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  This book is dedicated to my son, Spencer,

  who likes history as much as his dad.

  —BILL O’REILLY

  Prologue

  MAY 7, 1945

  REIMS, FRANCE

  2:41 A.M.

  The devil is being hunted.

  In a classroom of the École Professionelle technical school, Nazi chief of staff Gen. Alfred Jodl applies his signature to a sheet of foolscap, an oversize piece of paper, formally surrendering the German army after nearly six horrific years of fighting. Berlin has fallen. Nazi führer Adolf Hitler is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, his body then doused in gallons of gasoline and set ablaze by his personal bodyguard. Troops from the Allied powers of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union now swarm unopposed throughout Germany, quieting the few remaining pockets of resistance.

  Despite the late hour, the walls of the schoolroom are lined with journalists and generals on hand to bear witness. Maps showing the progress of fighting in Europe cover the walls, their final update having taken place just one day ago. Newsreel cameras record the somber moment of Germany’s defeat, the intense heat of their lights making the room stifling. American supreme commander, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, leader of the Allied forces in Europe, is present but does not participate in the formal signing. “Ike” prefers to let his chief of staff, Gen. Bedell Smith, act on his behalf.

  “With this signature,” Jodl announces in a noticeably emotional voice, “the German people and the German armed forces are for the better or worse delivered into the victor’s hands.”

  * * *

  But the devil is not fully submitting, and neither are many of his disciples. They know their actions during the conflict will be considered war crimes. These men murdered and brutally tortured innocent human beings on a scale so large that the word atrocities does not even come close to describing the acts.

  Thick dossiers on these “war criminals” have been compiled by American and British intelligence agencies. The special admonition IMMEDIATE ARREST has been stamped next to their names on this most wanted list. If caught and convicted, the punishment will be death.

  Execution will be swift.

  If they are caught.

  * * *

  Nearly six hundred miles northwest of General Jodl’s surrender, the most infamous Nazi murderer of World War II has no intention of delivering himself into the victor’s hands. Instead, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler is running for his life. The mass killer now hides in a small farmhouse with a handful of his most trusted aides, just outside the north German town of Satrup. Himmler and these men are all members of a Nazi paramilitary organization known in German as the Schutzstaffel.

  The rest of the world calls these butchers by another name: the SS.

  Schutzstaffel means “protection squadron,” and for the first four years after its founding in 1925, watching over Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was its main priority. But when Hitler appointed Himmler as Reichsführer—supreme leader—of the SS in 1929, the twenty-eight-year-old former chicken farmer was not content to be a mere bodyguard. The SS soon began gathering intelligence about Hitler’s enemies and, in its recruiting, demanding that all applicants demonstrate German “racial purity.”

  By 1933, when Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Party assumed power in Germany, the military was divided between the Wehrmacht—the traditional army, navy, and air force of the German state—and the SS, a paramilitary organization loyal to Hitler and the Nazi Party.

  Hitler gave Heinrich Himmler and the SS sweeping powers to incarcerate all political opponents of the Third Reich, which came to include lawyers, homosexuals, gypsies, the mentally handicapped, Catholic priests, and the entire Jewish population. For the first time in modern history, anti-Semitism became governmental policy. Jews became foreigners in their own country, with a series of new laws rescinding their legal rights and forcing their removal from trade and industry. Virtually any man, woman, or child with the temerity to speak out against Adolf Hitler was in grave danger.

  Heinrich Himmler controlled perceived enemies through a system of prisons known as concentration camps. These were administered by notoriously cruel divisions called SS-Totenkopfverbände—“Death’s Head Units.” All members of the SS, including the military arm that came to be known as the Waffen SS and concentration camp supervisors the SS-TV, wore the insignia of a skull on their caps. The Death’s Head squad had the added distinction of wearing a special skull and crossbones badge on their right collar.

  The emblem spread fear throughout all enemies of the Third Reich. Persecution of the Jews, in particular, rose to an unprecedented level once the war began in September 1939, with thousands forcibly deported from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Even as the German army began waging war on Europe, the SS operated as a completely independent entity, exterminating Hitler’s enemies and all those deemed racially impure. Beginning that same year, handicapped individuals throughout Germany were murdered with poison gas at Himmler’s command. In January 1942, that method of execution was also put into use against the Jewish population as part of Germany’s “Final Solution” for complete genocide against that religion. Himmler prided himself on contriving brutal methods to transport, torture, and kill those deemed unworthy. He also destroyed their corpses.

  Heinrich Himmler, center, SS-Reichsführer

  “The conspiracy or common plan to exterminate the Jew was so methodically and thoroughly pursued that despite the German defeat and Nazi prostration, this Nazi aim largely has succeeded,” American attorney Robert H. Jackson will declare at the opening of the 1945 Nuremberg Trials, where Nazi war criminals were prosecuted.

