1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,480 Speaker 1: Fellow conspiracy realist. Have you ever been on the losing 2 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:09,720 Speaker 1: side of a war? Yeah, this one's for the war criminals. 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: Have you ever needed a GTFO really quickly? 4 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 2: Yeah? Have you? 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: Please write to us. But by the way, this is 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: seriously we hope that's never happened to you. We hope 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: that you are not a war criminal. This episode, I 8 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: think stands out to both of us because it combines history, 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: it combines conspiracy, It combines crime not just on a 10 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: local but on an international scale. And in short, Matt, 11 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: we're talking about something called Odessa. 12 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going to get into it through the rat lines. 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 2: We're gonna find our way through paper clip. It's kind 14 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 2: of like paper clip. You'll remember that one. Do search 15 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 2: for that. If you don't remember it, let's just dive 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 2: in and see where we get to. 17 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 3: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 18 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,679 Speaker 3: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 3: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 1: A production of. 21 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 3: iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. 22 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 2: Welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, my 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 2: name is Nolan. 24 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: They call me Ben. We are joined today with our 25 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:37,479 Speaker 1: super producer role brillianty. Most importantly, you are you, You 26 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: are here, and that makes this stuff they don't want 27 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: you to know. Quick question at the top of the show. 28 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: Have you all ever had to make an escape? It 29 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: could be an escape from a party don't want to 30 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: be at, or a family function, an escape from a 31 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: social obligation, and escape from a country. 32 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 4: I unsuccessfully participated in an escape room. Did not get 33 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 4: out in the lot time? Oh no, it was quite 34 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 4: a letdown. Did you get tortured? 35 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 5: No? 36 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 4: I blame one particular team member who shall go nameless, 37 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 4: who had the confidence of a general and the intelligence 38 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 4: of something much less than a general. 39 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,080 Speaker 1: And to be clear, I've heard this story and you 40 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,799 Speaker 1: are not talking about yourself. No, okay, it's a different 41 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: what about you met? 42 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:26,839 Speaker 2: I was once at an extended in law's house far 43 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 2: away and one of the persons there was acting as 44 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: a bit of a bully, and then it escalated and 45 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 2: escalated throughout the course of an evening, and you perhaps, 46 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 2: and I packed up the things that I had unpacked 47 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,839 Speaker 2: with my wife and we got the heck out of there. 48 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: Good. Yeah, good forget those people. 49 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,519 Speaker 2: It wasn't that crazy in hindsight, but it was certainly 50 00:02:57,560 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 2: uncomfortable in the moment. 51 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 4: So, yeah, Ben, you're's talking getting kicked out of countries. 52 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 4: Have you ever had to make a mad, crazy getaway. 53 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: Yes, I've had several close calls over my time. Got 54 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: it one in Germany, two in Guatemala, one in Canada. Yeah, 55 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:20,239 Speaker 1: a number once where I get to say, I had 56 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: to get out of a town in Guatemala after dark. 57 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: It was it was in the it was in the jungle. 58 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: It was strange. I was essentially racing to catch the 59 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: last charter bus that would pass through that area of 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: the of the country before dawn, so the next one 61 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: would come at dawn. But I was not in a 62 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: place where you would have want to stay overnight. 63 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 2: Gotcha using those diplomatic privileges wink. 64 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: No, Well sure, sure, anyway, I made it here, right, 65 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: That's all that matters. 66 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 2: There we go. 67 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: Today's episode does have something common thematically with this series 68 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: of escapes. We're talking about whether an escape room, whether 69 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: a weird living situation, whether you are whether you are 70 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: racing the darkness or the dawn. Today we are exploring 71 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:21,039 Speaker 1: a strange secret story. It's one that begins, we say, 72 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: right around the close of World War two. But that's 73 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: not entirely accurate. This story begins before the end of 74 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: the actual war. It just the rubber hits the road 75 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: at the end. Wait war, what war are we talking about? 76 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: Here are the facts. 77 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 2: That's why it's the Great War, the one that is 78 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 2: taught to children across the world. No matter where you 79 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 2: grow up, you will learn about this because it was 80 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 2: such an important few I mean really didn't even last 81 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 2: that long, but it was one of the most important 82 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 2: things that ever occurred in the history of humanity. 83 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: It was the whole world and war with itself. 84 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, for each other the second time, it's right, yeah, 85 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 2: And it took place from nineteen thirty nine to nineteen 86 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 2: forty five. World War two, of course, is what we're 87 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 2: speaking of. If you didn't get it through those means. 88 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 2: But here's the thing. I mean, that timeline isn't perfect, right, 89 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 2: because there are machinations that occur prior to that. There 90 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 2: are there's a lot of cleaning up essentially that occurs afterwards. 91 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot of setting up to socioeconomic positions 92 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:31,799 Speaker 1: that are changed or in an unsustainable way. In the thirties, also, 93 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: there are a lot of banks evolved I'm going to 94 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: say it. I know it's a different episode, but it 95 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: would be naive to pretend that was not the case. 96 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 2: Certainly, and at least one major religious organization. 97 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: Yes, at least one. We know today that the opponents 98 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: in the war were collectively primarily referred to as the 99 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: Axis Powers and the Allied Powers. This is still the 100 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: deadliest conflict in recorded history, Matt. I like what you 101 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: pointed out about how that timeline actually seems thirty nine 102 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: to forty five, especially when the news just broke this 103 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: year this month. Actually that we're recording, they are US 104 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: soldiers in Afghanistan who were born after the current US 105 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: conflict in that part of the world began. There are 106 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 1: people who have grown up only knowing that war. 107 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, or at least as the major defining war in 108 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 2: their lifetime or in their world. Right. Yeah, that is 109 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 2: that's very odd. 110 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: It's still not the deadliest war and recorded history. That 111 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: dubious honor goes to World War Two. As you said, Matt, 112 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: most children learn about this war at some point in school. 113 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 1: Exactly what we learn depends on where we are raised. 