The Unlikely Death of Heinrich Himmler (2)

The name of the book speaks for itself: “The Unlikely Death of Heinrich Himmler”. It was written based on interviews with key individuals (doctors, dentists, military officers and NCOs) who personally witnessed the events of “Himmler’s death” on May 23^rd, 1945.

The first discovery made by W. Hugh Thomas was nothing short of astounding. It turned out that the British authorities did not let Heinrich Himmler (or whoever impersonated him) rest in peace. Well, they did – but only for mere eight months.

In January of 1946 the body of whoever was buried on Lüneburg Heath was completely out of the blue exhumed (finding a grave was a genuine miracle as it was too well-concealed) and a second thorough post-mortem examination was conducted.

Another genuinely shocking fact uncovered by W. Hugh Thomas was that the British brought with them… the former SS-Brigadefuhrer (Brigadier General) Walter Schellenberg. With but one objective – officially identified the remains as those of his former boss Heinrich Himmler.

Which can lead to one and only one conclusion – some reason the British authorities began to seriously suspect that the SS-Reichsfuhrer had cheated death and had duped then (and I do not know what of these two infuriated them more).

Apparently, the former head of Ausland-SD (RSHA Amt VI) either failed to positively ID the body as that of Heinrich Himmler, or worse, categorically stated that the remains were NOT of his former boss.

The second result appears far more likely as (1) after this exhumation, subsequent second autopsy and the re-burial of the body British inquiries into Himmler’s death continued; and (2) a lot of the documents pertaining to the whole “Lüneburg incident”, were classified “Top Secret” and forbidden from being made public for 100 (!) years. In other words, until June of 2045 (I still hope to be around when they are declassified).

However, there is one very much public statement about the incident that speaks volumes about its essence. Incredibly, the only official statement on the burial of Heinrich Himmler was made not by a general (which would have been expected given the rank and status of the deceased) or even the junior officer, but by an NCO – the Colour Sergeant Major Edwin Austin (the first word had nothing to do with the color of his skin – it was simply a senior NCO rank established in 1813):

“I wrapped him in a couple of blankets, I put two of our army camouflage nets around him and tied him up with telephone wires. I put the parcel on the back of the truck and drove off. I had to dig the grave myself. No one will ever know where he is buried.”

There was a little problem with that statement, however. CSM Austin did not have a driver’s license. He could not drive even a car – let alone a military truck…

What does this statement tell us? IMHO, just one thing – the first autopsy provided some serious evidence that the deceased was NOT the SS-Reichsfuhrer. However, the commanding officer in charge of the whole thing – one Colonel L. M. Murphy – has already made a report to his superiors that Heinrich Himmler was captured, detained, arrested, identified and committed suicide.

For obvious reasons, the abovementioned Colonel had no desire to admit his mistake. So he predictable engineered a cover-up which was entrusted to the fiercely loyal Sergeant Major (in the U.S. Armed Forces it is widely – and correctly – believed that if you want something done quickly and efficiently, a sergeant major can always be trusted).

And not just something, but anything. Anything at all. Including covering up a blunder of genuinely galactic proportions.

Another incredible fact was uncovered by W. Hugh Thomas in a seemingly totally unexpected place. Jerusalem. In the documents related to the trial of Adolf Eichmann – one of the key perpetrators of the Holocaust.

In 1961, when Eichmann stood trial for his role in this possibly the most horrendous act of genocide in human history, the Mossad (the Israeli equivalent of CIA or MI-6) was focused squarely on ensuring the survival of Israel and thus could allocate few (if any) resources to hunting the Nazi criminals – no matter how many Jewish deaths they were responsible for. Initially they were reluctant to go after even Adolf Eichmann.

Still, the capture and trial of the latter provided the Mossad with an opportunity too good to ignore. So a decision was made to – directly and indirectly, explicitly and implicitly, openly and clandestinely – question Eichmann about the whereabouts of other Nazis known to have committed crimes (mass murders – let’s be blunt) against the Jews.

It took a lot of time and effort (as Eichmann was not exactly cooperative and torture – for many reasons – was out of the question), but finally the Mossad interrogators came up with a four-page list.

The names on the list were divided into three categories – those war criminals who had disappeared entirely (headed ‘Disappeared’), those war criminals arrested previously, under the heading (‘Arrested’), and those war criminals free after arrest (listed as ‘Free’).

Half down the last page there is a critical entry. Under the title ‘Anomalous’ it says: ‘Eichmann tps 3, 4 – Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, alive Germany? There can be only one explanation for this entry – for some unknown reason Eichmann believed that Himmler was still alive in 1961 – despite the apparently accepted historical fact of Himmler’s suicide in British hands.

As I have already mentioned, Mossad had far more important things to do (e.g. saving Israel from annihilation and its citizens from the “Holocaust II”) than chasing such a nebulous lead. So no one pursued it – and Eichmann took his reasons (and thus possibly the mystery of Himmler’s disappearance) with him to his grave.

Another Nazi criminal – the infamous Butcher of Lyon’ Klaus Barbie just prior to his death in 1991, began making unsubstantiated but nevertheless interesting statements about Himmler’s survival that echoed (and even rivaled) those of Eichmann.

The Eichmann entry on Himmler contained one more piece of information that could be crucial for solving the mystery of his whereabouts immediately after the surrender of Germany. This piece of information consists of exactly one word: Lorenz.

Which might point to a very specific (and powerful) individual – SS Obergruppenführer Werner Lorenz, Himmler’s personal friend (one of the very few) and at the time a commanding officer in charge of defending the of the north-west region of Germany. This region included the port of Hamburg – a convenient place to leave Germany for Spain or Latin America.

Lorenz had highly valuable business connections which would come quite handy after the war – one of his daughters (Jutti) was married to Count Kinkelbusch, who owned one of the biggest wine businesses in Germany, and his other daughter (Rosemarie), became the wife of a famous publisher Axel Springer.

His close neighbor, Hubert von Blücher, who held a Swedish passport and was at the time busily engaged in stashing away some of Himmler’s gold bullion. And American intelligence in the immediate aftermath of war, concluded that Hamburg was the kernel and headquarters of a well-established SS network. Which made the city a comfortable hiding place for someone like Himmler.

However, there is an even better candidate – not a person, but a company. Lorenz AG was a German subsidiary of the giant American company ITT. Ownership was disguised through a holding company, European Standard Electric, arranged by none other than the German firm Albert and Westrick in co-operation with their business partner Allen Dulles (!!).

Because Spain’s leader, General Franco, encouraged talented Germans to move to his country, the Spanish branch of Lorenz AG was considered by the SS to be the most important “ratline”. It also helped (and helped a lot) that the head of Spanish police was Himmler’s close friend.

This explanation is far more likely for another reason – as is evident from the Red House report, Himmler’s long-term objective was to invest the capital siphoned off the dying Third Reich into building a Fourth Reich that would arise, phoenix-like, from the skeleton of the SS ‘state within a state’, to be governed by a hard core of the élite. Hence, it made perfect sense to use a business entity in a neutral country as the “escape vehicle”.

