended up writing for several popular early 1960s television shows..Now, for the first time, a new book, Fugitives: A History of Nazi Mercenaries During the Cold War, by Danny Orbach, puts a new spotlight on this issue..It pieces together a disquieting picture of how the CIA, the KGB and Mossad recruited Nazi mercenaries without any qualms, helping them evade war-crime trials if it served a purpose..It’s based on declassified documents, including details from Mossad’s archives, and interviews with retired intelligence officers, Janet Levy, of American Thinker reported..For example, the book points out that the gas vans that used exhaust fumes to kill thousands of Jews during transportation were designed by SS Col. Walter Rauff.. SS colonel Walter Rauff.SS colonel Walter Rauff. .He was a friend of Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich, and oversaw the killing of 100,000 people..Yet, a few years after the second World War, the Israeli secret service hired him as a spy and helped him flee justice to South America, Orbach writes..Rauff also worked for West Germany’s intelligence agency, founded under CIA supervision by another Nazi turncoat, Lt. Gen. Reinhard Gehlen.. SS colonel Walter Rauff, far right.SS colonel Walter Rauff, far right. .According to Orbach, the Allies swore to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, but only a few were caught and tried. In the 1960s, Israel deployed elite operatives to capture or kill Nazi war criminals..Most famously, Mossad teams spirited Adolf Eichmann from Buenos Aires to trial in Jerusalem, and assassinated Herbert Cukurs (the “Butcher of Riga”) near Montevideo..The Mossad were also close to capturing the infamous “Angel of Death,” Josef Mengele, when it was inexplicably called off by then Mossad head, Isser Harel.. Former Mossad boss, Isser Harel.Former Mossad boss, Isser Harel. .The agency had learned that Egypt was recruiting German scientists to build missiles; disposing of them was Harel’s top priority..Shortly after he would be replaced by Meir Amit, who ordered the Mossad to “stop chasing after ghosts from the past and devote all our manpower and resources to threats against the security of the state,” The New York Times reported..But in Israel’s early years, its existence threatened by Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, it was forced to obtain intelligence from Rauff and other Nazis who had contacts in those countries, Orbach writes..During the Six-Day war, too, Israel benefited from intelligence provided by ex-Nazis, and it was a ex-Nazi commando, Otto Skorzeny, whom the Mossad hired to infiltrate the Egypt’s missile project, which employed German scientists, technicians, and security staff..Getting back to our friend in Sherman Oaks, he was sent to Cuba to handle one of these Nazis, along with other classified work..He told Jim, that occasionally, they would sell out one of these Nazis to the Mossad, for extra side money. The Agency, apparently, was OK with that.. Isser Harel.Isser Harel. .But quite often, when the Mossad closed in, the former Nazis would take a cyanide pill. They would rather die, than suffer the indignity of being put on trial..According to Orbach, a history professor and former intelligence officer of the Israeli army, the post-second World War reality was the Cold War. Anything that worked was welcomed..And the list of Nazis who profited from the new conflict between Western democracy and communism ran long..Some were mass murderers. But most of them were sharp men driven by an instinct for profit and survival, Orbach writes..They reinvented themselves to work for their former enemies, playing bluff and bluster, working multiple angles, running with the Soviets and hunting with the Americans, and vice versa..Orbach says that the Soviets profited most from this: at one point, some double and triple agents almost crippled the West German intelligence system..The ex-Nazis even established a “chaotic network of influence and information” and trafficked arms to the Algerian resistance and to governments in Asia, Africa, South Americas, and the Caribbean, including Castro’s Cuba..Among those who worked for America was Klaus Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyon,’ who used to take orders directly from Eichmann and was responsible for the death of 14,000 people.. Klaus Barbie, "The Butcher of Lyon."Klaus Barbie, "The Butcher of Lyon." .Unbelievably, the US Army’s Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) recruited him for its anti-communist efforts in Europe. Thanks to the CIC, Barbie, who had been sentenced to death in absentia by France, spent 33 years as a free man and fugitive from justice..Friedrich Schwend, former commander of an SS counterfeiting operation, helped Americans find hidden Nazi assets in Austria and Italy..Dr. Wilhelm Hortl, a former spy for the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Nazis’ intelligence agency, sold information to the Americans while also working for the Soviets..The Truman administration “imported” German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and