114 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: We did an earlier episode on an episode or a 115 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: video I cannot remember on the insidious ways that textbooks 116 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: guide the reasoning of children, like if you read if 117 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: you read a textbook about World War two that's published 118 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: by a textbook company in Japan, it's going to be 119 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,159 Speaker 1: very different from a book about World War two for 120 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: children that's published in Russia, or in China, or of 121 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: course in the US. But regardless of their disagreements, all 122 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: these textbooks agree on one central point, including the German textbooks, 123 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: mind you, and that is this The Nazi Party of 124 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: Germany were the bad guys. They were the ones every 125 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: textbook will tell you seeking global dominance, responsible for genocide, 126 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: human experimentation, all these other atrocities, a seemingly unending list 127 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: of war crimes. Nazi officials foresaw the close of the 128 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: war and the fall of the Axis powers before it 129 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: actually happened. They could see the writing on the wall, 130 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. 131 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 4: Yeah, they knew that they got caught, they would have 132 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 4: to answer for these crimes and be tried. 133 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 2: You know, as you kind of listed off a few 134 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 2: of those things there have been These aren't things that 135 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 2: are you're going to get a lenient sentence for. They 136 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 2: were aware that the whole world essentially would be holding 137 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 2: them accountable for these things, and they would be either 138 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 2: in jail or put in front of a firing squad 139 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 2: or hanged if the end would come either very swiftly 140 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 2: or it would be an elongated process for perhaps decades. 141 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, the human species is not perfect. But what, thankfully, 142 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: one thing billions of people can agree on is that 143 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,559 Speaker 1: if you try to kill billions of other people, something 144 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: bad should happen to you. Yes, you know, so go us, 145 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: go team. 146 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 4: So understandably, these folks looked to plan their escape. 147 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, anyway they possibly could get out of the countries 148 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 2: where they were, because we're not just talking about Nazis 149 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 2: in Germany. There were people in countries, you know, across 150 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 2: that area in Europe, and again if you looked at Japan, 151 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 2: people were trying to escape justice. 152 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and Italian fascists, members of that aspect of 153 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: the Axis powers. 154 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 2: Well, even on some of the Allied powers. There were 155 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 2: numerous Soviet higher echelon soldiers and military personnel that were 156 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 2: trying to get out because they feared what would occur 157 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 2: after the war. Yeah. 158 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, can you imagine after the close of the war, 159 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: Nazi officials who were captured were tried in court during 160 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: a series of military tribunals known as the Nuremberg Trials. 161 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: The Nuremberg Trials are incredibly important for human history. They're 162 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: often depicted in works of fiction and films and so on, 163 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: and they set some crucial precedents. The first tribunal began 164 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: on November twentieth, nineteen forty five, and it was aiming 165 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: to try twenty four prominent members of Germany's Nazi parties. 166 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: These people were tried in absentia because they had not 167 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: been apprehended. 168 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 4: There is that, Like, what an awkward proceeding that must 169 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:07,959 Speaker 4: have been. 170 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: It's weird. People are really people are into it. I 171 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: think they had to set the precedent. And then also 172 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,199 Speaker 1: if they find the person guilty in absentia, the law 173 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: still apply. So anytime that person is found, who knows, 174 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:27,520 Speaker 1: maybe the sentence can be carried out immediately. Probably not 175 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: something that medieval, but similar who. 176 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 4: Do they yell at and shame in the room though? 177 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,080 Speaker 4: Is they're like a proxy person that stands in for 178 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:35,679 Speaker 4: the absent party. 179 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: I don't know, because even when that one pope dragged 180 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: the carcass of his predecessor out and had a trial 181 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: for the dead guy. They at least needed that prop 182 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:47,520 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. 183 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, in any court, at least within the US, 184 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 2: if you don't have somebody to stand trial, then there 185 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 2: is no trial. So but in this it really is. 186 00:10:55,840 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 2: It was just a matter of needing to state, essentially, 187 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 2: this person is guilty of these things. It is known 188 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 2: now throughout the world that this guy did this. 189 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: And these were the big fish of the party, not 190 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: all of them, but many of them were the drivers, 191 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: the builders, the architects of the horrible socioeconomic engine that 192 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:25,079 Speaker 1: Germany had created, you know, the heads of economic policy, 193 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: military of course, the people who were in charge of 194 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: the concentration camps. The surviving members of the party worked 195 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,800 Speaker 1: ardently to avoid justice. And it's interesting that today we're 196 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,880 Speaker 1: talking about escape because the stakes were so high that 197 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: some people who could not well, I guess the best 198 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: way to say it is, some people found only one 199 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: route for physical escape, and they took it without hesitation. 200 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:58,679 Speaker 2: And of course you're talking about both Joseph Gerbels as 201 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 2: well as Adolf Hitler. And if you want to learn 202 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 2: more about these guys, they chose to take their own lives. 203 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 2: We did an episode called What happened to Hitler a 204 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 2: little while ago, and gosh, I think it's twenty seventeen maybe, 205 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 2: but you can learn about all of the theories surrounding 206 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 2: Hitler's death. Whether he actually. 207 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: Died then he's probably dead now either way. 208 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:24,439 Speaker 2: Yes, but listen to that episode if you want to 209 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 2: learn more about that. 210 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: Figure out what people found, what people learned about the skull. 211 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,760 Speaker 4: And then you had folks like Heinrich Mueller who just 212 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 4: kind of vanished like Kaiser Susday style. 213 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: So what happened? Where did they go? We'll tell you 214 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: after a word from our sponsors. Here's where it gets crazy. 215 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: So this was a rumor, This was a whisper for 216 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: a long time. What happened to these Nazi says? You said, 217 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: nol What happened to these ones who disappeared? Iserse style. 218 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: Over the decades since World War Two, declassified files have 219 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: proven the Nazis had an ongoing conspiracy, or it's better 220 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:14,840 Speaker 1: to say, a nest of conspiracies, this cavalcade of secret 221 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: plans created to evade the consequences of their actions. This 222 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: is not well technically speaking, this is not a conspiracy 223 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: theory because it's not a theory. It really actually happened. 224 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: It is a genuine conspiracy. 225 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 2: And it's really multi like you said, multiple conspiracies, multiple groups, 226 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 2: and multiple plans, and a lot of them were successful. 