Use of the “Spanish channel” made a lot of sense for another reason. The best “escape cover” was a cassock and a “dog collar” of a Catholic priest (there is little if any doubt that Himmler could have easily obtained either a genuine or at worst perfectly forged Vatican or Swiss passport and an ID that identified him as an employee of a Vatican organization that helps displaced persons). Spain was a practically 100% Catholic nation so a priest was highly revered and would not have been questioned.

It is also possible that in reality is was “double Lorenz” as the safest escape from Germany at the very end of the war (and right after) was – incredibly – by air. More specifically, by using one of the planes of KG 200 – a top-secret special ops Luftwaffe unit (they specialized – among other things – in dropping agents behind the enemy lines) based near Flensburg – in the area controlled by Werner Lorenz (and right where the government of the “funeral director” Karl Dönitz was based).

It flew all kinds of aircraft, including captured B-17s and B-24s which were immune to interception by Allied fighters and was under operational control of Himmler’s RSHA (more specifically, Schellenberg’s Amt VI, not the Luftwaffe).

By the time Allied investigators caught up with K G200, all the aircraft they would admit to were back at Flensburg. There was no way of knowing where they had been during the last few days of the Reich, although the Americans suspected most journeys had been to Spain.

It is also a well-documented fact that Werner Baumbach – KG 200 commander and the man in charge of all special ops of the Luftwaffe at the very end of the war was recalled from frontline operation and (by Himmler’s direct order) tasked with evacuating high-ranking Nazis.

Baumbach went ‘missing’ for a critical period of about two weeks, his whereabouts unknown. After the war, Baumbach spent three years as a prisoner of war before he moved to Argentina (!) where he worked as a test pilot. He (very conveniently) died in a plane crash on October 20^th, 1953.

In other words, at the end of the war Himmler had at his disposal the best specialist escape squadron available in the world, its leader personally available to serve his Reichsführer, ready and waiting at a critical time.

Baumbach received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for the destruction of over 300,000 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping – which gives some idea about his competence as a pilot.

Hence, he most likely (right after obtaining two U-boats for moving a load of valuables to South America) boarder a B-17 or B-24 with American markings and – disguised as a catholic priest with either genuine or perfectly forged documents of the Holy See flew to Spain (most likely, illegally – he had no desire to have any conversation with the Spanish border guards – no matter how sympathetic).

By that time he already had all necessary infrastructure in Spain – including the services of a highly plastic surgeon and a new set of documents (most likely, genuine Swiss passports).

After spending a few months in Spain, he most likely moved to one of the German-speaking cantons in Switzerland (most probably to Bern or Zurich) which would become the interim headquarters of Die Neue SS. After spending several years there, he most likely moved to Germany (IMHO, during the Neumann Affair he was already in his home country).

ODESSA and the Naumann Affair

There is strong (albeit still circumstantial) evidence that Die Neue SS made an attempt to take over Germany in 1953. West Germany, to be more precise. This incident even got a name – The Naumann Affair – after a German politician who allegedly was a mastermind of this (unsuccessful) plot.

Werner Naumann was quite a colorful character even by the standards of the Third Reich, which had no shortage of these (to put it mildly). An economist by training, he was a Nazi by conviction, not out of careerism.

He joined NSDAP in 1928, when the party was at its’ lowest point in terms of election results (both at the national and state level where it got less than 3% of the votes). Although he did not serve in the German armed forces, he joined the Nazi stormtroopers and made quite a career in the SA, rising to the rank of Brigadeführer (Brigadier General) in 1933.

Apparently he had a good nose for trouble because (despite his high rank and position with the brownshirts), he abruptly quit the SA and joined the SS instead (ultimately rising to the same rank as in the SA).

His nose for opportunity was obviously at least as good because in no time he joined the Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS (Circle of Friends of the Reichsführer SS).

The official name of this organization was The Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft, or Circle of Friends of the [German] Economy. It was a group of German industrialists (and high-ranking SS officers) whose aim was to strengthen the ties between the Nazi Party, on the one side and business and industry, on the other.

In addition to a list of prominent industrialists (that read like a Who is Who in German industry and finance), the members included Hjalmar Schacht (president of Reichsbank, Reich Minister of Economy and the key architect of German economic miracle of 1933-38).

As well as the key SS generals responsible for business and economic issues – Obergruppenführer Oswald Pohl, head of the Administrative and Economic office of the SS; Gruppenführer Dr. Otto Ohlendorf, a prominent economist and one of the leading economic experts in the SS; SS-Brigadeführer Fritz Kranefuss – a well-conneted international businessman (among other things) and a member of Himmler’s personal staff, etc.

Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS was formed (in 1932) and coordinated by one Wilhelm Keppler, one of Adolf Hitler’s close economic advisors… and a close friend of Heinrich Himmler. Not surprisingly, Keppler was ultimately promoted to the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer (a three-star general).

Relationship between Keppler and Himmler was so close that the whole thing was considered as the tool that the latter used to establish control over the whole German economy (which he by and large achieved by mid-1944) and Hitler’s economic decisions (apparently, in this department Himmler was far less successful).

Anyway, there is little doubt that the abovementioned Circle (i.e., its members) were one of the key tools that Himmler used in 1944-45 to provide ODESSA (Die Neue SS) with enormous amounts of financial assets taken out of German economy and moved abroad – not just to neutral nations (Sweden, Switzerland, etc.) but even to nations which were very much at war with the Third Reich (Britain, the USA, etc.).

Hence, it would be safe to assume that Werner Naumann (being an economist by training) played an important role in the whole operation and thus (most likely) became an active and valuable member of Die Neue SS – and a no less active and valuable participant in the Fourth Reich project.

Naumann was no coward – he joined Waffen-SS and fought with honor on the Eastern Front. On May 1^st, 1945, he was the leader of break-out group number 3 from the Führerbunker in Berlin.

The group included Martin Bormann, Hans Baur, Ludwig Stumpfegger and Artur Axmann. One Erich Kempka (Hitler’s primary driver in 1934-45) later testified at Nuremberg that he had last seen Naumann walking beside Bormann when a Soviet artillery shell exploded near them.

Bormann was severely injured, could not move and took his life by biting a cyanide capsule to avoid being captured by the Soviets, but Naumann miraculously escaped unharmed. Ultimately only Naumann and Axmann escaped from the Soviet Red Army encirclement of Berlin and made it to the Allied occupation zone.

This little incident proves two important points. First, Naumann was experienced, respected and lucky military commander. Second, it was possible to escape Berlin even after Hitler’s suicide (which means that Heinrich Müller could have done that and went underground with Himmler and other ODESSA members).

Interestingly enough, Naumann’s primary occupation in Nazi Germany was not economics, but… propaganda. For some reason he became a personal aide to Joseph Goebbels and in 1942 became his assistant secretary.

His official title was “Undersecretary and Chief of the Minister’s Office in the Propaganda Ministry”. In April 1944 Naumann was named State Secretary in the Propaganda Ministry.

He was so respected and valued by Adolf Hitler that in his last will and testament the latter appointed Naumann the Propaganda Minister (i.e. a successor to the immensely respected and valued Goebbels) in government of Karl Dönitz (and Goebbels).

So what do we have here… a close associate of Heinrich Himmler, a member of his de-facto economic team; a well-trained economist, an important player in the conspiracy to transfer immense financial assets abroad during the last year of the war, an SS general, a courageous, respected and efficient military commander and a propaganda expert… sounds like an ideal candidate for the position of the Führer of the Fourth Reich.

