CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Le Bureau Central National (BCN) d’INTERPOL pour la France [The International Criminal Police Organization, or INTERPOL], Office of Senior Detective Chief Superintendent Eugène Léon Dentremont, 200 Quai Charles de Gaulle, 69006 Lyon, France, June 12, 1963

In the Lyon office of INTERPOL, mountains of evidence were accumulating, set aside for the task force investigating the serial killings of senior military officers in the few months since the formal investigation was instigated. The names and whereabouts of many of the mid-level gangsters who were associated with the Gebirgsjägers, some ODESSA agents, a few Nazis shipped by the underground railroad to South America, and two close lieutenants of the presumed head of the criminal enforcer outfit. The general consensus at this point was that the criminals had escaped to Paraguay, Argentina, or perhaps, even somewhere in Italy. Most of the money in the bet was on Argentina, but no real direct evidence was available. But it looked like the stalemate was about to shift in favor of INTERPOL and the rest of the international force working on the case.

Three days previously, DCS Dentremont met with Levi Appleman ben Cohen, Hoypt [Yiddish for chief] Director of the Mossad—known in the intelligence world only as “C”—in an undisclosed location.

“Dark in here, Levi—or ‘C,’ if you prefer,” Eugène said. “Certainly adds to the cloak and dagger character of our meeting.”

Levi laughed, “And the abandoned warehouse décor fits the scene perfectly.”

Eugène shrugged, knowing that it was always like this with the Mossad.

“With all of this secrecy, I’m sure that you have something earthshattering to offer up, my friend.”

“Maybe not earth-shattering, but I am hoping it will be helpful in your investigation into the ODESSA fugitives. As you know, we have a mutual interest. We have learned something that has piqued our interest from one of our Sayanim in Argentina.”

“Our people have considerable interest in that Nazi country, but we have not been able to make much progress through official channels as you might imagine. What have you got?” Eugène asked.

“Eugène, you realize that this might turn out to be nothing; so, don’t get your hopes up too high.”

Eugène nodded his understanding.

“Our woman—as it turns out—works in a small exclusive chocolate shop on General San Martin Avenue in a very German city located within Nahuel Huapi National Park. She is one of our people, but has kept her religion a strict secret, even though Jews suffer very little prejudice or harassment there. She is blond and blue-eyed—as Aryan as they get in looks; so, the locals talk freely around her assuming that she is one of them. She informed our resident agent in Córdoba that until the last few months, Bariloche has been a rather sleepy Bavarian or Swiss Alpine town—whichever you prefer. About nine months ago, a group of obviously rich men—bankers, developers, and planners—came into town. They all bought some of the region’s fine chocolate from our girl and ignored her presence as they talked business in hushed tones. She learned that they were there for a meeting with the local ODESSA leader—a man known as Erich Walther Boehme, whom we know to be a former SS Hauptsturmführer—in his delicatessen. A number of the men were hard-looking and militaristic, with Aryan features and Argentine names.”

“Phony?”

“Presumably. Since that time, those militaristic men have settled in and are doing business. That business is to begin the construction of a multibillion-dollar development which will be known as Pueblo Parque National Nahuel Huapi and will likely make all of those already rich men a good deal richer and more securely entrenched in the community. The militarists she described are already fitting in very nicely, apparently. Their obvious leader—a man called Don Pedro Altenhofen—is being touted to take over the position as the vice president of the town’s German Argentinian Cultural Association as soon as the current officer’s term expires. That man is Erich Walther Boehme.

“Perhaps this would all be nothing more than mundane local goings-on were it not for our investigation into the past of the newcomers. In brief, they have no past. There is no credible record of their having ever existed before October of last year. More damning potentially is that my agents from the Institute were able to find obviously forged documents used to allow them to pass through customs, to be known as previous home and business owners in the capital, Buenos Aires, etc.”

“Sounds like transplants facilitated by ODESSA.”

“That’s our take. The head of our Nazi hunter teams, Moises Silverman, is bringing a team into Argentina to try and find out who they really are and the extent—if any—of crimes they have committed against the children of Israel. You have informed us that you are searching for a man or a few men who may be fugitives after having committed several murders of prominent military officers. Since a man fitting that description recently admitted to the killings and has since died of a lung disease in the American state of Texas, there has been this spate of hyperactivity there in Argentina. We think that is more than mere coincidence.”

On the strength of that information, Dentremont informed the closed circle of investigators working on the murder cases that it was time for them to meet in Lyon for an important strategy session. As indication of the high value they all placed on the importance of their ongoing cooperative investigation, all of them dropped what they were doing and booked flights to Lyon.

The investigators included: Kriminalkommissar Schäfer and Oberwachtmeister Zimmermann from Ludwigshafen; police chief von der Lippe, Kriminalpolitzei forensics sciences senior secretary Weiss-Krüger, Kriminalkommissar Boehme, head of the FIU [Financial Intelligence Unit] of the Bundespolitzei, and INTERPOL special secretary Hertzog—the individual assigned to gather and collate every piece of information available from both official and unofficial sources about the German/Nazi/ODESSA connection, from Wiesbaden; Major Higgins, Chief Officer MCU, Alaska State Police, in Juneau and SAC, 83^rd MP Det CID, Nicholsen, Fort Richardson, Alaska; Superintendent Baird, INTERPOL agent-in-charge, New York City; FBI Special Agent Gonzales-Soto from Washington DC; Texas Ranger Captain Cutler from Austin, Texas; Enquêteur De Vincent, Senior INTERPOL technician, Forensic Specialist and Research Unit Officer de la Reynie, and Gendarmerie Lieutenant Piétri from Paris; Lieutenant of militsiya Stepanovich and Uchastkovyi Lebedinsky from Moscow; Teniente Policía de la Provincia de Policía de Córdoba, PPC de Corsos and Sargentopolicíaprovbsas Policía de la Provincia de Córdoba, PPC de Jesus, from Córdoba; and DCI Crandall-White and DI Snowden, New Scotland Yard, London.