227 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's overlap and some worked better than others. Right, 228 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: And to a degree, this conspiracy, this let's call it 229 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:48,199 Speaker 1: an uber conspiracy since we're using German. Right, This uber 230 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: conspiracy or medic conspiracy remains unsolved. It all goes back 231 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: to something called ratlines. What is a rat line, you 232 00:13:57,400 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: may ask. 233 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 4: Well, today the very escape networks, tunnels infrastructure used for 234 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 4: this purpose by the Nazis and fascists at the close 235 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 4: of the war are all collectively referred to as ratlines, 236 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 4: and they were essentially plans for individuals and groups to 237 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 4: vanish themselves, disappear themselves, leaving Germany for safe havens like 238 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 4: South America and also the. 239 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: US shout out to Operation paper Clip. 240 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 2: Yeah. But yes, they also went other places, right, Yeah, 241 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 2: like Switzerland. Yeah. And there are even a couple of 242 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 2: rumors of areas in the Middle East where people were 243 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 2: secreted away to write Syria. Yeah. But just to jump 244 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,520 Speaker 2: back to paper Clip again, we've done an episode on this. 245 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 2: This was the specifically the United States version of a 246 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 2: rat line to get Nazi scientists generally scientists, but there 247 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 2: are a few other characters in there to the United 248 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 2: States for our own gain, because the mines behind some 249 00:14:56,040 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 2: of the terrible things that occurred were or I don't 250 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 2: know how else better to put this there, they were 251 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 2: some innovative people that were doing things that were complicated, 252 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 2: and the United States saw strategic advantage to using those 253 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 2: minds for their own advantage. 254 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: That is just it's absolutely it's it's absolutely brutal and 255 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: ruthless and machiavelian and true Nazi scientists are the reason 256 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: that human beings ended up on the Moon if you 257 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: think about it, And they're one of the reasons, right 258 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: because Operation paper Clip focused on taking thousands of German 259 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: scientists and engineers, particularly Werner von Braun. 260 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's the big name, right, who. 261 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 1: Had done so much work on V two rockets. If 262 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: you think about it, that that expertise that the US 263 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: took does lead maybe not directly, but does lead to 264 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: the rocket technology that the US later used is to 265 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: send people into space. 266 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 2: In the least, it helped tremendously. 267 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: At the very least, and I know it can be 268 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: seen as somewhat of a hot take to again say 269 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: the Nazis helped the US land people on the moon. 270 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,440 Speaker 1: It sounds weird when you, you know, boil it down to 271 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: one sentence maybe former Nazis. Yeah, you know what, that's 272 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: way more diplomatic former Nazis. 273 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 2: But again, I feel weird even saying that. It feels 274 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 2: like I'm downplaying it. 275 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: Well, we know that some members, especially in the scientific community, 276 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: some members of the Nazi Party were maybe members in 277 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: name because of internal political pressure, and they had to 278 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 1: do it to they say they had to do it 279 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: to survive. We also will never know the true story. 280 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 6: Ben. 281 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 4: You read a really great quote on a recent episode 282 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 4: of Ridiculous History where you said, nobody really cares about 283 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 4: anyone's motivation for being a Nazi. Whether you did it 284 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 4: on purpose or you know, were kind of strong armed 285 00:16:58,120 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 4: into it, You're still called a Nazi at the end 286 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 4: of the day. There's no like form or Nazi are 287 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 4: like Nazi and name only really right. 288 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 2: Well, the things you did, the physical acts, the ideas 289 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 2: that you created that you know, brought into this world 290 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 2: were for a means that was nefarious and did terrible 291 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 2: things to other people. Do you where there was a 292 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,480 Speaker 2: rocket that was being shot to blow up soldiers from 293 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:25,159 Speaker 2: you know, some other land. 294 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 1: Whether it's a punch card machine. 295 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:33,639 Speaker 2: Yeah, like IBM, yeah, wow, Fanta, No, I'm just kidding this. 296 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 1: I mean, this is an excellent point. Right. So the 297 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 1: reason Operation paper Clip happens without going into the full 298 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: episode we have on it that you can hear whenever 299 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: you wish available wherever you get your favorite shows. The 300 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: primary reason Operation paper Clip exists is because the US 301 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: boffins and eggheads and military leaders do a cost benefit analysis. 302 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: And before the end of World War Two, the beginnings 303 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: of the Cold War are already it's nascent, it's kicking 304 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: into gear, and the Soviet side and the US and 305 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: the West are already planning on how to become the 306 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: global hedgemon. Right, So Operation paper Clip was this cost 307 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,360 Speaker 1: benefit analysis where US scientists and what did I say, 308 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: boffins and eggheads and military leaders, they know that these 309 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:38,680 Speaker 1: these ideological orphans, right, these brilliant evil people because again 310 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: like Noel said, they are Nazis, knew that they would 311 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: be hunted around the world. But more importantly, the US 312 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: knew that if they did not spirit these folks away, 313 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: the Soviet machine would get them, and the Soviet government 314 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: did apprehend German scientists. I think the US only got 315 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:03,440 Speaker 1: around sixteen hundred or so. 316 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 2: But yeah, just sixteen hundred, yeah. 317 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:11,440 Speaker 1: Right, just sixteen hundred of those top men. To quote 318 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: Indiana Jones, right, doesn't he say that the ender Raiders 319 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 1: of the Lost art things. Yeah, so we're going I'm 320 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: going a little in the weeds on Operation paper Clip. 321 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: It's just very important for everyone living in the US 322 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:30,119 Speaker 1: to know that when you hear about ratlines, when you 323 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: hear about countries like Argentina help Brazil, Yeah, yeah, yeah, 324 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: when you hear about these countries helping war criminals disappear, 325 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,359 Speaker 1: we have to realize this is very much a glass house. 326 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,880 Speaker 1: Our country did the same thing, you know what I mean, 327 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: and did it with even less of a clandestine attitude, 328 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: more of an official stance. But okay, so what is 329 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: a rat line. Let's say, now, we're not going to 330 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: pick on super producer Lull because it's his first day 331 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: with this. So let's just pick someone no one can 332 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:10,360 Speaker 1: hate and say they're a Nazi. Okay, So what if 333 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: like Tom Hanks is you know, he got caught up 334 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:17,000 Speaker 1: he's a Nazi and he needs to escape Germany. It's 335 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:19,880 Speaker 1: the fall of World War two. What kind of ratline 336 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,880 Speaker 1: would he use? What would he? How would he? How 337 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: does it work? 338 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 2: Well? So, there are several routes that could be taken, 339 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 2: like as far as locations that people are secreted through, 340 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 2: but we kind of have to talk about the functionality 341 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,280 Speaker 2: of it. Right. The first thing you need to do 342 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 2: to get past a border, right, if you're going to 343 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 2: do that, is to have a false identity. And generally 344 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 2: that's how these things began, where you would have someone 345 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 2: somewhere that could get you false papers and prove that 346 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,199 Speaker 2: you're someone else as you're leaving, and as you are 347 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 2: attempting to leave somewhere like Germany or Austria or wherever 348 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 2: you're heading out of, you would generally end up heading 349 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 2: from Germany to Spain and then eventually over to Argentina. 