Looks like Heinrich Himmler was of the same opinion. Naumann was considered too much of a “major offender” to operate in the open immediately after the end of the war so he understandably lived under an assumed name for five years (without a doubt supported by ODESSA).

He reemerged after the 1950 amnesty and immediately began working on overthrowing the West German government and establishing the Fourth Reich. The plan was simple and straightforward – infiltrate a major political party (he chose the Free Democrats as the most pro-Nazi one), win the elections, form the government, establish the dictatorship and ultimately restore the Third Reich. In other words, follow Hitler’s playbook (adapted to the realities of the post-war West Germany).

Did not work. The realities turned out far too different – Bundesrepublik Deutschland in 1953 was way too different from the Weimar Republic of 1932. So Naumann was arrested by the British Army on 16 January 1953 for “being the leader of a Neo-Nazi group that attempted to infiltrate West German political parties”.

However, he got just a slap on the wrist – he spent only seven months (!) in jail and his only punishment was a lifetime ban to participate in any political activities (i.e., elections). Later on, he became director at a metal firm owned by Goebbels’ stepson Harald Quandt. He died in 1982 in Lüdenscheid in North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, aged 73.

Apparently, the Naumann affair convinced Himmler and the whole Die Neue SS of the futility of any attempts to come to power using the opportunities and instruments provided by the democratic Federal Republic of Germany.

So they had to wait for the “Singularity Event” (political and social singularity that is) that will do away with liberal democracy and create substantial demand for the Fourth Reich. Or work on triggering this Singularity Event.

 

Hitler’s Real Successor

Up until the very last days of the Third Reich the officially designated successor to Adolf Hitler as the Führer of Germany was Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring (this rank – created specifically for him – gave him seniority over all officers in Germany’s armed forces).

President of the Reichstag, Minister President of Prussia, Reichsstatthalter of Prussia, Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe, Reich Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, Reichsminister of Aviation, Reichsminister of Forestry, etc., etc.

After the infamous “Göring Telegram”, Hitler fired him from all official posts – including the official successor to the Führer (in the event of the latter’s death). However, he still had to appoint an official successor, because by that time Adolf Hitler already made a decision (for a number of very serious reasons) to commit suicide.

Hitler wanted to remain for eternity (or at least for a very long time) as the only Führer of Germany so he reversed his own decision taken 11 years earlier, did away with the position of The Leader and split it into original two – the Reich President and the Reich Chancellor.

In his Last Will and Testament signed on April 29^th, 1945 (less than 24 hours before taking his own life), Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz President of Germany, Minister of War and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Joseph Goebbels (Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War, Reichsminister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Gauleiter of Berlin, etc., etc.) as Reich Chancellor.

However, just two days later Goebbels (for whom life under any regime other than National Socialism and under any leader but Hitler was unacceptable) committed suicide, taking all his family (including all six of his children with him).

And thus made Dönitz the de-facto Führer of Germany (Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk politely declined an offer to become the Reichskanzler of a new government, accepted only the somewhat vague position of “Leading Minister”.

However, Karl Dönitz was not really a successor to Adolf Hitler. He was not a Führer of Germany – and not even its President. Dönitz was essentially a funeral director who presided over only one thing – the burial of the Third Reich.

However, Adolf Hitler did have a successor. A self-appointed successor, sure – and the one who was just days ago branded a traitor by Hitler himself.

SS-Reichsfuhrer (no one took seriously Hitler’s order that fired Himmler and replaced him in this position with the all but unknown Karl Hanke) Heinrich Luitpold Himmler.

Contrary to the practically universal misconception, the Third Reich did not die with the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 7^th, 1945. Or even with the arrest of the “Flensburg Government” on May 23^rd, 1945 (interestingly enough, on the date of the alleged suicide of Heinrich Himmler).

No, the Third Reich simply went underground – but as a financial and political, not military, organization. As ODESSA (Die Neue SS), not Werwolf – with Heinrich Himmler as its Führer.

Himmler cleverly designed and brilliantly executed the escape plan – not just for himself, but for the whole Third Reich. He accumulated and subsequently transferred abroad (and to not just neutral nations) enormous amounts of money and other valuables (in tens if not hundreds billions of dollars in today’s prices).

He created the underground organization (Die Neue SS) that took control of this money and used it to make a very much material contribution of the post-war “German economic miracle”.

He deceived everyone with a genuinely brilliant performance, making friends and foes alike (except those who needed to know the truth, of course) believe that he was dead thus making himself free to pursue his grandiose objective of creating the Fourth Reich – the SS-Staat.

And this is how he did it.

 

More on the Red House Report

Somehow, the British got wind of this meeting (before it actually happened) and predictably did not like it one bit. So on the night of the meeting – for the first time since the beginning of the war – the RAF bombed the shit (pardon my French) out of the city – specifically targeting the Maison Rouge Hotel. However, by the time of the bombing, the meeting was long over and its attendees were long gone.

The contents of the Red House Report meant that, for all practical purposes, in late summer of 1944 (if not earlier), the SS began to methodically (Himmler-style) strip away the wealth of the Third Reich.

By the orders of Heinrich Himmler (in many ways the real dictator of Germany at the time) the still formidable resources of Nazi Germany were gradually being moved abroad, where they could be used to form the industrial and financial basis for the establishment of a new Nazi state – the Fourth Reich (the SS-Staat).

Himmler wanted nothing less than total control of Germany’s financial future, to be dictated by the SS (ODESSA or Die Neue SS, to be more precise) under his iron rule.

Actually, by that time he already controlled it – or at least the most profitable ones (possibly practically all profitable ones). Hence after his “Red House Project” was completed, the Third Reich would have gone almost (if not totally) bankrupt.

By the time of the first Maison Rouge meeting on 10 August, arrangements had already been completed for most other major industrial firms in Nazi Germany to covertly transfer their assets abroad (this creating a firm financial foundation for the Fourth Reich).

But money by itself was not enough. To be able to resurrect the Nazi Germany (i.e. facilitate the advent of the Fourth Reich), he need an organization. An infrastructure. A control and management system.

And, of course, the managers (investment bankers know that there are only three key success factor for every business – management, management and management).

Which means that the managers must be properly trained. So Himmler set up two SS research & training institutes. The first, Gruppe VI wi, studied world economics under Amt VI (foreign intelligence service of the SS) in a large, scientifically-run institute in Hamburg, and the second, based in Kiel, focused on world markets and trade.

Thus Gruppe VI wi was created to train hand-picked SS men in finance according to strictly agreed requirements of individual businesses and industrial firms. In other words, Himmler set up an impressive “production line” of well-trained SS officers planted in select German businesses.

In addition to these institutes, a Central SS Economic Evaluation Department was established to work closely with the Ministries of Economics, Armaments, and Economic Warfare. Key industrialists met with trainees in a business club that was described as a ‘social pooling of interests’.

But he went much further than that. By mid-1944, Heinrich Himmler essentially engineered a pretty much hostile takeover of the most prominent German businesses. Not by buying their shares, of course, but by inserting his trusted men into the key managerial positions.

