Otto Skorzeny

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Otto Skorzeny as an Inmate in Nuremberg Prison (November 1945)

Otto Skorzeny (born June 12, 1908 in Vienna ; † July 5, 1975 in Madrid ) was an Austrian officer in the Waffen SS , most recently in the rank of SS Obersturmbannführer of the reserve. He became known through his participation in the company Eiche for the "liberation" of the deposed and arrested Italian dictator Benito Mussolini .

Life until 1945

Youth and education

Skorzeny grew up in a middle-class family. His parents were the civil engineer Anton Skorzeny and Florentine Sieber. Skorzeny was baptized a Roman Catholic, his first names were given in the marriage certificate from 1939 (issued in 1946) as Otto Johann Anton.

Even as a schoolboy he was politically active and in 1922 joined the right - wing extremist German national “German Middle Schools Association of Austria”. After graduating from high school , he studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology from 1926 . In 1927 he joined the academic fraternity Markomannia in Vienna, from which he was listed as an old man until his death (1975) . The clearly visible scars ( Schmisse ) from fourteen student scales come from this time , which is why the Allies later named it "Scarface" ( German  " Scarface " ). In the same year Skorzeny joined the “Vienna Academic Legion”, an anti-Marxist student free corps founded in 1922 , which joined the Styrian Homeland Security in 1928 and which he left again in 1931. His diploma thesis dealt with the construction of a diesel engine with which he graduated as an engineer on December 31, 1931 .

Career in National Socialism

According to his own statements, inspired by a speech by Joseph Goebbels in Vienna, he joined the Austrian NSDAP on May 5, 1932 (membership number 1.083.671). In February 1934 he joined the Schutzstaffel, illegal in Austria (SS-Standarte 89 - membership number 295.979). He was not involved in the National Socialist uprising in July 1934.

After graduating, Skorzeny first worked as a mechanic in a car workshop, then for Meidlinger Scaffolding. In May 1934 he married Margareta Schreiber, the daughter of the owner, became managing director and from 1937 owner of the scaffolding company. That same year, he filed for divorce.

As a member of the SS, Skorzeny was involved in the events surrounding the annexation of Austria . He was one of the first National Socialists who stormed the building on March 11, 1938 after the Federal Chancellery had been converted by SS units from Ernst Kaltenbrunner , and arrested Federal President Wilhelm Miklas . After Miklas surrendered to National Socialist violence, Skorzeny accompanied him back to his villa in the early morning of March 12, 1938, where he confessed him . After the war, Skorzeny stylized himself as the “savior” of Miklas.

In the course of the November pogroms of 1938 , Skorzeny took on the task of destroying two synagogues in the 3rd district with his SS troops on November 10, 1938, one of them the club synagogue on Müllnergasse , which also resulted in numerous attacks on Jewish fellow citizens. The destruction was carried out under the direction of the 30-year-old Skorzeny according to the instructions of the Gestapo , Referat II.G.

He was promoted to SS-Untersturmführer on January 30, 1939. On May 25, 1939, he married Emmi Linhart in Vienna (born December 6, 1916 in Wiener Neustadt ). At the registry office in Vienna-Alsergrund , the wives stated that they believed in God . In 1940 his only child, daughter Waltraut, was born.

At the beginning of the Second World War , Skorzeny volunteered for the Waffen SS and front service in September 1939. At the beginning of February 1940 he joined the SS disposable troops as a reserve leader candidate . As part of the Waffen SS divisions “Das Reich” and “Totenkopf” , he took part in the French and Yugoslavia campaign as a motor vehicle officer and was wounded in Russia in 1941 during the German-Soviet War .

In April 1943 he was transferred to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), Office VI (Abroad - SD-Abroad) and there on April 20, 1943 he took over the management of the new Department VI S (training and counter-resistance), which is also responsible for sabotage and commando operations was responsible. He owed this career to personal acquaintance with Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who became head of the RSHA in January 1943. On April 28, 1943, Skorzenys was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer .

Department VI S, headed by Skorzeny, was a competitor of the RSHA to the Brandenburg special unit of military defense . From units of the SD and the security police as well as paratroopers of the Waffen-SS, he formed a special commando force, which was called "Sonderlehrgang zbV Oranienburg" from April to June 1943, from June 1943 to April 1944 as "Sonderverband zbV Friedenthal" and from April 1944 as " SS-Jägerbataillon 502 “was used.