350 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 2: That's one way, or one of the major ways. The 351 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 2: other major way is from Germany to Italy Genoa in particular, 352 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 2: and also that's going through Rome. And by the way, 353 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,120 Speaker 2: when you're going through Rome, you know who's helping out, 354 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 2: can you guess? 355 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 5: No? 356 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 2: The Old Vatican, because again that is an arm that 357 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 2: reaches very far and it has way too many fingers. 358 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 2: You'd think it only had five fingers, but that arm 359 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 2: just has like seventy five fingers. 360 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: You know, I'm not gonna I am not a theologian. 361 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:47,159 Speaker 1: I would say it does seem somewhat off brand, somewhat 362 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:52,680 Speaker 1: un christ like to assist mass murders and to assist 363 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: war criminals. 364 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:56,960 Speaker 2: But yeah, there's a deeper connection there with the Vatican 365 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 2: and a lot of the happenings of World War Two 366 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 2: that we were probably not going to fully get into today, 367 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 2: but you can look that up if you wish. But anyway, 368 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 2: they would also end up somewhere in South America. That 369 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:10,960 Speaker 2: that line that goes through Italy. 370 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: And there's the four rat lines that depended on the 371 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: help of the Vatican of the Catholic Church. South America 372 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: makes sense, right because there is so much Catholic presence there. 373 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 2: As well as the lack of extradition treaties in a 374 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:30,160 Speaker 2: lot of those places. 375 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: And I do want to say, I do want to say, 376 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,920 Speaker 1: when we're saying the Vatican or we're saying the Catholic Church, 377 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: we're not talking about people who actually just practice Catholicism. No, no, no, 378 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,200 Speaker 1: we're talking more about the political machine, yes, rather than 379 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: the spiritual idea. We do have etymology of ratline. It's 380 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,440 Speaker 1: a nautical term which I did not know because it's 381 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,760 Speaker 1: ratline sounds like something snarky that maybe someone in Western 382 00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: intelligence made up. 383 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 2: May I guess what it is? Yes, before it and 384 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 2: then tell me if I'm WRONGY go for it. I 385 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,680 Speaker 2: always in my mind it's the small pathways that you'd 386 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 2: have to get down on all fours essentially within a 387 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 2: ship or something to access some of the other parts 388 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 2: of the ship that, like the that are inaccessible. 389 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:22,959 Speaker 1: I I like, okay, I like where your heads at this. 390 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: The original rat line was a sort of last resort passage. 391 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,680 Speaker 1: It was a It was a rope, these small lengths 392 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: of cord that ran between the big ropes, the proper 393 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: ropes that fixed the top of a mast to the 394 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: sides of a vessel. So rat lines you could use 395 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:49,120 Speaker 1: them because they were horizontal as these kind of makeshift ladders. 396 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: So if you absolutely had to get someone up the mast, 397 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 1: they would crawl up this rat line. And there's a 398 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: terrible image here, so they crawl up right, these these 399 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: makeshift little rope ladders. Scampering up the rat line was 400 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: something that desperate sailors would do when the ship was sinking, 401 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,640 Speaker 1: and so the last thing to go under the surface 402 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: of the water is the mast, and so as the 403 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,640 Speaker 1: water's rising, they're running up the rat line. 404 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 2: Okay, checks out, makes sense. 405 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 1: And that's the people who missed out on the lifeboats. 406 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:36,359 Speaker 1: So that's that's interesting though, because in that etymology, there 407 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: may be a deeper a deeper puzzle, right, certainly, and 408 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: we'll get to that just we'll get to that just 409 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: a second. But these roots that you're describing, the they 410 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 1: start independently, right. The thing is, there's not a great conspiracy. 411 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, you'll have you'll have basically a leader in one 412 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 2: area that that generally has access to getting those kinds 413 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 2: of identity papers that we were kind of briefly mentioning 414 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,120 Speaker 2: up up at the top there. If you can find 415 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:11,560 Speaker 2: one person like that who has a few other associates 416 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,600 Speaker 2: and then you can link up with that group, that 417 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 2: then becomes essentially a cell right of network, because then 418 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,600 Speaker 2: those are popping up everywhere. But it doesn't necessarily mean 419 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 2: that that network is fully connected or communicating with each other. 420 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 2: You just have to find your node. 421 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,479 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, like a lot of a lot of dirty 422 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: things that state actors and governments do tend to be 423 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: less an official decision of the government as a whole 424 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: and more like a faction of people or community, a 425 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 1: wheel within the wheel. Right. So, according to historian Michael Fayer, 426 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,080 Speaker 1: there were two alternate routes the ones you described at, 427 00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: and they developed independently, but they eventually merged, likely as 428 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: the actors in these roots learned about one another and 429 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 1: they were able to help and assist each other. And 430 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: for years after the war, the concept of these escape routes, 431 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: these ratlines were, as we said earlier, rumors, whispers, They 432 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: were not officially confirmed. And you can see why because 433 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: at the close of World War Two, when US soldiers 434 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: have died, it would be terrible and very it would 435 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: be political suicide for members of the US government to say, Okay, 436 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: we won the war. We're doing our best to bring 437 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: justice to people, except for the scientists. You guys, there's 438 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: one dude who's just great at rockets, and we have 439 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: to have them. We're sorry that your children have died, 440 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,159 Speaker 1: but we really want to get to the moon. You 441 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: can't say that stuff. You know what I mean said, well, yeah, 442 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: but I'm not not the president after World War Two. 443 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:57,760 Speaker 2: It's not a great when you said it. It's not 444 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:03,120 Speaker 2: very authoritative, guys, hear us out listen here, Wow, let's 445 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:03,640 Speaker 2: take a beat. 446 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: That's I mean, it's true though, if you think about 447 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: like who could who on earth would go public with that? 448 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: So of course this was considered a wild tinfoil hat conspiracy, 449 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And people who if someone 450 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,800 Speaker 1: told you in the nineteen sixties, hey, I think the 451 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:28,840 Speaker 1: US government is abducting scientists, right, or I think that 452 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: the Pope is abducting Nazis and helping them live a 453 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: new life in Argentina. Then if someone told you that, 454 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,080 Speaker 1: you probably think, wow, this guy is on LSD. And 455 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:43,919 Speaker 1: I've never never see some one tripping like that's the. 456 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:47,200 Speaker 4: Plot of a movie that exists, like a scientists are disappearing. 457 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 4: They're all being spirited away to a secret underground lab 458 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 4: to do evil research under duress. 459 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds like Watchmen. It sounds like a whole 460 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,440 Speaker 2: bunch of different things. 