Dr. Werner Naumann represented Himmler’s interests at the massive chemicals firm of Kali; Georg von Schnitzer was placed in IG Farben; Lyschen at Siemens, Kirschfeld at Ferrostahl and Otto Wolf steel company, Fischer at Conti Oil, Backe at Zucker, Karl Blessing at Unilever, and so on.

The list was seemingly endless – with the exception of Krupp, who miraculously managed to avoid having the SS personnel thrust upon them. However, not for long.

The firms that gathered together on August 10^th at the Maison Rouge (which was definitely not the first such meeting) seem to have been the last main German businesses to succumb to Himmler’s plan for the transfer of wealth abroad. One of these firms was Krupp.

It turned out that the SS-Reichsfuhrer was a takeover genius as well as he managed not only to boldly engineer and skillfully execute this endeavor, but to expertly conceal it from friends of foes alike. Albert Speer – a certifiably superior corporate and government manager – commented on Himmler’s success:

“I pity anyone attempting to unravel any enterprise set up by Himmler – the layers of deceit and the breathtaking imagination that this unlikely man was capable of were unreal”

And he was one hundred percent right. Although the Allied intelligence was broadly aware of Himmler’s financial activities and diligently tried to prevent him from achieving his objectives, their success was very limited (to put it mildly).

Although they managed to capture some valuables and freeze the others, most assets disappeared without a trace. To this day, even the true magnitude of Himmler’s financial operations (i.e. transfer of wealth to Europe and Latin America) in 1944-45 is not known – even approximately. He was real good in covering his tracks – much more so than with the Holocaust.

It is an indisputable economic fact that in just ten years, the (West) Germany had all but completely recovered from the devastation of the Second Great War. At the moment, it is the most financially and economically powerful nation in Europe – its undisputed economic and even political leader.

It is commonly believed that the famous “German economic miracle” stands on three cornerstones – hard work, efficient management and an enormous infusion of American capital via the Marshall plan. In reality, much of this miracle can be attributed to “Himmler’s investment” – i.e. financial resources accumulated by the SS and subsequently injected into the German economy.

How big was the “SS contribution” we do not know. And will never know – unless the “Fourth Reich” becomes the reality and the Reichsfuhrer of Die Neue SS decides to make this information public.

We only know (from East German research, of all sources) that after the war the astonishing amounts of money were invested into West German from many countries, including those of Latin America, Turkey, Egypt, the USA, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland (all of them being the destinations of the “Nazi Gold”).

On November 5^th, 1944, just two days before the Red House report was submitted to Allied Intelligence, another meeting took place at the Hotel Savoy in Baur en ville, Zurich, that shares startling correspondences to the meeting at the Maison Rouge.

Was it the last meeting of this kind, how many such meetings took place, what was discussed during these meetings – we do not know. We do not even know for sure that these meeting stopped – or continue to that day.

Oh, and one more important thing. Himmler’s financial endeavors in 1944-45 made him not just incredibly rich, but very probably the richest man on Earth (de-facto). Hence, he had no motive whatsoever to get himself caught by the enemy (let alone commit suicide).

 

The Unlikely Death of Heinrich Himmler (1)

According to the “official version” of events, Heinrich Luitpold Himmler committed suicide on May 23^rd, 1945 while in British custody. The (in)famous historian David Irving (who at the time of this book being written was still working on mammoth biography of SS Reichsfuhrer) claimed in his lectures that he has some serious evidence that Himmler did not commit suicide but was murdered by his British captors in a bout of uncontrollable rage. Which (a bout of rage, I mean), I find entirely possible.

However, even the murder theory does not change the fundamental statement that Heinrich Himmler (by that time no longer the SS-Reichsfuhrer) was detained on May 21^st (by former Soviet POWs, of all people) and two days later was brought to the British 31st Civilian Interrogation Camp near Lüneburg (a small picturesque town in the German state of Lower Saxony).

Although Himmler had on him a perfectly legit ID with a different name (the identity was false, but the ID was genuine), he almost immediately identified himself as Himmler – although he was not even suspected of being one by the British.

And almost immediately after t5his voluntary self-identification he either committed suicide by biting on a standard-issue cyanide capsule (most likely) or was beaten to death by his captors (which I – unlike David Irving – find far less likely).

For every thorough and unbiased analyst the official version makes no sense whatsoever. None at all. Zero. Zilch. A far more likely theory (that I will present shortly) is very different – and makes much, much more sense.

According to this theory, the whole Lüneburg thing was a clever deception that had but one objective – buy sufficient time for Heinrich Himmler to leave Germany and settle in a safe place in a neutral nation. Most likely, in a German-speaking area of Switzerland, of course. And to begin working on his Fourth Reich project.

The primary reason why the official version makes no sense whatsoever is that it portrays Heinrich Himmler as a total amateur in politics who makes one childish mistake after the other – and finally makes the fatal one.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Himmler was exceptionally smart , knowledgeable, competent and cunning political operator with 20+ years’ experience in the cutthroat politics of the Third Reich. A very successful experience, I might add.

SS-Reichsfuhrer was an excellent judge of character (of friends and enemies alike), and a highly competent planner who exceled in all aspects risk management (he ran one of the most powerful and efficient security services in the world, after all). He always had not just “Plan B”, but “Plan C”, “Plan D”, etc.

Oh, and he was a genius – no doubt about that. A dark and murderous genius, sure – but a genius nevertheless. Because only a genius could have created (from scratch, mind you) the SS-Empire and the SS-Staat (“the state within a Nazi state”). Not to mention the Waffen-SS – very probably the most fearsome fighting force in human history.

And a genius of this caliber making such stupid and disastrous mistake and being that ignorant… give me a break fellas. Not possible. Not possible at all.

Now let’s analyze the official version in detail and prove (IMHO, beyond the reasonable doubt) that it makes no sense and is a complete fiction. Let’s start at the very beginning of 1945 when Himmler, sensing that the end of the Third Reich was just around the corner, radically intensified his attempts to negotiate a separate peace settlement with the Western Allies (the USA, Great Britain, etc.).

Or so it seemed (still seems to all “mainstream” historians). Which is a great shame, because all these attempts were nothing but a cover for his real objectives – disappear after the end of the war, develop the ODESSA (“Die Neue SS”) infrastructure, supply it with sufficient financial resources and wait for the right moment (the “Singularity Event”) to transform whatever regime would be in place in Europe at that time into the Fourth Reich.

Since 1934, Himmler had under his command (as the SS-Reichsfuhrer) Ausland-SD – the foreign intelligence service of the Nazi Party (subsequently Department VI of the RSHA led by the youngest and the most charismatic SS general Walter Schellenberg).

In February of 1944, Ausland-SD performed a very much hostile takeover of Abwehr – the military intelligence and counterintelligence service. Hence, Himmler knew perfectly well that no matter how the Brits and the Americans hated the Soviets (and they did), they had no desire to fight them in a “hot” war.

They were (correctly) confident that they would be able to contain the “Red Beast” within acceptable boundaries (“Operation Unthinkable” was, well, really unthinkable). Hence, they would agree only to the unconditional surrender of Germany – simultaneously on both Western and Eastern front (i.e. to the unified team of the Soviets and the Western Allies).