“Liberation” of Benito Mussolini

Skorzeny with Harald Mors and Mussolini in front of the Hotel Campo Imperatore, September 12, 1943

An action wrongly attributed to Skorzeny was the so-called "Liberation of Mussolini". After Mussolini on the orders of King Victor Emanuel III. Arrested on July 25, 1943, Hitler made the search for the Duce a top priority and at the end of July 1943 commissioned the general of the parachute troop, Kurt Student Mussolini, outside of the military chain of command to locate and bring him to Germany. Hitler was regularly informed about the process. On September 12, 1943, Kurt Student ordered the Eiche company , a liberation operation which, however, was in reality a "downright kidnapping". Student was also subordinate to an SS special unit led by Otto Skorzeny. While Kurt Student was responsible for the planning and execution of the action, Skorzeny took on pure security tasks and was responsible for determining the whereabouts of Mussolini.

Weeks beforehand, Skorzeny looked for Mussolini all over Italy. The first hint, however, did not come from Skorzeny, but from Herbert Kappler , who located La Maddalena as his whereabouts . Skorzeny, who wanted to confirm the presence of Mussolini, circled the archipelago on August 18, 1943 at low altitude. However, he was discovered by Mussolini's guards, who then moved the ex-dictator to the Hotel Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso mountain range .

After the new whereabouts could be found a few weeks later, the paratroopers succeeded in taking Students out of the country in a spectacular operation on September 12, 1943 using a cargo ship. Otto Skorzeny managed to get him and some of his SS men to take part in the action. Skorzeny even jeopardized the company's happy ending by insisting on flying with the ex-dictator so that the plane was overloaded on departure.

Although Skorzeny was neither involved in the direct planning of this operation nor had any authority, he was highly praised for the liberation action, promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer and on September 13, 1943 awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . In the Nazi propaganda it was deliberately concealed that the operation was primarily an operation planned and carried out by members of the paratrooper troops, while the role of Skorzeny and his SS men was greatly exaggerated.

The years 1944 and 1945

Skorzeny (left), Adrian von Fölkersam (center) and Walter Girg (right) in Budapest, October 1944

Through a restructuring of the military secret service and the takeover of parts by the RSHA, Skorzeny became group leader of Department D (sabotage and decomposition) of the newly formed " Amt Mil " of the RSHA in July 1944 . After the failed assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, Skorzeny advanced the following night with an SS company to the Bendler block , where the “command center of the conspirators” was also located. In the course of the suppression of the unsuccessful coup , the SS men were supposed to interrogate the officers there about the event, in addition to the occupation of the building.

In October 1944, Skorzeny was deployed as part of the Panzerfaust company in Hungary. This was an "SS putsch" against Miklós Horthy and the Hungarian government, the constitutionally appointed representative of an allied state, as there were signs that Hungary wanted to terminate the alliance with Germany. On October 15, 1944, under the leadership of Skorzeny, the important government offices in Budapest were stormed by his special unit and Miklós Horthy Jr., Horthy's only living son, was kidnapped to Germany by plane. With the prospect that "his son would be put against the wall" if he did not obey, Horthy gave in to the blackmail, declared his resignation and went into German captivity. Horthy was replaced by Ferenc Szálasi , a representative of the fascist Arrow Cross members . Skorzeny was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer in October.

In November 1944, the "SS-Jägerbataillon 502" led by Skorzeny was transferred to the "SS-Jagdverbände", an SS commando force for sabotage and disintegration. In addition, the SS Parachute Battalion 600 was integrated into the "SS Hunting Associations" and Skorzeny was appointed as the commander. Skorzeny then campaigned for the supply of a German group of formerly trapped soldiers who were supposedly acting behind the Soviet lines. This so-called Kampfgruppe Scherhorn was to be supported in the course of an Operation Freischütz . Subsequent support was never successful and the last attempt was canceled in April 1945, as there was a suspicion that it was an invention of the NKVD . Skorzeny was also commissioned to build a resistance organization in the Soviet hinterland and to establish contact with anti-communist partisans. These included various anti-Soviet groups in the Soviet hinterland as far as the Caucasus. At a meeting with the Belarusian collaborators Radaslau Astrouski , Usewalad Rodska and Mikola Abramtschyk , Skorzeny decided to work together to find recruits and personnel for sabotage operations and for training infiltrators. This cooperation was realized through the construction of two SD systems in Dahlwitz-Hoppegarten and in Walbuze in East Prussia , where the recruits were taught how to use radio communications, coding, demolition and killing techniques. Skorzeny was also involved in the training of members of the National Socialist underground movement Werwolf .