461 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,959 Speaker 1: Yeah, the odessify there you go, similar to right, because 462 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 1: even today, like even today, now that this stuff is confirmed, 463 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: there are historians and researchers, not necessarily fringe historians nor 464 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: fringe researchers who believe that there's still something nefarious, that 465 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: there is still more we need to learn about this. 466 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: And one of the largest controversies in the story of 467 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: Nazi ratlines is something called Odessa. What is that you ask, 468 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: We'll tell you after a word from our sponsor. 469 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 4: So according to author Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Simon Wisenthal, 470 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 4: Odessa or the Organization de Ermaligan SS ange Hourigan, was 471 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,920 Speaker 4: founded in nineteen forty six, one year after the close 472 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 4: of the war. Odessa Odessa is the US code name 473 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 4: for the operation, and according to Guy Walter, as a historian, 474 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 4: US intelligence first became aware of this term when members 475 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 4: of the SS and thekzy Bensheim auerbach In tournament camp 476 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 4: used it in conversation while attempting to gain special favors 477 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 4: or privileges from the Red Cross. 478 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: So they would be The way this story goes is 479 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: that these SS members would be trying to maybe get 480 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: in communication with someone outside of where they were being held, 481 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 1: you know, get maybe some cash, may maybe even try 482 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: to see if they could get in touch with someone 483 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 1: who could get them a passport, and from what we 484 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: could tell, the conversation something like could you send this 485 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 1: letter to my friend blah blah blah, and then say no, sorry, 486 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,960 Speaker 1: I can't can't send letters and they go, oh, but 487 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: it's care of vote DESA exactly. So the first mention 488 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: of it from the Allied side shows up in this 489 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: memo from American intelligence and that's on July third, nineteen 490 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 1: forty six. So what was ODESSA like? What we know 491 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: that these smaller roots or these these more discreete organizations 492 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: and ratlines, we already know that they exist. What's the 493 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: difference with Simon Weisenthal's Odessa? 494 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:36,440 Speaker 2: So this author Weisenthal, he believed that Odessa was this 495 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 2: big organization. I would kind of liken it to something 496 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 2: like al Qaeda similar to that, like it's one big 497 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 2: thing that was functioning together, right, and it was mostly 498 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 2: made up of veterans of the SS. And not only 499 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 2: were these did this group Odessa, not only did they 500 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 2: get them out of Germany initially with passports like we 501 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 2: were talking about, but they would also assist these people 502 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 2: in setting up new lives in new countries such as 503 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 2: Argentina or Brazil or wherever they were going to end 504 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,720 Speaker 2: up in South America, a couple of times in the 505 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 2: Middle East in places like Syria. But there is one 506 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:20,160 Speaker 2: major issue with this. Not everybody believes the same thing 507 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 2: that Wisenthal. 508 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: Believes, right, That's the thing. Multiple other historians say Odessa 509 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: as as he has described, never actually existed. Again, That's 510 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: that's strange. No one is denying that the rat lines 511 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: really did exist. And yes, everyone knows that some Nazi 512 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,040 Speaker 1: officials did successfully use these roots to escape, as well 513 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,880 Speaker 1: as some members of fascist parties and so on. But 514 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:52,000 Speaker 1: there's a complication to this narrative. Years before Simon Weisenthal 515 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 1: of Issathal went public with his claims about Odessa, the 516 00:31:55,760 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: government of Austria had already been investigating the idea. It's 517 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,640 Speaker 1: sort of it's it's like, if you're familiar with James Bond, 518 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: the World's Worst Superspy, it's sort of like the concept 519 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: of specter. Remember this uh specter in the Bond films, 520 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: is this global evil organization. 521 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 4: Every spy franchise as one, yeah and gets smart. I 522 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,800 Speaker 4: think it was chaos And all of them are acronyms 523 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:24,600 Speaker 4: that nobody remembers that. 524 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 2: They stand for. But they're generally like this quasi governmental 525 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:33,040 Speaker 2: private organization, right that the aunctions outside of any government or. 526 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, and just has like a way cooler name than 527 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: an actual government entity would ever have. It's like Scorpio, Chaos. 528 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 2: Spect the Octo Quad, the Octo Quad. 529 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: I would, yeah, I would join the Octo Quad. 530 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 2: But why is it octo because the symbol is like 531 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,000 Speaker 2: a weird eight and four together. 532 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: Take a roun. No, it's it's four octas. 533 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 2: It's a quad of octas. Okay, okay, so it's it's 534 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 2: twenty four. 535 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: Excuse me, send us your design for octo quad and 536 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: teach us how to do math. So that's but it's true. 537 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: Like so the argument then is that Odessa is a 538 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,160 Speaker 1: real life version of this evil super spy Bond esque thing. 539 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: And also Simon Weisenthal. In the fall of World War Two, 540 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: he did not get along with West German military intelligence. 541 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: They butted heads all the time. That doesn't mean that 542 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: his claims are untrue, and it doesn't, you know. All 543 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 1: it means is that there's a wrinkle here, and it 544 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: could people claiming that Odessa is not real could be 545 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: seeking to discredit the Weisenthal Weisenthal organization. Or it could 546 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: also mean maybe. 547 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 2: In his. 548 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: In his search to find these aped war criminals, that 549 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: Bisenthal started drawing connections in his own head where none existed, 550 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:07,680 Speaker 1: you know what I. 551 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,759 Speaker 4: Mean absolutely, I mean we all know that that's some 552 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 4: of what gives conspiracy theory circles a bad rap. Sometimes 553 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:18,319 Speaker 4: it's easy to do foregone conclusions or sort of work 554 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,000 Speaker 4: backwards and like sort of have a preconceived notion of 555 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:23,319 Speaker 4: what something is when it maybe isn't actually that at all. 556 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,879 Speaker 1: Yeah, and again, the thing is, so he was definitely 557 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: right about the smuggling operations, the rat lines. Yeah, and 558 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:35,480 Speaker 1: we found proven ones, right. 559 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, we did. We found a whole bunch of proved ones. 560 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:39,359 Speaker 2: And I just want to add on to what you're 561 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,800 Speaker 2: saying there, Guys, it feels like, and this is complete 562 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 2: speculation on my part, that if Odessa really was a 563 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 2: thing and it was kept you know, secret enough to 564 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,960 Speaker 2: where we are still in twenty nineteen, you know, postulating 565 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 2: whether or not it could be real, it feels like 566 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:03,520 Speaker 2: it could have had ad integration somehow with one or 567 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:07,239 Speaker 2: more intelligence communities or agencies throughout the world. And what 568 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 2: intrigues me is that the CIA was involved in several 569 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 2: of these, you know, secreting away of Nazis along with 570 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 2: paper clip, you know what was occurring with paper clip, 571 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:24,160 Speaker 2: but in other instances as well, to get essentially s 572 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:28,439 Speaker 2: S officials and high level targets to then flip them 573 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:34,200 Speaker 2: and become informants, not only to find other SS you know, escapees, 574 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 2: but also to inform them on strategy and other things. 