Himmler also knew perfectly well that his reputation in the West was that of a bloody butcher, of a mass murderer, of a demon in flesh and blood, of the worst and the most horrible criminal in human history. Hence he had now illusions – he knew for a fact that no Western leader would ever even talk to him (let alone make him his ally in their war with Bolshevism).

Hence, all his “attempts to negotiate with the Western democracies” were a show, a theater, a deception a cover for his “ODESSA Plan”. And quite a show it was – SS-Reichsfuhrer put the best Hollywood directors (and the most cunning politicians) to shame. To a great shame, in fact.

First, he sent his personal masseur, Felix Kersten to neutral Sweden, and used him (without telling him about his real objectives, of course) as an intermediary in negotiations with Count Folke Bernadotte, head of the Swedish Red Cross (who was supposed to serve as an intermediary between Himmler and the Western Allies).

Letters were exchanged between the two men and direct meetings were arranged by another cunning fox – head of Ausland-SD Walter Schellenberg. On 21 April, Himmler met with Norbert Masur, a Swedish representative of the World Jewish Congress and offered him… the release of Jewish concentration camp inmates.

As a result of these negotiations, about 20,000 inmates were released in the famous White Buses operation. The Final Solution of the Jewish question could wait – until the advent of the Fourth Reich.

On 23 April, Himmler met directly with Bernadotte at the Swedish consulate in Lübeck. Representing himself as the provisional leader of Germany, he claimed that Hitler would be dead within the next few days. Both parties knew that the first part of this claim (there was no doubt in the second) was totally bogus as the death of Adolf Hitler automatically made Göring, not Himmler, the new leader of Germany.

But Bernadotte for some reason (a secret part of the “Wallenberg Affair”?) decided to play ball – although he knew for a fact that both the Brits and the Americans knew perfectly well that Himmler’s claim was a total bunk and thus will not negotiate with him for a purely legal reason as well.

Still, Himmler asked Bernadotte to inform General Dwight Eisenhower that Germany wished to surrender to the West. Bernadotte asked Himmler to put his proposal in writing, and Himmler obliged. The show had to go on – but only Himmler knew where it was all going – and why.

The infamous Göring Telegram sent on the same day did change things a bit, but not much. Two days later the enraged Hitler issued a telegram to Göring telling him that he had committed “high treason” and gave him the option of resigning his offices in exchange for his life. However, not long after that, Bormann ordered the SS in Berchtesgaden to arrest Göring. Which was for show only as the latter was too well-protected by his Luftwaffe troops.

And then all hell broke loose for Himmler (or so it seemed). On the evening of 28 April, the BBC broadcast a Reuters news report about Himmler’s attempted negotiations with the western Allies.

Hitler flew into a rage at this apparent betrayal, and told those still with him in the Führer bunker complex that Himmler’s secret negotiations (which were actually not that secret) were the worst treachery he had ever known.

The next day (less than 24 hours prior to his suicide), in his testament Hitler declared both Himmler and Göring to be traitors. He stripped Himmler of all of his party and state offices and expelled him from the Nazi Party. Making the previously almost omnipotent SS-Reichsfuhrer a nobody at best and a walking target for the SS at worst.

Which apparently did not bother Himmler in the least. Like Göring, he was well-protected by troops fiercely loyal personally to him – only by the SS, not Luftwaffe. Still, the official version of his meeting with Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz – a new head of German state – makes no sense at all.

According to this version, Himmler stated that he was entitled to a position in Dönitz’s interim government as Reichsführer-SS, believing the SS would be in a good position to restore and maintain order after the war.

Which was a total bull because (a) there was no such thing as a SS-Reichsfuhrer position in German government – even in Nazi Germany; (b) Himmler was fired from this post by Hitler – and this order was still very much in effect even after Hitler’s suicide; (c) Germany was to be occupied by the Allies who were very much capable of maintaining order without any help from the SS; and (d) the latter was considered a criminal organization by the allies and thus its members were to be arrested and prosecuted, not used as a police force.

According to the same version, Dönitz repeatedly rejected Himmler’s overtures and issued an official order on May 6^th (two days before the unconditional  surrender of Germany) formally dismissing Himmler from all his posts. Which made no sense as well as Himmler was already fired from all his positions and even expelled from the Party by Adolf Hitler.

IMHO, in reality the conversation between Dönitz was very different. Himmler informed the new German President about his Fourth Reich project and asked for a few subs to move some valuables to Argentina (U-530, U-977 and possibly others) and for some cover for his disappearance. Dönitz did not like Himmler (to put it mildly), but he really hated the Allies. So he gave the former all support that he was capable of at that time.

According to the official version of events, Himmler – fired by his now dead boss and rejected by his comrade-in-arms decided to go into hiding. Choosing not just stupid, but a genuinely insane (suicidal even) option – using the real ID of… the sergeant of GFP (Geheime Feldpolizei) – the secret military police of the German Wehrmacht.

Knowing perfectly well (he consumed all valuable intelligence reports) that the GFP ID guaranteed detention and arrest by the Allies – and only if one was really lucky (the Soviets shot GFP men on the spot so they were issued fake IDs of other military units).

Naturally, on May 21^st, after about ten days of “aimless wandering” Himmler and his entourage were stopped and detained at a checkpoint set up by former Soviet POWs. Over the following two days, he was moved from camp to camp (POW camp, I mean) and was finally brought to the British 31st Civilian Interrogation Camp near Lüneburg.

Unlike the Soviets, the British did not care much about GFP, so the duty officer, Captain Thomas Selvester, began a routine interrogation, apparently having no clue about who he was interrogating.

Then, completely out of the blue, Himmler identified himself as, well, Heinrich Himmler. Which completely contradicted his initially stated objective of going into hiding (had he wanted to surrender to the Allies, he would have done it officially – like Göring – which would have been far less risky).

Selvester had the prisoner searched (incredibly missing the cyanide capsule). Himmler was taken to the headquarters of the Second British Army in Lüneburg, where a doctor attempted to conduct a medical exam on him (a standard operating procedure).

When the doctor attempted to examine the inside of Himmler’s mouth, the prisoner suddenly jerked his head away, biting into a hidden potassium cyanide pill (when did he manage to place it inside his mouth and why it was not found during the search?).

He collapsed onto the floor and was dead within 15 minutes (way too long for cyanide poisoning). Shortly afterward, his body was buried in an unmarked grave near Lüneburg. The grave’s location remains unknown.

Again, the whole story makes no sense whatsoever. If Himmler wanted to commit suicide, why didn’t he do it much earlier – right after his rejection by Dönitz. If he did not want to do it, why did he identify himself, knowing very well that it was a death sentence – either by his own hand or by hangman’s noose.

It he identified himself to be taken by the Supreme Command of the Allies, why did he choose such a convoluted way to do it – an open surrender was far easier and far less risky. If it was an accident, why did he place the murderous capsule into his mouth in the first place?

The only theory which makes complete sense is the one that assumes that it was not Himmler who committed suicide in Lüneburg, but an SS-man who pretended to be him (his almost perfect look-alike – his “carbon copy”, if you will).

The one who sacrificed his life – not just for his Reichsfuhrer (although there were plenty of Ss members who would have gladly died for Himmler), but for the Fourth Reich – for the glorious future of his beloved Germany.

