The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim

by Kulish, Nicholas

  4 The Americans printed and shipped: Bavendamm, Amerikaner in Hessen, p. 61.

  5 The new currency was an instant success: Wiedemann, “Zwischen Kriegsende und Währungsreform,” doc. 3.66.

  6 In May 1949, Karl Kaufmann: Karl Kaufmann, report, May 11, 1949.

  7 Rupert Sommer appeared before: Rupert Sommer, witness questioning, June 24, 1949.

  8 Karl Lotter was interviewed: Karl Lotter, witness questioning, July 6, 1949.

  9 the concentration camp Sachsenhausen: The KZ Oranienburg closed in 1935 and was replaced by Sachsenhausen in 1936.

  10 The public safety division: Haftbefehl, March 28, 1950, Records of the High Commissioner for Germany, Extradition Board, Austria, case 102-33, RG 466, National Archives.

  11 They even had a correct date: Ibid.

  12 “By night and fog the doctor”: Bachmann, Gebhard, and König, Höllenspass & Höllenqual, p. 16.

  CHAPTER 11

  1 She grew up across: Friedl Heim, interviews with authors.

  2 She was raised in a stately: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg, Liste der Kulturdenkmale, Stadtkreis Heidelberg.

  3 Prospects for even an educated: Bessel, Germany 1945, p. 273.

  4 On March 28, 1950, with Friedl Heim: Haftbefehl, March 28, 1950, Records of the High Commissioner for Germany, Extradition Board, Austria, case 102-33, RG 466, National Archives.

  5 In May the American military approved: Bernard Gufler to J. R. Rintels, May 8, 1950, and letter from W. R. Rainford, May 26, 1950, Records of the High Commissioner for Germany, Extradition Board, Austria, case 102-33, RG 466, National Archives.

  6 Heim had been hired: Dr. Wilhelm Kramer, Facharzt für Chirurgie, Chefarzt des Bürgerhospitals Friedburg/Hessen.

  7 Other members of the staff: Hess. Landeskriminalamt Abt. V/Sonderkommission, Wiesbaden, December 11, 1962.

  8 “You are advised that Heim cannot be located”: High Commissioner for Germany, Extradition Board, to the Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Austria, December 21, 1950, Ext. Bd. 1527c, Records of the High Commissioner for Germany, Extradition Board, Austria, case 102-33, RG 466, National Archives.

  CHAPTER 12

  1 “It is felt that his value”: Ryan, Klaus Barbie and the United States Government, p. 40.

  2 He set sail on March 23: Ibid., p. 155.

  3 He had sympathized with the Croatian fascists: Klee, Persilscheine und falsche Pässe, pp. 30, 37, 44.

  4 He promised to pursue the worst: Fröhlich, “Der ‘Ulmer Einsatzgruppen-Prozess’ 1958,” p. 244.

  5 After convicting some seventy thousand: Schmeitzner, “Unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit?,” p. 154; Werkentin, “Die Waldheimer Prozesse 1950,” p. 230.

  6 Leading politicians argued: Fröhlich, “Der ‘Ulmer Einsatzgruppen-Prozess’ 1958,” p. 237.

  7 Dr. Hans Eisele: Weindlin, Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials, p. 95.

  8 According to an American colonel: Fisk, “Butcher of Buchenwald in an Egyptian Paradise.”

  9 Like Wiesenthal, he was obsessed: Segev, Simon Wiesenthal, pp. 117, 137.

  10 In Wiesenthal’s telling: Wiesenthal Archive, http://www.simon-wiesenthal-archiv.at/02_dokuzentrum/01_geschichte/e01_history.html; Yad Vashem Bulletin, no. 1 (April 1957).

  11 After a few years on the police force: Eleonore Aedtner, interviews with authors.

  CHAPTER 13

  1 When the repairs were finished: The description of the Heims’ home life is based on multiple interviews with Friedl Heim and Rüdiger Heim as well as photographs and letters from the Heim family papers.

  CHAPTER 14

  1 The first handful of German military advisers: “Deutsche Militärberatergruppe in Aegypten,” Auswärtiges Amt, 708-83.40 Betreff Deutsche Militärberater in Ägypten, December 31, 1956, 18967.

  2 The nineteenth-century reformer Muhammad Ali: Marsot, History of Egypt from the Arab Conquest to the Present, p. 67.

  3 “Contact with the German military advisers”: Auslieferung des deutschen Staatsangehörigen Ernst-Günther Gerhartz, January 15, 1957, Politische Archiv, Auslandsvertretungen, Auswärtiges Amt, Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Kairo, Betreff RK Einzelfälle, Band 25 1956–1965, Forts. Band: 26, 10745, V5, 88/8223, V5 88/8505.

  4 “Right now Mr. Gerhartz”: Ibid.

