Poppo
In the Cooler
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2012
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Skorzeny after the war became a killer for the Mossad.
"We have made a pact with the devil." This is the thought of Mossad agents in the early months of 1962 were able to "persuade" Otto Skorzeny - the former SS officer who rescued Mussolini from Gran Sasso - to become not only a valuable informant for the intelligence service of the newborn Jewish state but even a killer capable of eliminating the German scientists who were then put to the service of the country considered to be the number one enemy of Israel: Egypt.
The mission
The new story begins as a news story. The September 11, 1962, Heinz Krug, a German scientist who during the war had worked at Nazi missile program in the base of Peenemünde - where they had been developed the dreaded V-1 and V-2 - disappears without a trace. An Israeli newspaper says - but it is a red herring - that Krug was kidnapped by Egyptians to "prevent contacts with Israel." The truth, now emerges, is well different.Krug had been kidnapped yes. But not by the Egyptians: Skorzeny is the key man in this story. Escorted by three "bodyguards" (actually Mossad agents including a young Yitzhak Shamir, the future prime minister of Israel, and another, Zvi "Peter," Malkin, member of the team that captured Eichmann in Argentina), Skorzeny brings Krug in a forest and he kills him without a second's hesitation. The scientist, after refusing an offer of Werner Von Braun who had invited him to work for the Americans, he was put to the service of the Egyptian missile program, and for this, along with other former Nazis who continued as the "war against the Jews "he had become an existential threat to the Jewish state.
The point was: why Skorzeny would have to get to the Israelis service? Not out of greed, "I am rich enough, I do not need more money," he made it clear. But an agreement could be found: "I want Simon Wiesenthal remove my name from his **** list." Skorzeny was afraid of ending up like Eichmann. And he knew that no state could keep him safe from the vengeance of the Jews. Therefore he accepted the offer and from that moment was one of the most capable staff of the Israeli secret service. Who he spent several years in Egypt, bringing back the list of all the leading scientists (German) work to build the missile capable of hitting Israel. Even, in one case he sent a parcel bomb that killed five Egyptians in a secret base where they worked former Nazis. And then, the work firsthand: the kidnapping and murder (never solved by the police of Monaco of Bavaria) Kurt Heinz.
false identity
One day, Otto Skorzeny was even invited, under false identities, in Israel and his guests, after having presented to the director of Mossad, Harel, took him on a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Skorzeny throughout the visit was silent and showed respect. But it was recognized by a former deportee, "It's a Nazi." One of the companions, said quietly: "You're wrong, it is a relative of mine: he suffered during the Holocaust." The job - very fruitful - went on for years. No one has ever fully understood why he has accepted: guilt? Fear of being killed? Mossad, for its part, continued the work of intimidation and elimination of the enemies of the Jewish state: as the organizers of the attack in Monaco 1972. By any means. Also tightening, if necessary, pacts with the devil. O falsifying papers: Wiesenthal never agreed to delete from his list the name of Skorzeny. So the former officer was given a letter made in Tel Aviv with the signature (reproduced) the Nazi hunter: that was enough to make him quiet.
"We have made a pact with the devil." This is the thought of Mossad agents in the early months of 1962 were able to "persuade" Otto Skorzeny - the former SS officer who rescued Mussolini from Gran Sasso - to become not only a valuable informant for the intelligence service of the newborn Jewish state but even a killer capable of eliminating the German scientists who were then put to the service of the country considered to be the number one enemy of Israel: Egypt.
The mission
The new story begins as a news story. The September 11, 1962, Heinz Krug, a German scientist who during the war had worked at Nazi missile program in the base of Peenemünde - where they had been developed the dreaded V-1 and V-2 - disappears without a trace. An Israeli newspaper says - but it is a red herring - that Krug was kidnapped by Egyptians to "prevent contacts with Israel." The truth, now emerges, is well different.Krug had been kidnapped yes. But not by the Egyptians: Skorzeny is the key man in this story. Escorted by three "bodyguards" (actually Mossad agents including a young Yitzhak Shamir, the future prime minister of Israel, and another, Zvi "Peter," Malkin, member of the team that captured Eichmann in Argentina), Skorzeny brings Krug in a forest and he kills him without a second's hesitation. The scientist, after refusing an offer of Werner Von Braun who had invited him to work for the Americans, he was put to the service of the Egyptian missile program, and for this, along with other former Nazis who continued as the "war against the Jews "he had become an existential threat to the Jewish state.
The point was: why Skorzeny would have to get to the Israelis service? Not out of greed, "I am rich enough, I do not need more money," he made it clear. But an agreement could be found: "I want Simon Wiesenthal remove my name from his **** list." Skorzeny was afraid of ending up like Eichmann. And he knew that no state could keep him safe from the vengeance of the Jews. Therefore he accepted the offer and from that moment was one of the most capable staff of the Israeli secret service. Who he spent several years in Egypt, bringing back the list of all the leading scientists (German) work to build the missile capable of hitting Israel. Even, in one case he sent a parcel bomb that killed five Egyptians in a secret base where they worked former Nazis. And then, the work firsthand: the kidnapping and murder (never solved by the police of Monaco of Bavaria) Kurt Heinz.
false identity
One day, Otto Skorzeny was even invited, under false identities, in Israel and his guests, after having presented to the director of Mossad, Harel, took him on a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Skorzeny throughout the visit was silent and showed respect. But it was recognized by a former deportee, "It's a Nazi." One of the companions, said quietly: "You're wrong, it is a relative of mine: he suffered during the Holocaust." The job - very fruitful - went on for years. No one has ever fully understood why he has accepted: guilt? Fear of being killed? Mossad, for its part, continued the work of intimidation and elimination of the enemies of the Jewish state: as the organizers of the attack in Monaco 1972. By any means. Also tightening, if necessary, pacts with the devil. O falsifying papers: Wiesenthal never agreed to delete from his list the name of Skorzeny. So the former officer was given a letter made in Tel Aviv with the signature (reproduced) the Nazi hunter: that was enough to make him quiet.