Skorzeny during a briefing with SS leaders of an SS paratrooper unit on the Oder (February 1945)

As part of the Ardennes offensive , Skorzeny set up a commando group in December 1944 , the soldiers of which - disguised in American uniforms - were supposed to sweep bridges over the Meuse behind the enemy lines and keep them open for the following armored divisions ( Operation Greif ). This action was unsuccessful.

In order to close a gap in the eastern front, Skorzeny received an order from Heinrich Himmler on January 30, 1945 to defend the Schwedt / Oder bridgehead with his SS hunting units . Skorzeny also performed other tasks there, for example a military court martial was held in Schwedt under the chairmanship of Skorzeny. On February 4, 1945, Kurt Flöter, the mayor and Volkssturm commandant of Koenigsberg / Neumark , was sentenced to death by Skorzeny's court and immediately executed. He would have left the city without a withdrawal order. Himmler relieved Skorzeny from his position as commander of the bridgehead on February 21, 1945 after around 30 percent of his hunting groups had been wiped out.

In March 1945 he was sent to the Alpine region and was supposed to help organize the last German resistance in the alleged " Alpine fortress ". In Bad Aussee he gathered between 250 to 300 members of various SS special units, whom he named "Schutzkorps Alpenland" at the end of April. On May 16, 1945, Skorzeny surrendered to the US Armed Forces in Annaberg of the 3rd US Infantry Division and was brought to Salzburg for questioning. He was later transferred to the Dachau internment camp and interrogated by the Counter Intelligence Corps .

Life after 1945

Internment and war crimes trial

During his internment in Dachau, Skorzeny was charged as a war criminal because his commandos had operated in American uniforms in violation of international law during the Battle of the Bulge . From August 18 to September 9, 1947 the trial ( United States of America v. Otto Skorzeny et al. ) Against him and nine other defendants was conducted as part of the Dachau trials . The defendants were charged with "abusing hostile forms, robbing prisoners of war, failing to hand over packages to prisoners of war, and mistreating and killing American prisoners of war." Although Skorzeny was declared "the most dangerous man in Europe" by the chief prosecutor Albert H. Rosenfeld, he and all of the accused received an acquittal because the British officer Edward Yeo-Thomas, as a defense witness, confirmed that allied special forces also fought in opposing uniforms would have.

Following his trial in Dachau, Skorzeny was handed over to the German authorities for further investigation and transferred to the Darmstadt internment camp . On July 27, 1948, just one day before Skorzeny was summoned to a public hearing on the Nuremberg Trials , he was given permission to escape in ways that have not yet been clarified, so that he could evade any further punishment.

Escape and immersion

Various theories are still circulating about Skorzeny's escape. According to his own account, he was picked up from the internment camp by three SS men disguised as US military police. The Americans would have provided the uniforms. Another version comes from Michel Garder, a former colonel in the French foreign intelligence service, who claimed in 1989 that he snatched Skorzeny from the Americans. However, various memos from the CIA suggest that Skorzeny was skimmed off by the CIA in the wake of the beginning of the Cold War .

Skorzeny's whereabouts between June 1948 and his official appearance in 1950 are also controversial. During his biographer Charles Whiting claimed he was with Juan Perón in Argentina have been submerged, other sources say that he mid-1949 in attracting German specialists to Syria tried, during the manhunt pressure over Paris , Spain and finally Italy and Bolivia to Argentina fled. Skorzeny himself spoke of two years spent in Germany and France. The historian Thomas Riegler considers Skorzeny's statements to the CIA that he hid with different identities in West Germany from July 1948 to May 1949 and was busy writing his war memories as the most likely variant. According to the investigative journalist Martin A. Lee, Skorzeny hid for some time after his escape in a farm in Bavaria that was rented by Ilse Finck von Finckenstein (née Lüthje), a niece of Hjalmar Schacht and his future third wife. As a first identity, he used a forged identity card issued in August 1947 in the name of Rolf Steinbauer , a journalist from Breslau .

Illustrierte Quick paid 30,000 DM in 1950 for the advance publication of his war memories . Hansa Verlag Josef Toth in Hamburg gave the same amount in 1950 for the book Secret Command Skorzeny . Even the Figaro paid Skorzeny a considerable sum for his stories. These publications were the beginning of a sensational, self-portrayed and extensive journalistic activity by Skorzeny, which encouraged his own mythologization.