  5 If pressed, Gerhartz might: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Cairo, Auslieferung des deutschen Staatsangehörigen Ernst-Günther Gerhartz aus Ägypten nach Deutschland, May 7, 1957, Politische Archiv, Auslandsvertretungen, Auswärtiges Amt, Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Kairo, Betreff RK Einzelfälle, Band 25 1956–1965, Forts. Band: 26, 10745, V5, 88/8223, V5 88/8505.

  6 Gerhartz offered his resignation: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Cairo, Aktenvermerk, June 7, 1957.

  7 He was known for making life difficult: http://www.berlin.de/sen/inneres/innensenatoren/lipschitz.html.

  8 Under the law, the Spruchkammer: “Entnazifizierung/Prominenten Vermogen”; E.U., SenInn to Simon Wiesenthal, November 2, 1978, Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 031-02-01, Nr. 12713, Band 1.

  9 The staircase was made of oak: Scherf, from Der Senator für Bau- und Wohnungswesen, “V bA 6—6537/02.97/4,” March 16, 1979, Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 031-02-01, Nr. 12713, Band 6.

  10 Heim purchased the building: Antrag auf Eröffnung eines Sühneverfahrens, March 29, 1979, Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 031-02-01, Nr. 12713, Band 1. Merten, Rechtsanwältin, office of Dr. Hildegard Stahlberg, to Senatsrat, Senator für Inneres, September 12, 1979, Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 031-02-01, Nr. 12713, Band 1.

  CHAPTER 15

  1 Rather than accept that his past: Böhmer, “Sie konnten sich an nichts erinnern.”

  2 Their trial opened on April 28: Mix, “Als Westdeutschland Aufwachte.”

  3 Chilling dispatches appeared: Fröhlich, “Der ‘Ulmer Einsatzgruppen-Prozess’ 1958,” p. 244.

  4 By that time the story: “Kollegen,” Der Spiegel.

  5 Then a sympathetic individual: “Deutsche Raketen für Nasser,” Der Spiegel.

  6 By the end of the first month: Heiner Lichtenstein, “NS-Prozess—viel zu spat und ohne System,” in Aus Politik und Zeitgeschicte, p. 7.

  7 On July 23: Der Spiegel, “Ohne Schelle im Wald,” August 12, 1959.

  8 He thought it would probably take: Tatari, Ein deutsches Schicksal.

  9 He heard how new: Aussage des Zeugen Aedtner betreffend den Angeklagten Stark, Mitschrift, 130, Verhandlungstag, January 25, 1965.

  10 These cases had to be solved: Tatari, Ein deutsches Schicksal.

  CHAPTER 16

  1 Shinar promised that Israel: Bascomb, Hunting Eichmann, pp. 98–100.

  2 “Any second-class policeman”: Ibid., p. 124.

  3 “I must inform the Knesset”: Web site of the Knesset: http://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/aichman_eng.htm.

  CHAPTER 17

  1 Word traveled quickly that Dr. Heim: Ursula Schlewitz (former patient), interview with authors.

  2 In the summers Heim’s mother: Rüdiger Heim and Birgit Barth, interviews with authors.

  3 He received one of the highest: Schreiber, “Der Anwalt des Bösen.”

  4 “an honorable job as well”: Fritz Steinacker, interview with authors.

  5 He believed that even: Aribert Heim, letter, March 19, 1979.

  6 “Long live Germany”: Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, p. 252.

  7 Eichmann’s sentence was complete: Bascomb, Hunting Eichmann, pp. 320–21.

  CHAPTER 18

  1 “This was found”: LKA Baden-Württemberg, Vernehmungsniederschrift, December 9, 1965, Helene Possekel.

  2 The couple’s increasingly frequent: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, “Vernehmungsniederschrift: Ursula Karcher, geb. Kammerer,” July 23, 1965.

  3 When he was home: Rüdiger Heim, interviews with authors.

  CHAPTER 19

  1 “They carried on”: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, “Vernehmungsniederschrift: Ursula Karcher, geb. Kammerer,” July
23, 1965.

  2 “Compared with his otherwise normally calm”: Ibid.

  3 “especially on account of the children”: Ibid.

  4 It was not unusual: Birgit Barth, interviews with authors.

  5 A police investigator rang: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, Sonderkommission Zentrale Stelle, report, February 21, 1963.

  6 Instead, he gave her: “Hinten raus,” Der Spiegel.

  7 “disappeared unexpectedly”: Hess. Landeskriminalamt Abt. V/Sonderkommission, Wiesbaden, December 11, 1962.

  CHAPTER 20

  1 Rather than drive an hour: Eleonore Aedtner and Harald Aedtner, interviews with authors.

  2 “You can’t fix”: Tatari, Ein deutsches Schicksal.