He and his comrades – who were well aware of the whole plot, but took this secret to their graves – did everything to get themselves captured, attract attention of the Allies and finally convince the latter that “that horrible monster” Heinrich Himmler was dead, setting the latter free to pursue his “Fourth Reich” project.

IMHO, the abovementioned facts, logic and common sense are more than enough to prove beyond the reasonable doubt that Heinrich Himmler did not commit suicide, but survived the war and for quite some time (possibly, for decades) had been steadfastly pursuing his Fourth Reich project.

However, let’s try to find some additional evidence that supports this theory. IMHO, the best place to look for this evidence is the book written by W. Hugh Thomas – a professional surgeon and an experienced forensic investigator.

The name of the book speaks for itself: “The Unlikely Death of Heinrich Himmler”

The Raul Wallenberg Mystery (3)

Adolf Hitler was a quintessential Army man. Hence, he viewed his civilization – the Third Reich – as a mammoth army; the army that was fighting an existential war with Judeo-Bolshevism and its army – the mighty Soviet Union. Predictably (for him) the latter was supported by “capitalist liberal democracies” of the USA, Britain and their allies – controlled by the Jews, no doubt.

His army lost that war – and he as its Commander-in-Chief bore the utmost responsibility for that catastrophic defeat. Consequently, he had no right to live and had to take his own life (Samurai-style) as self-punishment for the ultimate disgrace.

Himmler’s view of the whole thing was radically different. Which was not surprising as the Third Reich was not his civilization, but Hitler’s and he was no military commander (except for largely political appointments as commander of the Replacement Army and the Army Group Vistula).

Hence he suffered no disgrace; in fact, he was very much proud of himself as delivered a devastating blow to the archenemy of Germany and Europe – the (purely fictitious) “Jewish race” by murdering six million of its people. Consequently, he had no moral or emotional reason to commit suicide.

Adolf Hitler thought (correctly) that he had lost the war. SS-Reichsfuhrer saw it differently. For him, the Second World War was not really a war, but only a battle. Just one battle in an epic existential conflict that was going on for millennia – the conflict between superior “Aryan Race” – the creators of the Western Civilization and the “inferior races” committed to destroying this civilization and to replacing it with… well, Hell on Earth.

For him it was a conflict between the Ultimate Good and Pure Evil; between the Forces of Light and Powers of Darkness; between God’s Warriors and Servants of the Devil.

By the Summer of 1944 Himmler was no longer a Catholic (he was decidedly neo-pagan), but like all genuine Christians, he firmly believed in the ultimate triumph of Good over Evil, of Light over Darkness; of “Aryan Race” over inferior races; of the Western Civilization over hostile destructive ones.

So he believed that either the next battle, of the battle after that battle will inevitably bring about the final victory for the “Aryan Race”. And – being a committed Nazi and SS-Reichsfuhrer – he was predictably confident that the Western Civilization could win this war only if it was armed by the national-socialist ideology and led by the SS (more precisely, by Die Neue SS – The New SS).

Hence, his Plan A (“Plan B” was an attempt to form a coalition with the Anglo-Americans and their Western Allies to start a war with the “Red Menace” right after the defeat of the Third Reich) was to create the organizational structure (the real ODESSA) that one day (when time comes) will come to power in all Western nations and lead them to victory against Bolshevism or some other existential threat.

Obviously, this structure needed substantial financial resources (measured in tens of billions of USD). The sources of these resources were obvious: (1) Nazi loot – valuables taken at gunpoint from the Jews and residents of occupied territories; (2) funds provided by loyal German industrialists – see the Red House Report; and (3)  top secret funds of the NSDAP – the proverbial “Party Gold”.

The latter was a treasure trove (literally) controlled by Franz Xaver Schwarz – the Party treasurer and one of the most mysterious Nazi leaders. He joined the SS in June of 1933 and almost immediately was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer (an equivalent of a three-star general).

In 1942, he became one of only four individuals (and the only civilian) who was promoted to the rank of SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer (a four-star general). Which gives you some idea of his relationships with Heinrich Himmler.

For 24 years (1931-45) Schwarz was in full control of all financial matters of NSDAP (including its financial reserves in RM, gold, foreign currency and other valuables). He very conveniently died on in an Allied internment camp near Regensburg in Bavaria on December 2^nd, 1947, officially due to recurring gastric troubles. He was 71 so no one bothered to conduct a thorough investigation of his death (or any investigation for that matter).

There is little (if any) doubt that just about everything in NSDAP coffers that could have been valuable in the post-war world, ended up in Himmler’s hands and was subsequently moved to Sweden, Switzerland, Latin America or the Vatican or hidden in places provided by Hans Kammler in Germany and Austria – to be used by Die Neue SS.

However, the source most relevant the Wallenberg mystery was not the NSDAP coffers, but a train. The very real (unlike other such trains) Hungarian gold train.

 

The Raul Wallenberg Mystery (2)

At the end of June, 1944, it was painfully (in a very literal sense) obvious to Heinrich Himmler (de-facto the second most powerful individual in Nazi Germany outside of Wehrmacht High Command) that the war could end only in a total disaster for Germany.

The Allies landed in Normandy, apparently barely noticing the formidable (or so it seemed) Atlantic Wall and were moving ahead – to the German border – with an astonishing speed.

The mammoth Red Army, using its overwhelming superiority in personnel (4:1) and hardware (10:1) had just launched Operation Bagration – an all-out attack on Army Group Center (AGC) – and in just five days (i.e. in a genuine lightning strike) annihilated the Fourth Army and the bulk of the Third Panzer and Ninth Army.

Thus three out of four armies that formed AGC were either completely or mostly destroyed. Which would allow the Red Army to reach – in a very short time – the Vistula river and Warsaw, putting the Soviet forces within striking distance of Berlin.

Allied aircraft – with all but complete impunity kept pulverizing German cities, leveling military installations, production facilities… everything that had even a miniscule value for the Nazi war effort.

The Italians have ousted Benito Mussolini – the most valuable German ally in Europe – and were now fighting against Germany. Supported by the Allied troops that have already occupied a significant chunk of the country.

Three other German allies – Finland, Bulgaria and Romania – were getting close to follow suit. Which (especially the latter given the importance of Ploesti oilfield for the Wehrmacht) would be a very literal “kiss of death” for the Third Reich.

Worse of all, Der Führer – Adolf Hitler – has all but lost his mind. Getting more and more delusional by the day, he was issuing orders that worsened the situation by the hour – with all but inescapable perspective of a comprehensive catastrophe in a very near future.

Himmler was responsible for the security of all Wunderwaffe projects – as well as with supplying them (all of them) – with slave labor. Hence he knew enough about them (and about their adversaries – thanks to Ausland-SD which now incorporated Abwehr) to have no illusions about their chances (which were exactly nil) of even securing acceptable peace (let alone winning then war) for Germany.

Hence, he had only two options. The first one was to somehow get rid of Hitler and – after it is done – convince his lazy and incompetent official successor (Hermann Göring) to make Himmler a de-facto Führer of Germany. Which would have allowed SS-Reichsfuhrer to achieve acceptable (or at least not catastrophic) for Germany peace settlement with the Allies.