his entire team, who would later lead the NASA effort to put a man on the moon..Operation “Paper Clip” would whitewash the records of more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken to the US for government employment after the end of the Second World War, between 1945 and 1959..The rockets von Braun made for Hitler killed 5,000 people in Allied nations; some 20,000 concentration camp inmates died assembling them..More egregious, however, is the story of how West Germany’s intelligence agency was virtually created by a former Nazi — Reinhard Gehlen, Hitler’s head of intelligence for the Eastern Front.. Reinhard Gehlen.Reinhard Gehlen. .Gehlen, who had played a crucial role in analyzing the vulnerabilities of the Soviet Union for Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa, had microfilmed his team’s notes and cached them in Elendalm, an alpine meadow near the border between Bavaria and Austria, Orbach writes..Using this and the services of his team as bargaining chips, he convinced the Americans to hire him. The controversial “Gehlen Org” that he set up eventually became West Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND)..Gehlen’s team included many dyed-in-the-wool Nazis, anti-semites, and those who took part in the murder of Jews. They had served in the Nazi party, the SS, the SD, or even the infamous Gestapo..Sadly, Jim’s ex-CIA/screenwriter friend, who was quite a few years older, suddenly passed away, just a week or so after they would last talk … his amazing story, now forgotten in the annals of US intelligence.
He was a friend and colleague of my brother Jim in Los Angeles, and he had an amazing story to tell..They had happened to meet at a coffee shop on Ventura Blvd., in Sherman Oaks, and, after finding out they were both aspiring screenwriters, ended up forming a small partnership..Everybody and his dog has a script to sell in LA, and film and television contacts mean everything in SoCal..Gaining access to A-list, or even B-list actors to look at scripts, can make the difference between riches, and total failure. Easier said than done, however..I won’t reveal his name, for reasons of privacy, but he was sure an interesting fellow..Recruited at a US university by the Central Intelligence Agency, he was trained and sent to pre-Fidel Castro Cuba..It was the Cold War, and the CIA was battling communist uprisings all over the world. Let’s just say, lines were crossed in the name of realpolitik..For some reason, the CIA preferred people of Jewish extraction — perhaps because of their ability to blend into any society and avoid attention..Anyway, he found himself in Cuba in the 1950s, having a rather unenviable task.. Cuba in the 1950s.Cuba in the 1950s. .Infamous ex-SS Nazis, who should have been put on trial for war crimes, were placed in important intelligence positions across Central and South America, in the name of quashing communism..His job was to run such assets in Cuba — along with other classified tasks. Cuba was also facing a revolutionary force it needed to quell..His cover blown and forced to play a dangerous game — Batista’s Cuban intelligence knew what he was, and what he was up to from Day One — he became disillusioned with the spy business. He wanted out.. A bartender serves up Hemingway Daiquiris at the El Floridita in Havana.A bartender serves up Hemingway Daiquiris at the El Floridita in Havana. .They say, you can never, ever completely leave the “The Company,” but he did … quitting and becoming a screenwriter in LA, where he ended up writing for several popular early 1960s television shows..Now, for the first time, a new book, Fugitives: A History of Nazi Mercenaries During the Cold War, by Danny Orbach, puts a new spotlight on this issue..It pieces together a disquieting picture of how the CIA, the KGB and Mossad recruited Nazi mercenaries without any qualms, helping them evade war-crime trials if it served a purpose..It’s based on declassified documents, including details from Mossad’s archives, and interviews with retired intelligence officers, Janet Levy, of American Thinker reported..For example, the book points out that the gas vans that used exhaust fumes to kill thousands of Jews during transportation were designed by SS Col. Walter Rauff.. SS colonel Walter Rauff.SS colonel Walter Rauff. .He was a friend of Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich, and oversaw the killing of 100,000 people..Yet, a few years after the second World War, the Israeli secret service hired him as a spy and helped him flee justice to South America, Orbach writes..Rauff also worked for West Germany’s intelligence agency, founded under CIA supervision by another Nazi turncoat, Lt. Gen. Reinhard Gehlen.. SS colonel Walter Rauff, far right.SS colonel Walter Rauff, far right. .According to Orbach, the Allies swore to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, but only a few were caught and tried. In the 1960s, Israel deployed elite operatives to capture or kill Nazi war criminals..Most famously, Mossad teams spirited Adolf Eichmann from Buenos Aires to trial