  3 The enormity of the task: Schüle, Erwin. “Die Zentrale der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistische Gewaltverbrechen in Ludwigsburg,” Juristenzeitung, no. 8, April 19, 1962.

  4 His superiors had: Dietrich Strothmann, “Was habe ich den Schlimmes getan?” Die Zeit, February 26, 1965.

  5 But after the Soviets: “Schüle: Die Ermittlung,” Spiegel, November 17, 1966.

  6 “Isn’t it time”: “Verjährung: Gesundes Volksempfinden,” Spiegel, November 11, 1965.

  7 Still Aedtner remained single-minded: Karl-Heinz Weisshaupt, interview with authors, March 16, 2012.

  8 “The accused was very willing”: Aussage des Zeugen Aedtner betreffend den Angeklagten Stark, Mitschrift, 130, Verhandlungstag, January 25, 1965.

  CHAPTER 21

  1 A hulking, scar-faced: Walters, Hunting Evil, p. 218.

  2 Ms. Kammerer recalled: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, “Vernehmungsniederschrift: Ursula Karcher, geb. Kammerer,” July 23, 1965.

  3 “Where thousands of years: “Deutsche Raketen für Nasser,” Der Spiegel.

  4 “The German government cannot sit”: Ibid.

  5 On July 7, 1962: Ibid.

  6 In September, a German businessman: “Heidi und die Detektive,” Der Spiegel.

  7 Two Israeli agents: Ibid.

  8 Five Egyptian workers: Elten, “Militärhilfe für Israel, Raketen für Nasser.”

  9 Dr. Carl Debouche’s only connection: Fisk, “Butcher of Buchenwald in an Egyptian Paradise.”

  10 The bomb failed: “Deutsche Raketen für Nasser,” Der Spiegel.

  CHAPTER 22

  1 One afternoon in 1964: Birgit Barth, interviews with authors.

  2 Underneath the family’s stylish: The description of the Barth family is based on several interviews with Birgit Barth, Herta’s daughter, and Rüdiger Heim, Aribert’s son.

  3 “What does that have to do with me?”: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, report, August 22, 1966.

  CHAPTER 23

  1 One weekend around: Harald Aedtner, interview with authors.

  2 The Nazi hunters had moved: Kurzchronik, Gebäude Schorndorfer Strasse 58, Zentrale Stelle Ludwigsburg.

  3 Aedtner was traveling so much: Eleonore Aedtner, interviews with authors.

  CHAPTER 24

  1 “In contrast to Nazi criminals”: Invitation to a press conference, June 7, 1967, Aegypten (Pressekonferenz) File, Wiesenthal Archive.

  2 “SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Heribert Heim”: Flüchtige Naziverbrecher im Nahen Osten und Ihre Gegenwärtige Rolle, June 7, 1967, Aegypten (Pressekonferenz) File, Wiesenthal Archive.

  3 Adalbert Rückerl: Rückerl to Wiesenthal, August 23, 1967, Aegypten (Pressekonferenz) File, Wiesenthal Archive.

  4 Wiesenthal decided to check: Wiesenthal to Jacques Givet, April 17, 1968, Aegypten (Pressekonferenz) File, Wiesenthal Archive.

  5 And the aforementioned Heribert: Invitation to a press conference, June 7, 1967. 103 “The person concerned”: Zusammenstellung, Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen, August 22, 1967, Aegypten (Pressekonferenz) File, Wiesenthal Archive.

  6 State Institute for War Documentation: It changed its name to the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation in 1999.

  7 By that time he had: Wiesenthal to Ben A. Sijes, October 6, 1969, Aribert Heim File (1), Wiesenthal Archive.

  8 He also appealed: Rückerl to Wiesenthal, November 4, 1969, Aribert Heim File (1), Wiesenthal Archive.

  9 The man’s name was: Anonymous letter to Wiesenthal on Kleinwalsertal, Aribert Heim File (1), Wiesenthal Archive.

  10 He even wrote: Letter to Ambassador Hans Georg Steltzer, February 5, 1973. The name he sent the report under is cut off in the copy of the letter remaining in his briefcase. Presumably it was an alias.

  11 In his absence: Friedl Heim, interviews with authors.

  12 Both said they did not know: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, report, December 6, 1966.

  13 The inspector did not: Ibid.

  14 “The respondent [had] told the plaintiff”: Dr. Klaus Froebel, divorce suit on behalf of Frau Dr. med. Friedl Heim-Bechtold versus Dr. med. Aribert Heim, February 22, 1967.

  15 He intended to stay: Fritz Steinacker, notes from meeting with Aribert Heim, June 5, 1971.

  16 “Herr Dr. H. informed me”: Steinacker to Käthe Bechtold, June 28, 1974.

  CHAPTER 25

  1 The extreme elements: For a thorough accounting of the group and its activities see Stefan Aust, Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex (Munich: Goldmann Verlag, 1998).