As a result, Skorzeny's escape and submergence repeatedly brought him into contact with Nazi escape aid organizations. According to a US secret report of January 20, 1947, a German informant testified that Skorzeny was the leader of the alleged underground network OdeSS.A. During his internment in Dachau . would have been. However, according to British journalist Guy Walters, Skorzeny would have been "hopelessly unsuitable" for the job. A similar role has been attributed to him with regard to the spider .

More concrete was information from the German police from September 1948, which reported on a "Skorzeny Organization" that spread across the American occupation zone and was dedicated to the "fight against communism". Another intelligence source spoke of an underground movement of former supporters of the SS and paratroopers that rallied under the leadership of Skorzeny. The British authorities concluded that Skorzeny worked for the CIA and was building a sabotage organization in Germany.

During his clandestine time on the farm in Bavaria, Skorzeny had close contact with Reinhard Gehlen . Together with Hartmann Lauterbacher , he recruited for the Gehlen organization in Munich . In this context, Skorzeny had close contact with Albert Schnez , whose illegal " Soldier Self- Help in Southern Germany " was established with the help of the "Organization Gehlen".

According to Ilse Finck von Finckenstein, Reinhard Gehlen warned Skorzeny in 1948 against an attempt by the Soviets to kidnap him. The arrest of his brother Alfred in 1948 by the Soviets, who on December 13, 1948 was sentenced to 20 years of remedial camps for alleged espionage activities, took place, according to Stefan Karner, "obviously due to a mix-up with his brother Otto or as a result of the kin liability practiced by the Soviets ". In 1955 Alfred was released early from prison and sent back to Germany.

Skorzeny came back to the public on February 14, 1950 in France. A photo of him, taken the day before in a café on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, graced the front pages of French newspapers. Shortly afterwards, he met veterans in Austria and filed for divorce with Emmi Linhart.

The years 1950 to 1960

A wide variety of information circulates to this day about Skorzeny's activities in the intelligence community. In January 2012, the historian Peter Hammerschmidt had extensive access to the files of Skorzeny of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND). According to his research, there is no doubt that Skorzeny had relations with American agencies from “mid-1949”. In addition Hammerschmidt found in the BND files documents Western Europe for the existence of Stay-behind structures he whence derives the assumption that Skorzeny was directly involved in the formation of Stay-behind structures in Germany. The BND files paint a picture of Skorzeny as a “freelance artist in the news business” and characterized him consistently as a “man with a pathological need for recognition” and “impostor”.

“Skorzeny has a remarkable ability to“ always be there on time ”, to highlight his mostly minor involvement in“ interesting ”ventures and to make himself popular without any special achievements. [...] [He] has and will therefore always surround his work with a mysterious veil. He prefers to move in the twilight. He thrives on hints, promises and unproven claims. This method is characteristic of him, but also necessary because he is actually incapable of any serious work or performance. "

According to Hammerschmidt, Skorzeny's BND documents give no indication that he was ever in direct contact with the Gehlen organization. In contrast, Reinhard Gehlen's memoirs paint a different picture. The organization Gehlen financed and approved by the CIA recruited former SS members for the Middle East in the early 1950s . The CIA later identified Skorzeny as the leading figure in a group of experts who was personally commissioned by Gehlen in 1953 to train the Egyptian army .

In September 1950, Skorzeny moved to Madrid, Spain, where he was under the personal protection of the dictator Francisco Franco and supported him as a military advisor. In Spain he played an important role in organizing the numerous former SS fighters who had settled on the Iberian Peninsula. The Skorzeny, described by Nikolaus von Preradovich as a “crystallization point”, had a “downright family relationship” with Léon Degrelle and Otto Ernst Remer .

In 1952, Skorzeny was denazified in absentia by a court in Hesse and classified as "less polluted". From then on he was protected from criminal prosecution in the Federal Republic of Germany.

From 1953 he acted as advisor to the Argentine President Juan Perón and the Egyptian President Nasser . In 1953 there were presumptions that Skorzeny took part in activities of the Naumann circle . In Madrid, Skorzeny was the representative of Werner Naumann's Düsseldorf import-export company .

On March 1, 1954, Skorzeny married his third wife Ilse Finck von Finckenstein, with whom he had lived in Madrid since 1950 and whose business skills were partly responsible for Skorzeny's entrepreneurial success. Under the alias of "Rolf OS Steinbauer" he set up an engineering office in Madrid and developed brisk business activities from there. He concentrated on representing various West German companies, which he managed relatively quickly. Skorzeny acted as a general agent for various iron processing companies such as Stolberger Zink (Aachen), Couthino Caro & Co (Düsseldorf / Hamburg), Neunkircher Eisenwerke , Buderus Eisenwerke (Wetzlar), Vereinigte Armaturen Co. (Mannheim) or Bopp & Reuther (Mannheim).