Incidentally, this bold (to put it mildly) plan had a fair chance of success. Despite the formal ban on spying on Wehrmacht top brass, there is little doubt that Himmler knew about the July 20^th plot well in advance.

In August 1943, Himmler net the Prussian Finance Minister Johannes Popitz – an associate of Carl Gördeler (one of the key conspirators in July 20^th plot who was supposed to replace Hitler as Reich Chancellor).

Popitz offered Himmler the support of the opposition if he would make a move to get rid of Hitler and secure a negotiated end to the war. Nothing came of this meeting, but Popitz was not immediately arrested, and Himmler apparently did nothing to track down the resistance network which he knew was operating within the state bureaucracy.

True, on July 17^th an order was issued for Gördeler’s arrest but it was most likely done only to vacate the position of Chancellor (for Himmler, of course) in the post-Hitler government.

However, Himmler (being an excellent judge of character) had no illusions either about the ability of the plotters to succeed. And most likely considered their chances to be roughly equal to the proverbial snowball in Hell.

Hence, the most realistic alternative was to let the Third Reich die a natural (albeit unquestionably violent) death and in a few years (or decades) reincarnate it as the Fourth Reich. Himmler’s Reich. The SS-Staat.

Heinrich Himmler was a genius, no doubt about that. A dark genius, sure, but a genius nevertheless. As only a genius could have built the SS-Empire; a “state within a state”. Himmler’s state within the Third Reich; the SS State within the Nazi Germany.

But Himmler was a very rare breed of a genius. He was a visionary genius. He had a very detailed vision of the Nazi State that was radically different from Hitler’s. For starters, Hitler’s was a Party state and a Führerstaat; Himmler’s was the SS-State.

Hitler’s Reich was fundamentally German; Himmler’s was pan-European (i.e. Aryan in a much broader sense). For Hitler Welthaupstadt Germania was Berlin; for Himmler Mittelpunkt der Welt was in Wewelsburg Castle near Paderborn.

For Hitler national-socialism was ideology based on (pseudo)science; for Himmler it was a full-fledged neo-pagan religion. Hitler was a mystic; Himmler was an occultist; Hitler was the Leader – Himmler was a High Priest.

Consequently, Hitler simply could not exist outside the Third Reich and the demise of the other meant certain death for the former. Failure of Nazi Germany – his baby – was his personal irreparable failure. So Hitler had no other choice but to commit suicide when it became obvious that his Reich, his civilization was dead.

For Himmler, the demise of the Third Reich was not even a failure (as it was not his baby) – it was an opportunity to reincarnate it as his Reich. The Fourth Reich. Hence, I firmly believe that the official version of his fate is a bunch of bull (pardon my French).

In reality, Heinrich Himmler very much survived the war and laid the groundwork for the reincarnation (when time comes) of the Third Reich – this time as Nazi Europe (and possibly not just Europe) – not just Germany.

This groundwork (obviously) required organizational and financial resources. The first problem was taken care of by ODESSA and the infamous “Ratlines”; the second one by financial channels.

Such as the “Wallenberg channel”.

The Unlikely Death of Hans Kammler

Another prominent Nazi who may or may not have died in May of 1945, was SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Hans Kammler. He had an advanced degree in civil engineering by- he received his Doctorate in Engineering at the age of 31 – thus it is no surprise that he was put in charge of the key construction projects for the SS.

Including the Wunderwaffen projects – it was Dr. Kammler’s job to make sure that construction facilities for V-1, V-2, Me-262 and similar weapons were (a) well-hidden from Allied spies – and from everyone else who did not meet the “need-to-know” requirement; and (b) well-protected from Allied bombing – had these facilities somehow been discovered.

It was said (probably more than once) that Kammler could hide the SS Panzer division if required to do so by his superiors. Which became very handy when he got involved in advanced weapon projects.

He was so successful at all his tasks that by the end of 1944 he was given the authority over all missile and jet aircraft projects of the Third Reich. And not just the construction and operations part – he directly supervised several project bureaus and had direct contact with some of the best engineers of the Reich

Thus he became one of the most powerful managers in Nazi Germany stripping Hermann Goering and even Albert Speer of a significant chunk of their power and influence.

His success was not at all unexpected because he was described by his subordinates as very smart, a pure workaholic, completely given to his work, with a fanatic rhythm and demanding the same from everyone else. In other words, he delivered and made others deliver (the latter often meant working thousands of slave laborers literally to death).

On April 5^th, 1945 Kammler was charged by the OKW to command the defense of the Nordhausen area in the German state of Thuringia which housed underground missile production works.

However, rather than to follow this order, he immediately ordered the destruction of all the “special V-1 equipment” at the Syke storage site. What exactly this order implied is unclear – in other words, it was one of the many mysteries associated with Hans Kammler.

And then he simply… disappeared, but not exactly without a trace. On 9 July 1945, Kammler’s wife petitioned to have him declared dead as of 9 May 1945. She provided a statement by Kammler’s driver, Kurt Preuk, according to which Preuk had personally seen “the corpse of Kammler and been present at his burial” on 9 May 1945. The District Court of Berlin-Charlottenburg ruled on 7 September 1948 that his death was officially established as 9 May 1945.

US military intelligence was not convinced, however, because there were other witnesses who claimed that “all of the above” was just a cover that served but one purpose – buy Hans Kammler sufficient time to escape to Italy via Austria and then to Latin American via one of the infamous “ratlines”.

So the Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee (CIOS) in London ordered a search for him in early July 1945. The search did not produce any immediate results so the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps of the U.S. Army) report from April 1946 listed Kammler among the SS officers known to be outside Germany and considered to be of special interest to the U.S. military.

There were also unconfirmed reports that in mid-July of 1945, Kammler used the numbered account in the Swiss bank used to purchase strategic materials for the Nazi missile and jet aircraft program. According to that report, only three individuals had access to that account and only Kammler could have used it after the war.

Anyway, Kammler’s body was never found and no one had heard from him since (let alone seen him in person). IMHO, all those statements about his death are bogus. I think that at the end of the war, Heinrich Himmler (who had his own ideas about the post-WW2 world), used one or more of Kammler’s SS projects to securely hide… well, not the SS Panzer division, of course but something far more valuable  in “the world after”.

Money (e.g. significant amounts of foreign currency), gold and other highly liquid financial assets to be used at the right time for the purposes stated in the Red House Report.

And as that report explicitly mentioned the development of radically new weapons (and Kammler was pretty much in charge of all those projects in Nazi Germany at the end of the war), it is also possible that Kammler hid other items as well – blueprints, prototypes, of these weapons, etc. – to be used when time comes. Including some highly exotic ones (i.e. the real Die Glocke).

All his workers were KL inmates who were murdered after the job had been done so there were no problems with security on that end, of course. “All of the above” was, obviously, retrieved a few years later (most likely, in the early 1950s) and placed at the disposal of ODESSA (and personally of Heinrich Himmler).

Hans Kammler, most likely, got new identity and a new passport (most likely, Swedish or Swiss) and lived possibly to a ripe old age somewhere in Western Europe.

Mysterious Voyages of U-530 and U-977

On May 8^th, 1945 the brand new (and very much provisional) German leader Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz ordered all operational U-boats to surrender unconditionally to the Allied forces.

