The Eternal Nazi: From Mauthausen to Cairo, the Relentless Pursuit of SS Doctor Aribert Heim
Page 29
6 The detective had already: Aedtner to Wiesenthal, March 6, 1980, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
7 At one point the detective: Aedtner to Wiesenthal, November 3, 1980, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
8 Growing up without a father: Waltraut Böser, interviews with authors.
9 “Unfortunately, I no longer hear”: Aribert Heim to Herta Barth, August 11, 1982.
CHAPTER 45
1 In 1981 he traveled to Israel: Aedtner to Simon Wiesenthal, March 25, 1981, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
2 He passed out: Harald Aedtner, interview with authors.
3 “We haven’t heard from one another”: Aedtner to Wiesenthal, October 6, 1982, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
4 “no additional concrete clues”: Alfred Aedtner, Aktenvermerk, Aribert Heim case, October 8, 1982, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
5 A source told investigators: Ibid.
6 The prosecutor’s office: Anträge auf Postbeschlagnahme und Telefonüberwachung, November 18, 1982, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
7 It did, however, allow: Beschluss in der Strafsache gegen Dr. Aribert Heim, December 13, 1982, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
8 “I have the feeling”: Tatari, Ein deutsches Schicksal.
CHAPTER 46
1 The floor was tile: Rüdiger Heim and Mahmoud Doma, interviews with authors.
2 The foreigner spent: Ali al Hussein Ahmed, interview with authors.
3 A few guests called: Mahmoud Doma and Sharif Doma, interviews with authors.
4 “He came across”: Abdelmoneim el Rifai, interviews with authors.
5 “With that his entry”: Certificate of Conversion to Islam, original document.
CHAPTER 47
1 When Rüdiger Heim returned: Rüdiger Heim, interviews with authors.
2 “That was something he expressed”: Rüdiger Heim, interview with authors.
3 Der Spiegel magazine said: “Hinten raus,” Der Spiegel.
CHAPTER 48
1 His full name was Umberto: Alfred Aedtner, “Report on Enquiries into Dr. Aribert Heribert Ferdinand Heim,” July 16, 1984, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
2 He waited “in vain”: Ibid.
3 It still must have stung: Lore Aedtner and Harald Aedtner, interviews with authors.
4 “this ominous Dr. Umberto”: Wiesenthal to Aedtner, July 20, 1984, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
5 That September, Wiesenthal: Wiesenthal to Aedtner, September 5, 1984, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
6 With Wiesenthal’s financial support: Aedtner to Wiesenthal, October 15, 1984, Aribert Heim File (2), Wiesenthal Archive.
7 On May 31, 1985, West German police: Posner and Ware, Mengele, pp. 199, 314–15.
8 “For nearly an hour”: Ibid., p. 319.
9 More problematic were: Walters, Hunting Evil, p. 523.
10 “I think he is contemplating”: “Nazi Found in Uruguay, Wiesenthal Tells Israelis,” New York Times.
11 “This is Mengele’s seventh death”: Simon Wiesenthal, interviewed on ABC’s Nightline, June 7, 1985, quoted in Posner and Ware, Mengele, p. 318.
CHAPTER 49
1 Eduard Zimmermann, host: Aktenzeichen XY, episode first broadcast January 17, 1986.
2 The Justice Ministry: Justizministerium Baden-Württemberg to Oberstaatsanwalt Baden-Baden, December 23, 1985.
3 “The accused Dr. Heim”: Schwurgericht Baden-Baden, Strafkammer 4, to Eduard Zimmermann, September 23, 1985.
4 Investigators hoped that even: Staatsanwaltschaft Baden-Baden, request to the Landgericht Baden-Baden, October 29, 1985.
5 At one point officials: Segev, Simon Wiesenthal, p. 374. See also Rosenbaum, Betrayal.
6 Wiesenthal hurt the chances: Segev, Simon Wiesenthal, p. 377.
7 Wiesenthal was crushed: Ibid., p. 378.
8 Members of Police Battalion: Erschließung von Akten des Landeskriminalamts über NS-Verbrechen durch ehrenamtliche Mitarbeit von 1. Kriminalhauptkommissar Alfred Aedtner; Fortsetzung der Arbeit im Werkvertrag, 1982–1990.