  2 The Red Army Faction seized: Der Spiegel, “Mein Instinkt sagt mir: Nicht nachgeben,” April 28, 1975.

  3 “His goal was to hunt down”: Karl-Heinz Weisshaupt, interview with authors.

  4 “I had seen Dr. Heim already”: Vernehmungsniederschrift, Gustav Rieger, July 14, 1975, Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, Dez. 831, Gz 130/61 Az.

  5 “a large but as of yet undetermined”: Haftbefehl, September 12, 1962, Staatsanwaltschaft Baden-Baden, 1 Js 1383/62.

  6 Franz Powolny, who reportedly: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, report, Alfred Aedtner, August 13, 1975.

  7 “The analysis of the audiotapes”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 26

  1 He remembered little: Rüdiger Heim, interviews with authors.

  2 “above all in arithmetic”: Rüdiger Heim to Aribert Heim, May 3, 1964.

  3 Heim stressed the importance: Aribert Heim to Christian Heim, n.d.

  4 His body was found: UPI, “Israeli Aide Is Linked to Killing of Latvian Nazi in Montevideo.”

  5 Lotz even attended parties: Lotz, Champagne Spy, p. 61.

  6 his fluent German led the Mossad: “Champagne Spy,” Time.

  7 In 1968 she publicly slapped: “Den Bundeskanzler Misshandelt,” Der Spiegel.

  8 In 1971 they unsuccessfully: Chronology at www.klarsfeldfoundation.org.

  9 The following year: “Graue Maus,” Der Spiegel.

  10 “definitely worked for some group”: Aribert Heim, note in personal files.

  CHAPTER 27

  1 “the odds are”: Kriminalrat Textor to Ministerialrat Bundesministerium für Inneres, July 23, 1975.

  2 Sommer identified Heim: Alfred Aedtner, report on trip to Austria, September 26, 1975.

  3 “no longer had his powers”: Ibid.

  4 “Somehow the name”: Vernehmungsniederschrift, Ernst Martin, September 11, 1975.

  5 “awakens no memory”: Vernehmungsniederschrift, Alois Madlmayr, September 10, 1975.

  6 Maršálek said he arrived: Aedtner, report on trip to Austria, September 26, 1975.

  7 At seventy-three Karl Lotter: Karl Lotter, witness questioning, September 15, 1975.

  CHAPTER 28

  1 Rüdiger Heim arrived in Egypt: Rüdiger Heim, interviews with authors.

  2 Heim had purchased: Aribert Heim to Rifat, January 19, 1990.

  CHAPTER 29

  1 “shoot drugs in the heroin capital”: Ruether, “Man Who Came from Hell.”

  2 Then, rather than being handed over: Berlin Wall Memorial, Berlin Wall, Fatalities, 1975, http://www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de/en/1975-323,438,2.html.

  3 “No indications came”: III B 21—0334/612, February 13, 1979, Vermerk, Ermittlungen in einer NSG-Straf
sache, questions from Herr Magen, Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 031-02-01, Nr. 12713, Band 1.

  4 “The suspicion arises”: Finanzamt Offenbach-Land to Finanzamt Baden-Baden, April 20, 1976.

  5 “Over the course of time”: Vernehmungsniederschrift, Rolf Gallner, February 26, 1976.

  6 He, Gallner, and an officer: Report to the Staatsanwaltschaft Baden-Baden, April 6, 1976.

  7 The old coal boiler: Ibid.

  8 In all, Gallner estimated: https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/GesamtwirtschaftUmwelt/VerdiensteArbeitskostenVerdiensteBranchen/Tabellen/LangeReiheFB_1913.html. In 2012 dollars that would be nearly $40,000 a year.

  9 Or Heim could pass: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg, report, July 26, 1976.

  CHAPTER 30

  1 “There is definitely”: Alfred Aedtner, Bericht an der Staatsanwaltschaft bei dem Landgericht, November 25, 1976.

  2 “For me the man”: Interview with Johann Payerl, July 22, 1976.

  3 Back in Austria: Alfred Aedtner, investigation report, May 31, 1977.

  4 Her entire family contracted: Waltraut Böser, interviews with authors.

  5 She never saw him again: Die Sicherheitsdirektion für das Bundesland Tirol, Österreich, Gertrud Böser, Ausforschung, July 2, 1976.

  6 “Gertrud Böser enjoys”: Austrian police report on Waltraut Böser, 11-II/7/NS; Sicherheitsdirektion für das Bundesland Tirol, Innsbruck, July 2, 1976, 11.057/9-II/7/NS.

  7 Aedtner said he was pursuing: Bericht, Befragung Gertrud Böser, Innsbruck, April 26, 1977, 11.057/14-II/7/NS/77.

  8 By the end of the meeting: Aedtner, investigation report, May 31, 1977.