  Only remnants of the European Jewish population remain in Germany, in the countries which Germany occupied, and in those which were her satellites or collaborators. Of the 9,600,000 Jews who lived in Nazi-dominated Europe, 60 percent are authoritatively estimated to have perished. Five million seven hundred thousand Jews are missing from the countries in which they formerly lived, and over 4,500,000 cannot be accounted for by the normal death rate nor by immigration; nor are they included among displaced persons. History does not record a crime ever perpetrated against so many victims or one ever carried out with such calculated cruelty.

  At the urging of Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler planned and executed these murders.

  The Times of London refers to him as “the most sinister man in Europe.”

  Others call Himmler the devil incarnate.

  * * *

  Germany is in a state of chaos. The end of the war sees its major cities and ports reduced to rubble, due to Allied air and ground bombardments. Simple amenities like running water and electricity are often nonexistent. There is little food or livestock. Piles of trash and human excrement singe the nostrils, an aroma made worse by decomposing corpses still in need of disposal. Throug
hout Germany, the Americans and British try to care for the millions displaced by war, building refugee camps to house and feed those with no place to go.

  An estimated twenty million people will fill the roads of Europe in the next six months, making the long march home before winter arrives. This is a familiar sight throughout the continent—for centuries, the end of war has meant vivid scenes of soldiers and former prisoners of war mingling on the roads as they return to their loved ones. World War II is the same, as German soldiers now mix with Polish and Russian prisoners of war—but it is also different. Because of the Nazi campaign designed to exterminate the entire Jewish race, the roads are also filled with recently released death camp residents, easily identified by their threadbare clothing and skeletal physiques.

  For these DPs—displaced persons—as the Jews are known at war’s end, the journey is harrowing, for they have no idea what awaits them. First the Germans, and now the Russian army approaching from the east, have stolen their homes and possessions. After months and years in captivity, some DPs hope to exact revenge. For this reason, these death camp survivors do not walk in an oblivious manner. Instead, they study their fellow travelers carefully, keeping a sharp eye on the German men and women whom they walk alongside, searching for the familiar face of a former prison guard in order to inflict immediate and brutal justice.1

  * * *

  The breakdown of society actually helps members of the once-dreaded SS. They can hide among the refugees. But Heinrich Himmler is not an anonymous bureaucrat, thanks to newsreels and photographs, thus guaranteeing that if caught, he will be prosecuted for his crimes. Himmler is forty-four years old, with a wife, a mistress, and four children—two by each woman. He is a thin five foot nine, his chin is weak, and his teeth are too big for his mouth. Himmler’s poor vision requires him to wear rimless glasses, and there is nothing in his physical appearance that suggests strength. But this middle-aged man is responsible for murdering millions.

  Himmler shaves the graying whiskers of his mustache as he prepares for his escape. The wire-rimmed glasses, a signature accoutrement, are removed and replaced by a black eye patch. Himmler’s lavishly decorated uniforms are discarded, replaced by the drab clothing of a military policeman named Sgt. Heinrich Hitzinger, who was murdered by the SS months ago for the crime of “defeatism.”

  Just in case things go very wrong, Himmler hides a vial of cyanide in his clothing. Biting down on the glass will send a lethal dose of poison into his system, killing him within fifteen minutes.

  Himmler’s SS fellow travelers also carry poison. They alter their appearances as well, removing insignia from their clothing and slipping new identity papers into their pockets as they prepare for life on the run. Among them are Josef (“Sepp”) Kiermaier, Himmler’s personal bodyguard; Dr. Rudolf Brandt, the Reichsführer’s top assistant; SS surgeon Dr. Karl Gebhardt; SS-Colonel Werner Grothmann; and Maj. Heinz Macher. Otto Ohlendorf, an SS general major, chooses to travel separately.

  Ohlendorf, in particular, is a monster, leader of mobile death squads known as the Einsatzgruppen that traveled alongside military units to exterminate civilian populations. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the conquered territory was plundered of livestock, grain, and machinery in order to supply the German Reich. Soviet prisoners of war were not fed, leading some two million soldiers to starve to death. Simultaneously, troops under Ohlendorf’s supervision rounded up the Jewish population en masse. Under his authority, more than ninety thousand people were killed either by gunshot or in mobile gas chambers.

  The villains intend to travel due south to the Harz Mountains in central Germany, there to hide out, then perhaps flee farther south to the Alps or leave the country altogether. And this is not by accident. For more than a year, Heinrich Himmler has known the war in Europe could not be won. So he feverishly helped set up a “Fourth Reich” apparatus to ensure the future of a powerful postwar Germany. Adolf Hitler himself said that the Nazi empire was built to last a thousand years—Himmler and his SS are determined to see that pledge become a reality.

  In years to come, some investigators will point to a clandestine meeting at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg, France, on August 10, 1944 as the source of this hope. The top secret rendezvous was attended by leading German industrialists and bankers, among others.