575 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 2: Very tricky. So it's we're gonna, We're gonna continue down 576 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:47,279 Speaker 2: here because we know several of these names, people that 577 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:49,239 Speaker 2: escaped and people who were involved in things like this. 578 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 2: But it just does make me feel like if Odessa 579 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 2: was real, perhaps there was a higher involvement with some 580 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 2: other powerful intelligence agency. 581 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:07,840 Speaker 1: Right, some sort of institution capable of not only moving 582 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,480 Speaker 1: people across the world, but also cleaning up after themselves 583 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:16,600 Speaker 1: such that they could they could sweep up the trace. Right. 584 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: We also, okay, we have to say it. We already 585 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,760 Speaker 1: mentioned this, but we have to say it. The Vatican 586 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:31,520 Speaker 1: did it. That's the institution that has the power and 587 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,839 Speaker 1: the reach to move people across I'm not being an 588 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: anti papist or whatever, and I'm not saying anything bad 589 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: about the spiritual beliefs of anybody who ascribes to Christianity 590 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:50,200 Speaker 1: or Catholicism. But the machine, the machine that runs that 591 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: organization on an earthly level, is more than capable of 592 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: creating these sort of I know it sounds very Dan Brown, right, 593 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:04,160 Speaker 1: but they're more than capable of enacting this sort of 594 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: this sort of process, and in a very real way, 595 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 1: the Catholic Church at this time was, you know, hand 596 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:21,879 Speaker 1: in hand with the ostensible governing powers of some developing countries, right, 597 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:27,160 Speaker 1: and in some cases not all, not all. And again 598 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 1: it's very it's very easy, I think, to connect dots 599 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,080 Speaker 1: where none exists. But it is true that in some 600 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:37,000 Speaker 1: cases the Catholic Church had so much influence over a 601 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,400 Speaker 1: country or parts of a country, that it was effectively 602 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:41,000 Speaker 1: the government. 603 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,759 Speaker 2: Yeah wow, Okay, well, I don't even know to say 604 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 2: following that, I just want to let you soapbox for 605 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:48,960 Speaker 2: a while. 606 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 1: Because I'm sorry, thanks for coming to my ted talk. 607 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,959 Speaker 2: Well, no, because Wend we've found this to be true. 608 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at somebody like, uh, Dragonov, 609 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 2: I don't know how to precisely pronounce the name there, 610 00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 2: but this is a person who would get false identity 611 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,520 Speaker 2: papers like we were kind of mentioning before he would 612 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 2: get them from the let's see this an unidentified person, 613 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:19,719 Speaker 2: an American who was serving at the Eligibility office of 614 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:24,359 Speaker 2: the International Refugee Organization in Rome. Okay, so you've got 615 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 2: a person working with an office in Rome to get 616 00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 2: some papers, right. That only apparently that only happened for 617 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,120 Speaker 2: a short time because things fell through with all of that. 618 00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:40,480 Speaker 2: But then he ended up working with another organization, the 619 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 2: National Catholic Welfare Organization, and as well as the Italian 620 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:49,360 Speaker 2: police in the Italian Foreign Office, and that was again 621 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,800 Speaker 2: to obtain false documentation for Nazis that were attempting to escape. 622 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,919 Speaker 2: He would get false exit and entry visas for at 623 00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:02,719 Speaker 2: least three South American countries, the Argentina that we talked about, Bolivia, 624 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 2: even Chili and again and a lot of times. It's 625 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,359 Speaker 2: not known precisely how these documents are obtained, but it 626 00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:14,719 Speaker 2: is known that there were just bribes that were going 627 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:18,280 Speaker 2: on with maybe an individual diplomat or somebody who could 628 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,279 Speaker 2: have access to those. And it's not necessarily known the 629 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:27,200 Speaker 2: full let's say, compliance of any of these larger organizations 630 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,840 Speaker 2: that I've mentioned up here, but someone at a higher 631 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:34,319 Speaker 2: level or a high enough level to actually create and 632 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,719 Speaker 2: get these documents. Was involved because you say these weren't 633 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:37,800 Speaker 2: counterfeit documents. 634 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,120 Speaker 4: These were official documents. 635 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,400 Speaker 2: Yes, and with names with brand new names. 636 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,239 Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, that's the thing. It's it's like, at what 637 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,319 Speaker 1: point is something of forgery, you know, and at what 638 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,640 Speaker 1: point is it real? So, because we're an audio podcast, Matt, 639 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:53,759 Speaker 1: you just held your hands the kind of the old 640 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:57,240 Speaker 1: six in one hand, hal, yeah, and another it's true. 641 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,839 Speaker 1: And we have to also remember if we're being if 642 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,960 Speaker 1: we're being completely objective, we have to remember in this situation, 643 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:07,680 Speaker 1: with an organization the size of the Vatican or the 644 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:13,239 Speaker 1: Catholic Church, it is laughably unlikely that everyone knew this 645 00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 1: was happening. Again, these are factions, right this Dragonovic in 646 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:21,920 Speaker 1: what Croatia, right in the Nazi puppet state of Croatia 647 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:22,399 Speaker 1: at the time. 648 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:24,680 Speaker 2: It's a Krunslav. Sorry I didn't say that. 649 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:29,360 Speaker 1: Earlier, Oh first name, Yes, yeah, And we also have 650 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 1: to note that the Red Cross was another institution not 651 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:34,879 Speaker 1: near as big nor as powerful as a Catholic Church, 652 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:40,600 Speaker 1: but they also effectively helped war criminals escape. 653 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,239 Speaker 2: In the did I did I mention that Dragonovic was 654 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 2: a Catholic priest, He was yet I don't. I don't 655 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,920 Speaker 2: think Yeah, I am so sorry. I totally bury the 656 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 2: lead there. That was the whole point. It was it 657 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 2: was a priest doing all of that work, obtaining all 658 00:40:56,080 --> 00:41:00,520 Speaker 2: of these papers. Yeah, sorry, Croatian Roman priest. 659 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:07,000 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah he was, Yeah, Kronos Draganovic. He was 660 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: working in Croatia and was assisting Croatian fascists like sympathizers 661 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,600 Speaker 1: to the Nazi Party. Members of the Nazi Party working 662 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,319 Speaker 1: in Croatia, which at that point was a vassal of 663 00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 1: larger Germany. The Red Cross, though, the big question with 664 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:30,560 Speaker 1: them is whether they whether they aided in embedded war 665 00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:35,280 Speaker 1: criminals on purpose or just through the sheer, the sheer 666 00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:41,680 Speaker 1: weight of incompetence, the sheer inertia of ineptitude, because they 667 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:45,919 Speaker 1: were overwhelmed with refugees. How easy is it if you're one, 668 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 1: even as many as fifteen people, How easy is it 669 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: for you to slip through with hundreds of thousands? And 670 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:57,120 Speaker 1: you know, imagine your job is every day, eight hours 671 00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:01,279 Speaker 1: a day, you sit at the at the front of 672 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:05,480 Speaker 1: a never ending line. People hand you papers. It may 673 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,759 Speaker 1: or may not speak a language you understand. You have 674 00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 1: three to five seconds to look at the paper and 675 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:13,359 Speaker 1: stamp it. I'm spitballing here. 676 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,320 Speaker 2: I know, no, this is I totally see this working, 677 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:20,480 Speaker 2: especially if you're talking about between nineteen forty five nineteen 678 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:25,600 Speaker 2: forty eight. Maybe if you show up to a refugee 679 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 2: servicing area like that or processing location and you don't 680 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,960 Speaker 2: have official papers with you because whatever the excuses they 681 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:38,279 Speaker 2: you know where my country's literally at war. I don't 682 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:40,719 Speaker 2: have my papers with me. I'm trying to escape, right, 683 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,280 Speaker 2: How how do you prove the identity of somebody? 