They were all tired but keyed up enough to pay full attention to Eugène, whose first communication, by way of greeting was, “Thank you for coming on such short notice. Let us have two rules today: first, let one of us speak at a time. Second, let us all use first names only. The titles and some of the last names are different enough to cause a little confusion and distraction.”

Everyone nodded approval.

“Now, let me tell you what ‘C’ communicated to me three days ago. To be very brief, his Mossad agents have been tracking Nazis all around the world since the end of the war, and especially in Argentina, as you all know. That concentration may have paid off for us. There are newly hatched Argentinians—heretofore unknown to history—who arrived four months ago in a little mountain town in Argentina called Bariloche. They brought with them hundreds of millions of dollars which will eventually be billions of dollars and are creating a tourist housing and facilities development in the area. Work is already underway. Why we should be interested is that several men came bearing fully Argentinian names but fully Aryan faces? The Mossad hazarded the none-too-wild a guess that their appearance was that of ex-military men. The name of the development is Pueblo Parque National Nahuel Huapi. Our contact person in Bariloche is named Davido Parades. He is in fact Jewish, and a top-notch Mossad agent.

“As soon as you can, José and Manuel, get your team in contact with Davido and set up a round-the-clock surveillance schedule of the newcomer Argentinians. We want photos on all of them, wiretaps, and information about known associates. We are particularly interested in photographs of the man called Don Pedro Altenhofen.

“Grégoire, Sylvain, and Marianne: concentrate on the Vatican, Nazi, and German interconnections having to do with Nazis escaping into Switzerland and depositing their money in that nice neutral country. Follow the money; find out the accounts where physical treasures are being stored as well as the cash. Use the French government—as many branches as necessary—and call in favors or twist arms but get that money trail. Where was the money sent initially and where is it being funneled to now? INTERPOL knows for a certainty that the USB holds a great deal of ill-gotten Nazi money. Furthermore, we have certain knowledge about a slippery French-Swiss collaborator with the Nazis and facilitator for sham bank accounts as well as émigré assistance by the name of François Gaspard Caussidière who will be easy to find, but a tough nut to crack. He is an inveterate liar and a double agent. He can be bought if the price offered is high enough. He often works with a Swiss banker employed by the Union Swiss Bank of Geneva by the name of Liert Beili Amstutz. He is brilliant, cunning, and ruthless. However, our Mossad friends have certain information about his personal life that should prove useful. Don’t hesitate to use that information.

“Also, put a task force on Indochina because we know that many ex-SS made it to Viet Nam and Laos as planters and with the foreign legion.

“Lincoln and Angela: get your team working on the Middle East; those nice Muslims have extended both arms and a big hug to the escaping Nazis, especially those with weapons expertise. It is possible that some survivors of both the gulags and the Allied slave labor POW camps finally made it to the warm and sunny climes of those deserts. Find them and squeeze them for information on our quarries. We will let sleeping dogs lie about their past crimes and their current benefactors and employers for all who cooperate. Get MI-5 and MI-6 to work on their records of any Germans who were taken into service in the British defense programs. You will need to interrogate them. Try and overlook the fact that both the British and the Germans committed uncounted and unconscionable atrocities and concentrate on what you can learn about the Germans or any possible members of the French unit that served in the SS. Do they know their current whereabouts?

“Trushin, Ivan, and Katrinka—please do two difficult things: get Colonel-General Boris Vadimovich Ilyushin, your old war commander, on board to get every record available on our suspects. And it will be a considerable stretch; but get Alexander Shelepin, the current head of the KGB, to clear the way to let you see all of the records about the released SS officer corps POWs especially–of course–those who served in the Charlemagne Division. There can’t be many of them left; and, if anyone knows who or where they are, it will be the KGB. The other difficult thing I ask is that you get along with your German counterparts. And Friedrich, Horst, and Eberhard: please give the same cooperation to the Soviets. Your principal tasks will be to squeeze the ODESSA; call in any old markers, bribe, lie to, extort, cajole, or anything else you can think of to get what we need. They are key. Your defense, security, diplomatic, and intelligence services know where the money is. Bring to bear everything all of our organizations have to get that information. We must become able to freeze their assets. That is an imperative.”

Eugène paused for a good draught of cold water and then finished with the query to open up the discussion of his panel of dedicated experts, “Any questions?”

There were a great many, and it was late evening before they finished and adjourned for a well-earned dinner at the La Cave d’à Côté. It was a frequent haunt of Eugène’s not well known to any but the elite locals and rare gourmand tourists who learned of it by word of mouth. It was located down a dark, narrow alleyway which would give the faint of heart a moment of pause. The eighteenth century restaurant and soaring vaulted wine cellar—now a trendy wine bar—made it one of Lyon’s most popular evening meeting places. The visiting law enforcement officers lounged on a leather sofas to drink before dinner cocktails that sat around a large communal tables and shared plates of charcuterie and cheese, rosette de Lyon sausage, Saint-Marcellin cheese, and saucisse à la pistache accompanied by specialty wines. The officers shared bottles of Côtes-du-Rhônes and Beaujolais—the favorite being a crisp aged Beaujolais Blanc that the owner produced in his own vineyard. La Cave d’à Côté served to solidify Lyon’s reputation as France’s gastronomic capital. They were all nicely drunk by the time Eugène deposited them in their rooms in the Hotel Foch. Lieutenant of Soviet militsiya Trushin Vasilyovich Stepanovich thought he had died and gone to the heaven he so vigorously did not believe in.