CHAPTER 50
1 It was more than just charisma: Segev, Simon Wiesenthal, p. 356.
2 “Of course it changed me”: Tatari, Ein deutsches Schicksal.
3 When West Berlin finally: Karlheinz Sendke to the Landgericht Baden-Baden, May 31, 1988.
CHAPTER 51
1 Rüdiger Heim flew: Rüdiger Heim, interviews with authors.
2 “So it is”: Mahmoud Doma, interviews with authors.
3 “I became in the last days”: Aribert Heim to Rifat, January 19, 1990.
CHAPTER 52
1 The first word that Aribert: Dr. Robert N. Braun to Simon Wiesenthal, February 11, 1994.
2 The tipster did not want: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg Dettling to Hertweck, October 21, 1996.
3 The sums were all: Rechtshilfeersuchen from the Landgericht Baden-Baden to the Ministerio di Justicia, March 29, 2005, EA Bd 6, p. 5.
4 Founded in 1996: www.lka-bw.de/LKA/UeberUns/Seiten/historie.aspx.
5 It had even spied: MfS—HA IX/11, RHE 9/79 DDR, Eigenermittlungen zum KZ-Arzt Heim.
6 If Heim were dead: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg to Staatsanwaltschaft Baden-Baden, January 26, 2005.
7 The fact that the money: Joachim Schäck (Leiter der Inspektion Zielfahndung, LKA), interview with authors.
8 Including direct transfers: Rechtshilfeersuchen des Landgerichts Baden-Baden to Ministerio de Justicio, May 12, 2005.
9 They had a bar: Ibid.
10 “My job is done”: Quoted in “Nazi Hunter Wiesenthal to Retire,” BBC News Web site, April 18, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2959591.stm.
11 “There’s going to be another”: Zuroff, Occupation: Nazi-Hunter, p. 6.
12 “Nicht gut, nicht gut”: Zuroff, Operation Last Chance, p. 29.
13 “similar to putting together”: Zuroff, Occupation: Nazi-Hunter, p. 47.
14 “the aura of adventure and drama”: Ibid., p. 45.
CHAPTER 53
1 In his Gaggenau nursing home: Eleonore Aedtner, interviews with authors.
2 His wife, Cyla: Van der Nat, “Cyla Wiesenthal.”
3 “the hint that Dr. Heim”: Landeskriminalamt Baden-Württemberg to Staatsanwaltschaft Baden-Baden, report, July 20, 2006.
4 The police requested: Ibid.
5 “They don’t know anything”: Ibid.
6 As Pellet drove home: Blandine Pellet and Gaetano Pisano, interviews with authors.
CHAPTER 54
1 Heim’s illegitimate daughter: Waltraut Böser, interviews with authors.
2 “was always in the back”: Zuroff, Operation Last Chance, p. 200.
3 “the key to the mystery”: Ibid., p. 199.
4 “A visibly nervous man”: Contreras, “Doctor of Death.”
5 “astonishing behavior”: Zuroff, Operation Last Chance, p. 203.
6 “if we only observe her”: Helm, Die Jagd nach Dr. Tod, 40:00 mark. The narrator says that Ms. Böser “had nothing against” being asked the questions and that she later told them, “You’re only doing your job.” Ms. Böser said she felt ambushed and went to the police precinct later in the day to try to file a complaint.
7 “treated her far too gently”: Zuroff, Operation Last Chance, p. 204.
8 “I could not believe”: Ibid., p. 205.
CHAPTER 55
1 As he walked into: Uhlenbroich, “Zum ersten Mal spricht sein Sohn Rüdiger Heim (52).”
2 “This is the briefcase”: Ahmed Doma, interviews with authors.
3 “Here is a hotel bill”: Sharif Doma, interviews with authors.
4 Mahmoud in particular: Mahmoud Doma, interviews with authors.
5 On one envelope: Medical records, Dr. Aribert Heim’s briefcase.
6 “He was a peculiar case”: Dr. Mohsen Samy Barsoum, interview with authors.
7 “That was the foreigner”: Hicham
Shabaka, interview with authors.