684 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:50,239 Speaker 1: So the Red Cross had previously mentioned this that they said, yes, 685 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:56,319 Speaker 1: some Nazi war criminals or Axis criminals had escaped through 686 00:42:56,360 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: the refugee process. But oddly enough, when I went back 687 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,400 Speaker 1: to look at the page on the Red Cross website 688 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:07,839 Speaker 1: where they mentioned it, it's been pulled. Yeah, maybe it's 689 00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:10,359 Speaker 1: just an olderlink. I'm sure. I'm sure we can find 690 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:14,440 Speaker 1: the source out there. But they that's their argument, is 691 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,200 Speaker 1: that the system was overwhelmed. No one was doing anything 692 00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:24,880 Speaker 1: on purpose, but their process was supposed to have the 693 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:29,000 Speaker 1: equivalent of a background check from the Allied military. But 694 00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:33,480 Speaker 1: it was pretty it was pretty cursory, and they often 695 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,160 Speaker 1: in the Red Cross relied on references from the Vatican 696 00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:41,959 Speaker 1: that could easily be duped up or fixed. And these 697 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,279 Speaker 1: travel papers that people would get they were called ten 698 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:51,799 Speaker 1: one hundreds or one zero dot one hundred, and they 699 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,040 Speaker 1: were very easy to get because when you're trying to 700 00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:58,640 Speaker 1: process millions venicson people who have had their lives destroyed, 701 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,120 Speaker 1: you know, you want to make the process as quick 702 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:03,320 Speaker 1: as possible. 703 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, and you have to, I mean for safety, 704 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:09,400 Speaker 2: for health reasons. You can't just leave people in limbo 705 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:09,759 Speaker 2: like that. 706 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:16,680 Speaker 1: So with Dragonovic, he is functioning as an agent in 707 00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: this chaotic time. He had what'd you say he had? 708 00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:26,480 Speaker 1: He had set up travel to three different South American. 709 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. 710 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:32,760 Speaker 1: So we know that he had some kind of pull 711 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:36,280 Speaker 1: what did they call it on the wire suction maybe 712 00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,319 Speaker 1: it was, Yeah, I think it was in the. 713 00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:40,280 Speaker 2: A lot of suction. 714 00:44:40,680 --> 00:44:43,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, they had some kind of you know, juice or 715 00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:50,120 Speaker 1: whatever Dragonovic did. And this rat line was abandoned or 716 00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:52,560 Speaker 1: disbanded would be a better word than what the fifties. 717 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,680 Speaker 4: Yeah, it was disbanded in nineteen fifty one and equated 718 00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,319 Speaker 4: some sources, it was because they were just done with it. 719 00:44:58,400 --> 00:44:59,960 Speaker 4: They'd gotten everyone out that they wanted to get out, 720 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:01,239 Speaker 4: they were able to shut it. 721 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 1: Down, so they succeeded essentially. 722 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:03,399 Speaker 2: Yeah. 723 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, and this leads us to this leads us to 724 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:10,399 Speaker 1: one of the great mysteries of World War Two, one 725 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 1: of the real and genuine conspiracies. What happened to the 726 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:22,000 Speaker 1: ones that got away? You can find a plethora of ideas. 727 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:24,960 Speaker 1: I'm using that word correctly. Yep, you can find a 728 00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:30,400 Speaker 1: plethora of ideas about this, but some are more plausible 729 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:33,840 Speaker 1: than others. In the Dragonovic case, we know that he 730 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:40,120 Speaker 1: assisted Klaus Barbie in escaping. This person has never been caught. 731 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:43,919 Speaker 2: Yeah, Klaus ended up getting to Bolivia, at least that's 732 00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:48,480 Speaker 2: what's believed. It's also believe that the United States ended 733 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:54,160 Speaker 2: up helping him get there along with Dragonovic. Was Barbie 734 00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:57,520 Speaker 2: was actually captured in eighty three and then we found 735 00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:01,520 Speaker 2: out that he died in nineteen ninety one. Uh and 736 00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:03,880 Speaker 2: we found out because he was in prison in France. 737 00:46:05,560 --> 00:46:08,279 Speaker 1: There we go. Yeah, So some of these people just 738 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:09,480 Speaker 1: got away for a time. 739 00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:12,040 Speaker 2: Oh a lot. That's a That is the one of 740 00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:14,400 Speaker 2: the main stories of a lot of these guys. They 741 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:18,360 Speaker 2: end up getting identified much later in life. Several of 742 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 2: them end up in trial for you know, in various 743 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:23,040 Speaker 2: ways they end up in trial because they end up 744 00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:25,480 Speaker 2: in a prison somewhere else, or they get used for 745 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,640 Speaker 2: a time as in Oh, who, which which guy is this? 746 00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:35,879 Speaker 2: Let me jump back over here. I believe it's ALOI Brunner. Yes, 747 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,200 Speaker 2: I think Eloy Brunner. He is a guy who ended 748 00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:45,240 Speaker 2: up in Syria and he was actually assisting the prior 749 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:49,120 Speaker 2: to Bashar al Assade, Bashar's father. He was assisting that 750 00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:54,160 Speaker 2: regime in military tactics, allegedly in developing something called the 751 00:46:54,239 --> 00:46:57,800 Speaker 2: German chair, which was a torture device that would break 752 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:00,360 Speaker 2: someone's back when they were when it was a applied 753 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:05,960 Speaker 2: to them. He was like essentially century modern furniture. No, 754 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,600 Speaker 2: you know, I mean real torture. This guy was developing 755 00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:13,120 Speaker 2: real torture while in Syria, and he was living a 756 00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:16,200 Speaker 2: fairly comfortable life early on when he got there. I 757 00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:18,480 Speaker 2: think it's sometime in the fifties when he ended up 758 00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:24,480 Speaker 2: in Syria, and he he's described as a card in 759 00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,719 Speaker 2: the hand of a regime. Right, So, like we were 760 00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:30,360 Speaker 2: talking about with the United States seeing strategic power and 761 00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:34,680 Speaker 2: having these scientists, this guy was seen as a military 762 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:38,399 Speaker 2: strategist or a at least someone who could help them 763 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:41,720 Speaker 2: with their means to or in their ways to achieve 764 00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:43,000 Speaker 2: greater power. 765 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:49,000 Speaker 1: Right under the name George Fisher. Yes, he helped. He 766 00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:54,319 Speaker 1: helped organize the this is let's see, it's important, but 767 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:59,000 Speaker 1: it's weird to explain. He helped organize the compartmentalization of 768 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:02,759 Speaker 1: the intelligences, and I think he trained some of the 769 00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:06,560 Speaker 1: regime's top intelligence people. The big thing he was teaching 770 00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:09,600 Speaker 1: them was that if you truly want to be in charge, 771 00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:13,080 Speaker 1: you compartmentalized information. You don't want your left hand knowing 772 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,239 Speaker 1: what your right hand is doing because one day you 773 00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:17,200 Speaker 1: may have to clap them against one another. 774 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,960 Speaker 2: Essentially, yeah, and only you and a very small group 775 00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:21,719 Speaker 2: of people will know. 776 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:25,000 Speaker 1: Anyway, here's this chair I made. It breaks people's backs. 777 00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:27,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really messed up and it's a crazy story. 778 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:29,240 Speaker 2: You can read more about it at the Irish Times 779 00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:31,800 Speaker 2: dot com. That's where we found an article called Nazi 780 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:36,560 Speaker 2: war criminal reportedly died in a Syrian dungeon. And again 781 00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:37,840 Speaker 2: the name is A L. 782 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:38,239 Speaker 1: O I. 783 00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:40,440 Speaker 2: S B R U N N E R. 784 00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:44,280 Speaker 1: And then there are others such as Adolph Eichmann, Joseph Mengele. 