However, at least two submarines (U-530 and U-977) did not surrender. Instead, their captains decided… to go to Argentina (of all places) – ostensibly to surrender to its Navy. Which they did – roughly one month apart at Mar del Plata Naval Base.

The larger U-530 surrendered on July 10^th and the smaller U-977 – on August 17^th. The captain of U-530 – Oberleutnant zur See Otto Wermuth – did not explain why on Earth he decided to ignore the order to surrender, why it had taken him more than two months to reach Mar del Plata, why his submarine had jettisoned its deck gun, why its crew carried no identification, or (most importantly) what the hell had happened to the ship’s log which was nowhere to be found.

The captain of U-977 – Oberleutnant zur See Heinz Schäffer – did give the explanation why… which sounded quite bizarre (to put it mildly). He claimed that his main reason was a German propaganda broadcast by Goebbels, which claimed that the Allies’ Morgenthau Plan would turn Germany into a “goat pasture” and that all German men would be “enslaved and sterilized”.

Now a U-boat captain that still believed Goebbels in May of 1945… that was far less probably than an alien from outer space.

Other factors were remembrances of the poor conditions and long delays that German POWs suffered through, in being repatriated at the end of World War I, and the hope of better living conditions in Argentina, which had a large German community.

Schäffer offered the married crewmen the option of going ashore in Europe (or so he said). Sixteen chose to do so and were landed from dinghies on Holsnøy Island near Bergen on 10 May. Incidentally, there was no proof whatsoever that anything like that ever happened.

The crews of both subs were predictably interned by the Argentinian authorities. The latter had no desire to have anything to do with these “hot potatoes” so they promptly transferred both the crews and the boats to the United States.

All crewmembers had to endure long and intense interrogations and faced the charges that (1) they had landed Nazi leaders in Argentina before surrendering; and (2) they have sunk the Brazilian cruiser Bahia as the last act of the Battle of the Atlantic. Obviously, the crew members of both U-boats vehemently denied both charges.

Both charges were based on… well, rumors and having had failed to obtain any evidence of either crime, the US investigators had to let the submariners go. It was later found that the cruiser (believed it or not) sunk itself during anti-aircraft target practice.

In 1947, crews were released from POW facilities and the boats (seized by the US Navy) were used as targets for torpedoes and unceremoniously sunk.

IMHO, explanations provided by captains of both boats as to why did they decide to sail to Argentina are totally and completely bogus. For a very simple reason – the journey from Europe to Argentina was such a risky adventure that both captains had to have far more compelling reasons (such as an order from the very top) to undertake it.

In May of 1945 the Atlantic Ocean was saturated with Allied ships and its skies – with Allied aircraft. Both (rightfully) considered any U-boat that refused to follow orders and to surrender as a pirate ship that had to be dealt with only in one fashion – sunk on the spot without warning.

And, of course, disobeying an order to surrender issued by the Supreme Commander of German Armed Forces made any U-boat captain a criminal – and gave his XO the right to arrest him on the spot (and even shoot the bastard right then and there).

So I believe that the reality was very different from what both captain told their interrogators. It is a well-established fact that Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz (formerly the commander of the submarine forces of the Kriegsmarine) firmly believed that even one U-boat surrendered to the Allies is one too many.

So he ordered Operation Regenbogen (“Rainbow”); in other words, ordered all German U-boats to be scuttled rather than surrendered to the enemy. The order was partially carried out which resulted in about 200 U-boats (most of which were not operational) and about 150 surrendered.

Consequently, it would be fair to conclude that if someone (even Heinrich Himmler) approached Dönitz on one of the first days of May 1945 and asked him to order two subs to sail to Argentina rather that surrender to the Allies, he would have cooperated enthusiastically.

As the result, right after receiving the order to surrender to the Allies on May 8^th, 1945, captains of both U-530 and U-977 received another – top secret – order. Do not surrender; pick up passengers and cargo at the designated place and time, deliver them to Argentina and only then surrender (to the Argentinians) keeping dead silence about the whole thing.

The nature of the cargo is obvious – some liquid financial assets (gold, precious stones, foreign currency, etc.) that the ODESSA wanted to transfer to South America rather than to neutral European nations or the Vatican.

Looks like these guys knew that the key to reducing risks was diversification. And the passengers were most likely Nazi financiers with extensive contacts in global financial community and (of course) the security guys from the SS.

 

The choice of U-530 for this job was especially telling. It was a Type IXC/40 boat – a large ocean-going submarine for sustained operations far from the home support facilities (and could take on board a lot of cargo).

 

Political neo-Nazism

Contrary to a popular misconception, Neo-Nazis are fundamentally different from the original ones. The latter were national-sociopaths and, therefore, were driven primarily by deep, sincere and passionate (albeit not always efficient) love for their country and their people (although they did hate – and no less passionately – their real and perceived enemies).

The former are, alas, pure sociopaths (actually, even psychopaths) driven totally and completely by vicious hatred. Hatred for Jews, liberals, blacks, other “coloreds” and minorities, Muslims, immigrants, homosexuals, etc., etc.

Hence, unlike the original Nazis who wanted (and did) create a very unique civilization, neo-Nazis are a purely destructive force that can offer no positive (let alone attractive) vision whatsoever. And as purely destructive force, they (unlike the original Nazis) never had – and will never have – any noticeable support from the population. Anywhere.

True, the original national-socialism (Nazi ideology) created a highly distorted and thus grossly inaccurate perception of reality. Which inevitably led to colossal blunders which ultimately cost the Nazis (the original ones) their war, their state, their Party, their civilization, and for many – their very lives.

The perception of reality by the Neo-Nazis is even more distorted and inaccurate. Including the perception of the Third Reich and its leaders – Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich, etc. And, of course, all Neo-Nazis are ardent Holocaust deniers, which means that their knowledge of the history of the Third Reich leaves much to be desired (to put it mildly).

Hence, the Neo-Nazis are intellectually ignorant and politically impotent – and thus would have been accepted only by the SA and never by the SS. And would have definitely make the original Nazi leaders deeply ashamed of their… modern followers.

By definition, political (it is always political) Neo-Nazism describes any post-World War II militant, social or political movements seeking to revive the ideology of Nazism in whole or in part – obviously, the way they perceive this ideology (as they evidently do not understand it).

Neo-Nazism is considered a particular form of far-right ideology, politics and extremism which I find not exactly correct. IMHO, Neo-Nazis are the unique species outside of the political spectrum (actually, they have far more in common with left-wing extremists than with the right-wing politicians).

And for an obvious reason. While just about all the original Nazis were highly gifted and capable individuals who just wanted to (1) correct the real and perceived wrongs of the world around them; and (2) achieve far more than “the world” (i.e., the Weimar Republic) could offer them.

The Neo-Nazis are (with only very few exceptions) outcasts, pariahs and castaways neither willing nor able to achieve any kind of success (and not because of the deficiencies of the world but due to their own deficiencies).

The original Nazis can be hated (and usually are as there plenty of reasons to hate them), but most them are worthy of at least some respect. The Neo-Nazis deserve neither respect nor even hatred; they must be (mostly) ignored or (if they become a problem) neutralized – quickly and efficiently (ideally, without a shot being fired or even a drop of blood shed).