In Austria Skorzeny also had high protectors. So he was given the general agency of the Austrian VÖEST for Spain and Latin America . In addition to his wealth, real estate gains contributed. Skorzeny had invested in land along the Costa del Sol and benefited from the mass sale of vacation homes. He lived in an apartment in Madrid and owned a fisherman's house on Mallorca.

Another lucrative business was the arms trade. As a representative of the Spanish arms company Alfa, Skorzeny operated in the Belgian Congo , the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-1950s and was "in constant contact" with the Arab grandmufti Mohammed Amin al-Husseini . During the Suez Crisis , he supplied Egypt, Jordan and Algeria with decommissioned weapons from the Spanish army.

In parallel to his consulting activities, Skorzeny tried to bring various fascist groups to a neo-Nazi "international" in Europe . In this context he met Oswald Mosley in Ireland in 1956 . He then stayed several times in Ireland in 1957 and 1958, where he bought a farm in County Kildare in 1959 . However, he was not given permanent residence rights from the Irish authorities and was only allowed to stay in the country for six weeks a year. In 1971 he sold the farm.

The years 1960 until death

The arms business intensified Skorzeny in the 1960s. Together with Gerhard Mertins , who took part in the "Oak Company" under him in 1943 and was part of Skorzeny's group of experts, which operated in Egypt in 1954, Skorzeny acted as a partner in Mertins' own export company, Merex AG, founded by Mertins in 1963 in Vevey , Switzerland . During the 1960s, the Merex developed into the most important German arms supplier and was controlled by the BND. In 1966, for example, Skorzeny acted as the Merex contact for arms deliveries to Peru and Bolivia.

There are different versions of Skorzeny's recruitment and collaboration with the Israeli Mossad . They have one thing in common: the Mossad wanted to obtain information about the Egyptian missile program through him in order to sabotage it. The historian Amnon Kava reported on it for the first time in 1989. Disguised as representatives of NATO, two Mossad officers visited Skorzeny in Madrid in the spring of 1963. Former Mossad director Meir Amit commented on the case in 1995. Accordingly, Skorzeny was hired as an agent to establish contact with the "security chief" of the German scientists in Cairo. Thanks to Skorzeny, the Mossad found out that “Nasser's weapons project against Israel” was “pure bluff”. Behind the willingness to work together was Skorzeny's fear of being kidnapped like Eichmann, and Skorzeny tied his collaboration to the promise of no further persecution.

In the 1960s, Skorzeny was again targeted by investigations by the German and Austrian judiciary on charges of war crimes . The investigations covered various crimes committed during the Nazi era and in the war, including the shooting of prisoners during the Balkan deployment in 1941, the testing of a poison pistol on prisoners in Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1944, and responsibility for murderous acts against soldiers and civilians in the final phase of the war on the Oder front. A first war crimes arrest warrant was issued by the Hungarian Hradisch District Court in the late 1950s and concerned the murder of more than 39 civilians when a unit commanded by Skorzeny withdrew in April 1945. The Moravian villages of Plostina, Prlova and Varak were burned down and been looted. The preliminary investigation in Austria was closed on October 16, 1958, also because the Czech government did not pursue the matter any further. An extension of the preliminary investigations against Skorzeny in Austria was considered at the end of 1956. It was about the execution, presumably ordered by Skorzeny, of the Austrian resistance fighters Karl Biedermann , Alfred Huth and Rudolf Raschke on April 8, 1945. The proceedings were discontinued due to "unclear evidence". The new preliminary investigations in the 1960s had a similar fate. There were no criminal consequences whatsoever for Skorzeny.

A group of German, Austrian and Spanish right-wing extremists around Otto Skorzeny founded a "Circle of Friends of Richard Wagner's Music" in Barcelona in 1965 . This circle of friends in turn supported the call for the founding of the right-wing extremist Spanish organization Círculo Español de Amigos de Europa (CEDADE) on January 11, 1967 by Angel Ricote. Organized by CEDADE, Skorzeny received a public reception in 1973 with Nazi uniforms and a Hitler salute , where the "martyrs" Primo de Rivera , Mussolini and Hitler were remembered. Until his death he was an advisor to CEDADE.