8 It was a rainy and cold: In addition to the authors, Elmar Thevessen from ZDF German television was part of the original report on Heim’s fate.
9 “Yes, that is my father”: Rüdiger Heim, interview with authors.
CHAPTER 56
1 Rüdiger had returned: Rüdiger Heim, interview with authors.
2 He said he was: Mahmoud Doma, interview with authors.
CHAPTER 57
1 He called his cousin: Rüdiger Heim, interview with authors.
2 “there are too many question marks”: Kulish, “Germans Corroborate Reports of Nazi Doctor’s Death in Egypt.”
3 “The extensive criminal technical”: Kulish and Mekhennet, “Police Confirm Cairo Link to Fugitive Nazi.”
4 The court in Baden-Baden: Kulish, “Hunt Ends for a Nazi Now Believed to Be Dead.”
5 The Department of Justice’s Office: U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/criminal/hrsp/.
EPILOGUE
1 He was a member: Kranebitter, “Aribert Heim, Lagerarzt im KZ Mauthausen,” pp. 88–89.
2 Kranebitter’s grandfather was: Andreas Kranebitter, interviews with authors.
3 He lived his whole life: Waltraut Böser, interviews with authors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES
Archiv der Hansestadt Rostock (Archive of the Hanseatic City of Rostock)
Archives Départementales du Haut-Rhin, Colmar, France (Upper Rhine State Archive)
Archiv Stadt und Kreis Lauban, Königslutter (City Archive, Lauban, Königslutter)
Bad Radkersburg Stadtarchiv, Museum im alten Zeughaus (City Archive, Bad Radkersburg, Museum in the Old Zeughaus)
BStU, MfS, Der Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen DDR, Berlin (Office of the Federal Commissioner for Preserving the Records of the Ministry for State Security of the former GDR)
Bundesarchiv, Berlin (Federal Archive, Berlin)
Bundesarchiv, Aussenstelle Ludwigsburg (Federal Archive, Branch Archive Ludwigsburg)
Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) für die Benachrichtigung der nächsten Angehörigen von Gefallenen der ehemaligen deutschen Wehrmacht, Berlin (German Bureau [WASt] for the notification of next-of-kin of members of the former German Wehrmacht who were killed in action)
Fritz Bauer Institut, Frankfurt (Fritz Bauer Institute, Frankfurt)
Fritz Steinacker, legal archive
Heidelberg Stadtarchiv (City Archive, Heidelberg)
Heim family papers
ITS International Tracing Service, Bad Arolsen
Krankenbuchlager, Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales Berlin (Medical Records, Office for Health and Social Affairs, Berlin)
Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (State Archive, Baden-Württemberg)
Landesarchiv Berlin (State Archive, Berlin)
Ludwigsburg Stadtarchiv, Ludwigsburg (City Archive, Ludwigsburg)
Mauthausen Archiv, Republik Österreich Bundesministerium für Inneres, Vienna (Mauthausen Archive, Republic of Austria, Interior Ministry, Vienna)
Politisches Archiv, Auswärtiges Amt, Berlin (Political Archive, Foreign Office, Berlin)
Simon Wiesenthal Archive, Vienna
Staatsarchiv Freiburg (State Archive, Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg)
Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg (State Archive, Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg)
Stadtarchiv Bad Nauheim (City Archive, Bad Nauheim)
Stadtarchiv Friedberg (City Archive, Friedberg)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States National Archives at College Park
AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Eleonore Aedtner
Harald Aedtner
Ali al Hussein Ahmed
Dr. Mohsen Barsoum
Birgit Barth
Waltraut Böser
Ahmed Doma
Mahmoud Doma
Sharif Doma
Kamal Gaballa
Gamal al-Ghitany
Agnes Haag
Friedl Heim
Rüdiger Heim
Gottfried Montag
Dr. Sharif Omar
Blandine Pellet
Gaetano Pisano
Abdelmoneim el Rifai
Tarek Abdelmoneim el Rifai
Mahmoud Salah
Joachim Schäck
Ursula Schlewitz
Kurt Schrimm
Hicham Shabaka
Fritz Steinacker
Karl-Heinz Weisshaupt
Ernst R. Zivier
Efraim Zuroff
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