785 00:48:44,760 --> 00:48:47,160 Speaker 1: There's one in particular one a touch on. This guy's 786 00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:51,840 Speaker 1: name is or was Heinrich Mueller is the last chief 787 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:57,920 Speaker 1: of the Gestapo. His fate after World War Two. According 788 00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:04,000 Speaker 1: to the Jewish Virtual Libraries account, Mueller got away or 789 00:49:04,080 --> 00:49:08,480 Speaker 1: was thought to have gotten away for decades and decades. 790 00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:11,279 Speaker 1: They thought he had just slipped the net, and no 791 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:16,320 Speaker 1: one could find him after multiple investigations. However, the official 792 00:49:16,360 --> 00:49:20,040 Speaker 1: story is that in October twenty thirteen, evidence surface that 793 00:49:20,120 --> 00:49:22,720 Speaker 1: he had been buried in a mass grave in Berlin 794 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,320 Speaker 1: at the close of the war in forty five. However, 795 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:36,200 Speaker 1: that's this research still remains for some people a little 796 00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:40,919 Speaker 1: I don't know, arguable, Like just like we've talked about 797 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:43,200 Speaker 1: with deaths of I hate to say it, the deaths 798 00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:49,160 Speaker 1: of other historically notable, infamous or famous people. The story 799 00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:52,240 Speaker 1: doesn't die when the person does. Like there are people 800 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,160 Speaker 1: alive now who think Elvis Presley is somehow alive. And 801 00:49:56,400 --> 00:50:00,640 Speaker 1: Elvis Presley was a celebrity and a musician who did 802 00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:03,440 Speaker 1: briefly work with US law enforcement or attempt to. 803 00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:07,560 Speaker 5: But he was well being Asian man exactly talking and 804 00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:14,560 Speaker 5: but but these are war criminals, and we will never 805 00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:16,759 Speaker 5: know the fate of some of them. 806 00:50:17,239 --> 00:50:21,759 Speaker 1: That's why for decades, and that's why for decades after 807 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:23,960 Speaker 1: the war, you know, since before many of us were 808 00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:28,080 Speaker 1: born listening today, there were people who just hunted these 809 00:50:28,120 --> 00:50:32,000 Speaker 1: folks down. And the list doesn't stop there. We have 810 00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:36,759 Speaker 1: a lot of like allegedly or is believed tos or 811 00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:41,600 Speaker 1: is suspected tos in these people's stories. We know, we 812 00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:45,400 Speaker 1: know stories of Nazis where you can follow the line 813 00:50:45,719 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 1: maybe to an extradition country, right, and then they disappear 814 00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:55,359 Speaker 1: and there's a few years later a report of like 815 00:50:55,400 --> 00:51:02,239 Speaker 1: an elderly an elderly German retiree expiring quietly in a 816 00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:03,160 Speaker 1: small town. 817 00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:05,759 Speaker 2: And then somess found in the attic or something. But 818 00:51:05,800 --> 00:51:07,560 Speaker 2: there are also a lot of these people who end 819 00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:10,680 Speaker 2: up in a tribunal or a court when they are 820 00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:14,040 Speaker 2: in their eighties because they get found out living in 821 00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:20,040 Speaker 2: America somewhere, or living in France even sometimes, or in Argentina, Belivia, 822 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:22,600 Speaker 2: wherever it's gonna be. There's so many story of this, 823 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:27,160 Speaker 2: stories about this and of people going through this and 824 00:51:27,239 --> 00:51:31,040 Speaker 2: finally seeing justice because they're I mean, it's alleged like 825 00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:34,680 Speaker 2: somewhere between, I don't know, the exact number, and we 826 00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:39,160 Speaker 2: can't really ever know the exact number, but thousands of 827 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:44,440 Speaker 2: SS and German soldiers military made it out alive. We 828 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,319 Speaker 2: just don't know exactly how many that is. I've seen 829 00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:51,120 Speaker 2: it alleged up to ten thousand, I think perhaps even more, 830 00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:56,239 Speaker 2: just through the alleged Odessa program exactly. 831 00:51:56,760 --> 00:52:02,680 Speaker 1: And there we have to leave it at this point. Still, 832 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:06,040 Speaker 1: it's twenty nineteen, and people will tell you Odessa was 833 00:52:06,239 --> 00:52:09,239 Speaker 1: or was not real, right, we have to ask ourselves 834 00:52:09,719 --> 00:52:13,440 Speaker 1: about the degree of sophistication, the degree of collaboration that 835 00:52:13,480 --> 00:52:18,480 Speaker 1: these rat lines employed. While they may have not been 836 00:52:18,560 --> 00:52:22,680 Speaker 1: members of some elaborate global secret society, those clandestine escape 837 00:52:22,719 --> 00:52:27,719 Speaker 1: routes were real, and more often than some would like 838 00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:32,480 Speaker 1: to admit, these routes were also successful. Is this something 839 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:37,760 Speaker 1: that could happen in twenty nineteen, in these our modern days. 840 00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:41,520 Speaker 1: It could. It would have to be different, though, because 841 00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:44,600 Speaker 1: surveillance technology has just evolved, right. 842 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:49,400 Speaker 2: It would have to be more of a low level 843 00:52:49,719 --> 00:52:52,560 Speaker 2: human trafficking kind of situation, I think, where you're not 844 00:52:52,640 --> 00:52:56,239 Speaker 2: actually going to use real papers. Well maybe that's not true, 845 00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:58,759 Speaker 2: Maybe that's maybe that's not true at all. 846 00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:02,640 Speaker 1: So there's an interesting. There's an interesting dilemma here because 847 00:53:02,680 --> 00:53:08,360 Speaker 1: although there have been so many technological breakthroughs that allow 848 00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:11,560 Speaker 1: people to be closely observed, more closely than ever before 849 00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:16,240 Speaker 1: at any point in history, the control of those technologies 850 00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:19,799 Speaker 1: is also increasingly in the hand of a smaller and 851 00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:25,399 Speaker 1: smaller and smaller subset of human individuals and institutions. So 852 00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:28,520 Speaker 1: it's like there's more water coming out of the faucet, 853 00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:31,680 Speaker 1: but there are fewer people capable of turning the knobs. 854 00:53:32,080 --> 00:53:37,879 Speaker 1: And what that means is that if this is entirely hypothetical, 855 00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:40,520 Speaker 1: I'm not describing a real thing. What that means in 856 00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:47,680 Speaker 1: theory is that if our super producer Lull needed to 857 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:52,359 Speaker 1: disappear for some reason and had the assistance of Uncle 858 00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:57,600 Speaker 1: Sam in doing so, then the Alphabet agencies could simply 859 00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:02,560 Speaker 1: erase his digital footprint. It's it's fascinating. It's something we 860 00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:05,480 Speaker 1: don't really have an answer for. Again, that's entirely speculative, 861 00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:06,759 Speaker 1: but it is possible. 862 00:54:07,200 --> 00:54:11,720 Speaker 2: Agreed, And I I don't want to talk about Nazis 863 00:54:11,719 --> 00:54:14,520 Speaker 2: anymore today? Can we? Can we stop talking about Nazis? 864 00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:16,759 Speaker 1: Yes, I'm right there with you. 865 00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:18,960 Speaker 2: Do you want to talk about Nazis? 866 00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:19,359 Speaker 6: No? 867 00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,800 Speaker 2: No, I mean you do you want to talk about Nazis. 868 00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:26,359 Speaker 4: But you do tune into our nude podcast, Nazi Talk, Yes, 869 00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:28,880 Speaker 4: coming out soon on the iHeart Radio podcast. 870 00:54:29,239 --> 00:54:30,800 Speaker 1: Did you call it our nude podcast? 871 00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:31,480 Speaker 2: That's what I heard too. 872 00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:36,440 Speaker 1: Yes, you do it in the nude Yes, and that's 873 00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:40,680 Speaker 1: our classic episode for this evening. We can't wait to 874 00:54:40,719 --> 00:54:42,480 Speaker 1: hear your thoughts. That's right. Let us know what you think. 875 00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:42,879 Speaker 2: You can reach. 876 00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:45,279 Speaker 4: You to the handle Conspiracy Stuff where we exist on 877 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:49,680 Speaker 4: Facebook X and YouTube on Instagram and TikTok or Conspiracy 878 00:54:49,719 --> 00:54:50,239 Speaker 4: Stuff Show. 879 00:54:50,280 --> 00:54:52,560 Speaker 2: If you want to call us dial one eight three 880 00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:56,720 Speaker 2: three st d w y t K. That's our voicemail system. 881 00:54:56,719 --> 00:54:59,360 Speaker 2: You've got three minutes. Give yourself a cool nickname and 882 00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:00,920 Speaker 2: let us know if we can use your name and 883 00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:03,399 Speaker 2: message on the air. If you got more to say, 884 00:55:03,400 --> 00:55:05,960 Speaker 2: then can fit in that voicemail. Why not instead send 885 00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:07,640 Speaker 2: us a good old fashioned email. 886 00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:10,759 Speaker 6: We are the entities that read every single piece of 887 00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:12,120 Speaker 6: correspondence we receive. 888 00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:14,280 Speaker 1: Be aware, yet not afraid. 889 00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:37,719 Speaker 6: Sometimes the void writes back conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 890 00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:39,960 Speaker 2: Stuff they Don't want you to Know is a production 891 00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:44,600 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio visit the iHeartRadio app, 892 00:55:44,680 --> 00:55:47,560 Speaker 2: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.