Otto Skorzeny died of cancer on July 5, 1975 at the age of 67 in Madrid. He was cremated and the urn was later buried in the Döblingen cemetery . At his funeral in Vienna, “old comrades” saluted with the Hitler salute.

Legends about Skorzeny

The historian Thomas Riegler took a closer look at the legends surrounding Skorzeny. The best known is his stylization through Nazi propaganda as a "Mussolini liberator", whereby he himself worked on his own mythologization after the end of the war . It was important to him to present himself as a politically neutral soldier who had initiated a new form of unconventional and irregular warfare. This reinforced the only three English-language biographies of Charles Foley, Charles Whiting and Glenn B. Infield on Skorzeny, which were essentially limited to retelling his stories largely uncritically, garnished with numerous unsubstantiated claims. In addition, there were reports from the tabloids, which while Skorzeny was still alive, puffed up rumors and half-truths about adventure stories. For example, he would have organized an army in India and in the Congo at the same time, or at the same time supplying and advising the Algerian FLN and the French OAS , or they thought he was looking for the Holy Grail in France . That was too much even for Skorzeny, who complained in a new edition of his memoir that it was impossible "to quote even a fraction of all the fantasies that were printed about my presumed activities."

One of the legends that emerged during the ongoing World War was the rumor that Skorzeny had planned an assassination attempt on Dwight D. Eisenhower at the end of 1944 . Another legend, scattered by Soviet counter-propaganda, made Skorzeny head of a long jump company with the aim of assassinating or kidnapping the three leaders Stalin , Churchill and Roosevelt at a conference in Tehran .

More legends emerged in the post-war period. For example, that Fidel Castro would have consulted Skorzeny's memoirs for his actions, which he denied. Another legend connects Skorzeny with the mysterious death of Nikola Tesla .

Another legend was only cleared up in 2018. It has been alleged on various occasions that Skorzeny had been commissioned by the Mossad to carry out murders. The arms contractor Heinz Krug , who was involved in a missile program in Egypt , is said to have lured Skorzeny into a trap near Munich on September 11, 1962 and shot him. The investigative journalist Ronen Bergman researched that Mossad agents themselves kidnapped Krug from Munich in 1962, interrogated him for months in Israel and killed him north of Tel Aviv, without any action on the part of Skorzeny.

For Thomas Riegler it is clear that due to Skorzeny's own mythologization and the legends surrounding his person, a projection surface for all possible ideas of soldier masculinity or of “super agenthood” has emerged that has found its way into popular culture. The novelist Ian Fleming, for example, invented the super villain Hugo Drax (Moonraker, 1955) as a veteran of a Skorzeny sabotage squad. The character of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film from 1964 is also an allusion to him. More recently, Skorzeny plays the charismatic super villain in the US graphic novel Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War from 2008 and, returned by UFO, in the Japanese manga series The Legend of Koizumi (2006-2015).

Fonts

  • Skorzeny Secret Command. Autobiography. Hansa Verlag Toth, Hamburg 1950, OBV , DNB .
  • Live dangerously. Ring Verlag Helmut Cramer 1962, indexed by the German test center for writings harmful to minors
  • We fought - we lost. Ring-Verlag Helmut Cramer, Siegburg-Niederpleis 1962, indexed by the Federal Testing Office for writings harmful to minors
  • My commando company, Limes Verlag 1976

literature

  • Carlo Gentile :  Skorzeny, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 491 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Martin A. Lee: The Beast Reawakens. Fascism`s resurgence from Hitler`s spymasters to today`s neo-Nazi groups and rightwing extremists. Routledge 2000. In particular chapter Gehlen's Gambit pp. 33–45, and pp. 61–63, ISBN 0-415-92546-0 .
  • Michael Schadewitz: Between the knight's cross and the gallows. Skorzeny's secret company Greif in Hitler's Ardennes offensive 1944/45. Helios, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-938208-48-9
  • Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Selected and Prepared by The United Nations War Crimes Commission, Volume IX, London, HMSO 1948 (English; PDF; 5.4 MB). Case No. 56. Trial of Otto Skorzeny and Others. General Military Government Court of the US Zone of Germany. 18th August to 9th September, 1947.
  • Thomas Riegler, “The most dangerous man in Europe”? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, pp. 15–61
  • Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple , Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018
  • Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services , Dissertation 2013, on Skorzeny in particular Chapter 4.2.4. Surplus material for Latin American military dictatorships , pp. 398–425

Uncritical / apologetic

  • Charles Foley: Commando Extraordinary. Pan Books, London 1956.
  • Glenn B. Infield: Skorzeny: Hitler's Commandos. Military Heritage Pr., New York 1981, ISBN 9780880292122 .