  But unbeknownst to the Nazi officials and German industrialists at the Strasbourg meeting, a French undercover military intelligence agent was among those in attendance. His report on what was being planned soon made its way to Cordell Hull, the U.S. secretary of state.

  “German industry must realize that the war cannot be won,” stated the document known as the Red House Report, “and that it must take steps in preparation for a postwar commercial campaign. Each industrialist must make contacts and alliances with foreign firms, but this must be done individually and without attracting any suspicion.”

  The report went on to state: “They must also prepare themselves to finance the Nazi Party which would be forced to go underground.”

  But perhaps the most audacious part of the plan was that German companies would begin operating abroad, all the while disguising their connection to Germany and the Nazis. In this way, they would continue conducting military espionage and systematically contributing to the eventual return of Germany’s military might.

  Those in attendance in Strasbourg were reminded, for example, that a patent for stainless steel was jointly held by Krupp and the American Chemical Foundation. Behemoths like U.S. Steel were beholden to Krupp for the use of this patent and therefore were a likely source of infiltration by Nazi spies.

  “These offices are to be established in large cities where they can be most successfully hidden as well as in little villages near sources of hydroelectric power where they can pretend to be studying the development of water resources. The existence of these is to be known only by very few people in each industry and by chiefs of the Nazi Party. Each office will have a liaison agent with the Party,” the report continued.

  The final payoff would be financial, ensuring participation by the industrial concerns: “As soon as the Party becomes strong enough to re-establish its control over Germany the industrialists will be paid for their effort and cooperation by concessions and orders.”

  The meeting in Strasbourg has already paid off for the Nazis. More than $500 million has been transferred out of Germany to corporations in neutral nations like Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, and Argentina. In time, hundreds of companies will be anonymously purchased with these funds.2

  Vital to the success of this plan is not just the smuggling of wealth out of Germany but the escape of influential Nazi leaders. This is what Heinrich Himmler is counting on.3

  Whether Himmler and his minions will end up in the Alps or in some far-flung locale like South Africa or South America is now unknown. But escape is a very real possibility. They just need to move quickly. The journey will start in a fleet of four Mercedes automobiles. In time, that will become too conspicuous, but for now traveling by car is the fastest, most efficient method of transportation. But Himmler’s acolytes make an enormous mistake: before departure they don the uniforms of the Secret Field Police, not knowing this group is high on the Allied watch list.

  By May 12, five days after the German surrender, Himmler’s caravan has traveled more than 120 careful miles. They have slept in fields and in train stations, like so many now roaming Europe. The Nazis’ escape seems to be working.

  At the North Sea port town of Brunsbüttel, Himmler’s group confronts the first obstacle of their journey: the five-mile-wide estuary of the Elbe River. There is no way for the cars to ford the waters, so from this point forward the men must travel on foot. In the dark of night, Himmler pays a local fisherman 500 marks to row his group across the Elbe.

  In the morning, Himmler and his men blend in with the mass of soldiers clogging the roads. Himmler now wears civilian clothes under a blue leather motorcyclist’s raincoat. He is
not as strong as his fellow companions, so Major Macher and Colonel Grothmann slow their pace to match that of Himmler. They wear long green military overcoats and walk a few steps in front of him at all times, constantly looking back to ensure Himmler’s safety. The days are a slow tedious march, followed by nights in the fields surrounded by hundreds of other men. There is little food and water, and no privacy at all, but at least Himmler is free.

  By May 18, the column reaches the town of Bremervörde, west of Hamburg. There, British army troops of the Fifty-First Highland Division man a checkpoint on the bridge over the river Oste.

  Not knowing if it is safe to cross, Heinrich Himmler and his men decide to stop and discuss how to proceed.

  This is yet another mistake by the Himmler group.

  Himmler is nervous but does not even take the precaution of scouting the riverbank for a second crossing. If he had, he and his partners could have crossed the Oste without issue at a nearby ford, then continued their journey south.

  * * *

  Now, in order to assess the danger, the Reichsführer decides to send his bodyguard, Josef Kiermaier, to test the checkpoint. Weeks earlier, it was the ever-loyal Kiermaier who suggested that Himmler and his followers escape Germany by airplane. At the time, Berlin was not yet lost. A man such as Himmler had ample aircraft at his disposal. However, the Reichsführer, believing that he might make a separate peace with the Allies, did not take advantage of this escape option. It was his hope to split the Anglo-Soviet alliance. For the first time in the almost two decades in which he has served Adolf Hitler, Himmler conspired against the Führer.

  “Our aim,” traveling companion Otto Ohlendorf will recall of the plan of collusion with the Allies Himmler secretly concocted with other top Nazi leaders in April 1945, “was not to put up any resistance, but to let the Allies advance as far as the Elbe, having first concluded a tacit agreement that they’d halt there and thus to cover our rear for the continuation of the struggle against the East. These men, who were sober enough in all other respects, still believed that we had a sporting chance against the East.”