in Jerusalem, and assassinated Herbert Cukurs (the “Butcher of Riga”) near Montevideo..The Mossad were also close to capturing the infamous “Angel of Death,” Josef Mengele, when it was inexplicably called off by then Mossad head, Isser Harel.. Former Mossad boss, Isser Harel.Former Mossad boss, Isser Harel. .The agency had learned that Egypt was recruiting German scientists to build missiles; disposing of them was Harel’s top priority..Shortly after he would be replaced by Meir Amit, who ordered the Mossad to “stop chasing after ghosts from the past and devote all our manpower and resources to threats against the security of the state,” The New York Times reported..But in Israel’s early years, its existence threatened by Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, it was forced to obtain intelligence from Rauff and other Nazis who had contacts in those countries, Orbach writes..During the Six-Day war, too, Israel benefited from intelligence provided by ex-Nazis, and it was a ex-Nazi commando, Otto Skorzeny, whom the Mossad hired to infiltrate the Egypt’s missile project, which employed German scientists, technicians, and security staff..Getting back to our friend in Sherman Oaks, he was sent to Cuba to handle one of these Nazis, along with other classified work..He told Jim, that occasionally, they would sell out one of these Nazis to the Mossad, for extra side money. The Agency, apparently, was OK with that.. Isser Harel.Isser Harel. .But quite often, when the Mossad closed in, the former Nazis would take a cyanide pill. They would rather die, than suffer the indignity of being put on trial..According to Orbach, a history professor and former intelligence officer of the Israeli army, the post-second World War reality was the Cold War. Anything that worked was welcomed..And the list of Nazis who profited from the new conflict between Western democracy and communism ran long..Some were mass murderers. But most of them were sharp men driven by an instinct for profit and survival, Orbach writes..They reinvented themselves to work for their former enemies, playing bluff and bluster, working multiple angles, running with the Soviets and hunting with the Americans, and vice versa..Orbach says that the Soviets profited most from this: at one point, some double and triple agents almost crippled the West German intelligence system..The ex-Nazis even established a “chaotic network of influence and information” and trafficked arms to the Algerian resistance and to governments in Asia, Africa, South Americas, and the Caribbean, including Castro’s Cuba..Among those who worked for America was Klaus Barbie, the ‘Butcher of Lyon,’ who used to take orders directly from Eichmann and was responsible for the death of 14,000 people.. Klaus Barbie, "The Butcher of Lyon."Klaus Barbie, "The Butcher of Lyon." .Unbelievably, the US Army’s Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) recruited him for its anti-communist efforts in Europe. Thanks to the CIC, Barbie, who had been sentenced to death in absentia by France, spent 33 years as a free man and fugitive from justice..Friedrich Schwend, former commander of an SS counterfeiting operation, helped Americans find hidden Nazi assets in Austria and Italy..Dr. Wilhelm Hortl, a former spy for the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), the Nazis’ intelligence agency, sold information to the Americans while also working for the Soviets..The Truman administration “imported” German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and his entire team, who would later lead the NASA effort to put a man on the moon..Operation “Paper Clip” would whitewash the records of more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken to the US for government employment after the end of the Second World War, between 1945 and 1959..The rockets von Braun made for Hitler killed 5,000 people in Allied nations; some 20,000 concentration camp inmates died assembling them..More egregious, however, is the story of how West Germany’s intelligence agency was virtually created by a former Nazi — Reinhard Gehlen, Hitler’s head of intelligence for the Eastern Front.. Reinhard Gehlen.Reinhard Gehlen. .Gehlen, who had played a crucial role in analyzing the vulnerabilities of the Soviet Union for Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa, had microfilmed his team’s notes and cached them in Elendalm, an alpine meadow near the border between Bavaria and Austria, Orbach writes..Using this and the services of his team as bargaining chips, he convinced the Americans to hire him. The controversial “Gehlen Org” that he set up eventually became West Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND)..Gehlen’s team included many dyed-in-the-wool Nazis, anti-semites, and those who took part in the murder of Jews. They had served in the Nazi party, the SS, the SD, or even the infamous Gestapo..Sadly, Jim’s ex-CIA/screenwriter friend, who was quite a few years older, suddenly passed away, just a week or so after they would last talk … his amazing story, now forgotten in the annals of US intelligence.