Movie

Web links

Commons : Otto Skorzeny  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b marriage certificate of the registry office Vienna-Alsergrund No. 517/1939 from May 25, 1939, issued on May 10, 1946.
  2. ↑ Michael Fahlbusch, Ingo Haar, Alexander Pinwinkler, Handbuch der Völkischen Wissenschaften: Actors, Networks, Research Programs , De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2017, p. 376
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Carlo Gentile, Skorzeny, Otto in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 24 (2010), p. 491f.
  4. ↑ a b c Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple , Bloomsbury Publishing 2018, p. 23.
  5. ^ A b c Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 18
  6. ↑ Thomas Chorherr, 1938, Anatomie einer Jahres , Überreuter 1987, pp. 165ff
  7. ↑ Hans-Werner Scheidl, The surrender in fast motion: “We give way to violence” , documentation in Die Presse of March 8, 2013, available online
  8. ^ Association for the History of the City of Vienna (publisher and publisher), Vienna 1938 , 1978, p. 127
  9. ↑ Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple , Bloomsbury Publishing 2018, pp. 27f.
  10. ↑ Herbert Exenberger, Like the little group of Maccabees: the Jewish community in Simmering 1848-1945 , Mandelbaum-Verlag 2009, p. 292
  11. ↑ Parliamentary inquiry from MPs Hofeneder, Mittendorfer and Piffl-Percevic of June 21, 1961, available online
  12. ↑ Fritz Rubin-Bittmann, The Jew must go, his Gerschtl stays there , Wiener Zeitung of November 9, 2018, available online
  13. ↑ Marta Marková, At the push of a button: Vienna Postwar Flair , LIT-Verlag 2018, p. 86
  14. ↑ a b c d Peter Broucek, Military Resistance: Studies on Austrian State Conflict and National Socialist Defense , Böhlau 2008, p. 415
  15. ↑ Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple , Bloomsbury Publishing 2018, p. 29
  16. ↑ Agilolf Keßelring, The Gehlen Organization and the New Formation of the Military in the Federal Republic , Ch. Links Verlag 2017, p. 418
  17. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Schieder, Adolf Hitler - Mussolini's political apprentice , Walter de Gruyter 2017, p. 167
  18. ↑ Jochen von Lang, Claus Sibyll, Die Gestapo: Instrument des Terrors , Rasch and Röhring 1990, p. 234
  19. ↑ a b Jan Molitor, The Truth About Skorzeny , The Time of February 23, 1950, available online
  20. ^ Johanna Lutteroth: Mussolini rescue "Operation Oak". "Duce, the guide sent me. You are free!" , Spiegel Online, September 12, 2013.
  21. ↑ Norbert Müller, The Foreign Defense Office in the High Command of the Wehrmacht: a documentation , Federal Archives 2007, p. 590
  22. ^ Peter Longerich : Heinrich Himmler. Biography. Siedler, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88680-859-5 , p. 718
  23. ^ Hans Georg Lehmann, Company Panzerfaust. The SS putsch in Budapest on October 15, 1944 , in: Ungarn-Jahrbuch 5 (1973) p. 219
  24. ^ Hans Georg Lehmann, Company Panzerfaust. The SS putsch in Budapest on October 15, 1944 , in: Ungarn Jahrbuch 5 (1973) p. 220
  25. ^ Rudolf Absolon, The Wehrmacht in the Third Reich: December 19, 1941 to May 9, 1945 , H. Boldt 1995, p. 143
  26. ↑ Magnus Pahl, Fremde Heere Ost: Hitler's military enemy intelligence , Ch. Links Verlag 2013, p. 109
  27. ^ Hermann Zolling, Heinz Höhne : Pullach intern. General Gehlen and the history of the Federal Intelligence Service. Hoffmann and Campe , Hamburg 1971, ISBN 3-455-08760-4 , p. 89
  28. ↑ Perry Biddiscombe: The SS Hunter Battalions. The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement 1944-45. Tempus, Stroud 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3938-3 , pp. 65f.
  29. ↑ Magnus Pahl, Fremde Heere Ost: Hitler's military enemy intelligence , Ch. Links Verlag 2013, p. 152
  30. ^ Sven Keller, Volksgemeinschaft am Ende: Society and Violence 1944/45 , Walter de Gruyter 2013, p. 90
  31. ↑ Magnus Pahl, Fremde Heere Ost: Hitler's military enemy intelligence , Ch. Links Verlag 2013, p. 247f
  32. ^ A b Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 23ff
  33. ↑ Article on wcstumpmilitaria.com
  34. ↑ How did Hitler's scar-faced henchman become an Irish farmer? on the BBC website
  35. ↑ Robert Sigel: In the interests of justice. The Dachau war crimes trials 1945–48. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 978-3-593-34641-0 , p. 124 ff.
  36. ↑ Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists , Routledge 2000, p. 33
  37. ↑ a b c d Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists , Routledge 2000, pp. 43f
  38. ↑ a b c d e f Thomas Riegler, “The most dangerous man in Europe”? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, pp. 25f
  39. ↑ a b c Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services , Dissertation 2013, p. 404
  40. ↑ Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple , Bloomsbury Publishing 2018, p. 263.
  41. ↑ Guido Knopp: The SS - A Warning of History. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich 2003, p. 378.
  42. ↑ a b c Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists , Routledge 2000, pp. 44f
  43. ^ BND files: World war veterans built a secret army. Spiegel Online , May 11, 2014.
  44. ↑ Jürgen Roth, The deep state: The infiltration of democracy by secret services, political accomplices and the right-wing mob , Heyne Verlag 2016, p. 42
  45. ↑ Stefan Karner: In the GUPVI archipelago. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1995, p. 34ff.
  46. ↑ a b c d Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services, Dissertation 2013, pp. 405ff
  47. ↑ Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services, Dissertation 2013, pp. 409f
  48. ^ Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil's Disciple , Bloomsbury Publishing 2018, p. 269.
  49. ^ Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 28
  50. ^ Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 26
  51. ↑ a b Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services , Dissertation 2013, p. 408
  52. ↑ Birgit Aschmann, Treue Freunde-- "?: West Germany and Spain, 1945 to 1963 , Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999, p. 155
  53. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , CA Starke 1979, p. 217
  54. ^ A b c Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, pp. 33ff
  55. ↑ Holger Weber, MallorcaZeitung, January 17, 2008: Spain: A paradise for Hitler's henchmen
  56. ^ Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 29
  57. ^ Terence O'Reilly: Hitler's Irishmen. Mercier Press, 2008, at pages 283, 288, 289 and 300, ISBN 978-1-85635-589-6 .
  58. ↑ Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists , 2000, p. 184
  59. ↑ Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services , Dissertation 2013, p. 37
  60. ↑ Peter Hammerschmidt, The Post-War Career of the “Butcher of Lyon” Klaus Barbie and the Western Intelligence Services , Dissertation 2013, p. 422
  61. ^ Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 35
  62. ^ Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 46f
  63. ^ Thomas Riegler, "The most dangerous man in Europe"? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 43
  64. ↑ Wolfgang Benz, Brigitte Mihok, Handbook of Antisemitism, Organizations, Institutions, Movements , Walter de Gruyter, 2012, p. 110f
  65. ↑ Hedwig Abraham (Red.): Skorzeny Otto. In: viennatouristguide.at , accessed on June 13, 2016.
  66. ↑ Lorenz Hemicker: Hitler's “ Most Dangerous Man” From SS war hero to Mossad killer? Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 29, 2016, accessed on March 29, 2016 .
  67. ^ Marianne Enigl: Contemporary history: The Austrian SS officer Skorzeny and the Mossad. In: profile . April 5, 2016, accessed April 11, 2016 .
  68. ↑ a b c d Thomas Riegler, “The most dangerous man in Europe”? A critical inventory of Otto Skorzeny , In: Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (JIPSS) Vol 11, No. 1/2017, p. 15ff
  69. ^ Donal O'Sullivan, Dealing with the Devil: Anglo-Soviet Intelligence Cooperation in the Second World War , Peter Lang 2010, pp. 203f
  70. ↑ Expert: Secret services had more than 3000 people killed , Stuttgarter Zeitung of January 19, 2018
  71. ↑ a b Indexing by BPS decision No. 2281, indexing announced in Federal Gazette No. 8 of January 14, 1971, indexed due to the same content in accordance with Section 18a (1) GjS, indexing published in Federal Gazette No. 188 of October 8, 1974
  72. ↑ Content text online.
personal data
SURNAME Skorzeny, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian officer of the Waffen-SS, carried out command missions in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 5th July 1975
Place of death Madrid