The Odessa File

‘You went to the State Attorney General’s office there?’ asked Wiesenthal mildly.

‘Yes, I did. They weren’t terribly helpful.’

Wiesenthal looked up.

‘I’m afraid the Attorney General’s department in Hamburg has a certain reputation in this office,’ he said. ‘Take, for example, the man mentioned in Tauber’s diary and by me just now, Gestapo chief and SS-General Bruno Streckenbach. Remember the name?’

‘Of course,’ said Miller. ‘What about him?’

For answer Simon Wiesenthal riffled through a pile of papers on his desk, abstracted one and gazed at it.

‘Here he is,’ he said. ‘Known to West German justice as Document 141 JS 747/61. Want to hear about him?’

‘I have time,’ said Miller.

‘Right. Here goes. Before the war Gestapo chief in Hamburg. Climbed rapidly from then on to a top position in the SD and SP, the Security Service and Security Police sections of the RSHA. In 1939 he recruited extermination squads in Nazi-occupied Poland. At the end of 1940 he was head of the SD and SP sections of the SS for the whole of Poland, the so-called General Government, sitting in Cracow. Thousands were exterminated by SD and SP units in Poland during that period, mainly through Operation AB.

‘At the start of 1941 he came back to Berlin, promoted to Chief of Personnel for the SD. That was Amt Three of the RSHA. His chief was Reinhard Heydrich, and he became his deputy. Just before the invasion of Russia he helped to organise the extermination squads that went in behind the Army. As head of staffing he picked the personnel himself, for they were all from the SD branch.

‘Then he was promoted again, this time to head of personnel for the entire six branches of the RSHA and remained deputy chief of the RSHA under first Heydrich, who was killed by Czech partisans in Prague in 1942 – that was the killing that led to the reprisal at Lidice – and then deputy to Ernst Kaltenbrunner. As such he had all-embracing responsibility for the choice of personnel of the roving extermination squads and the fixed SD units throughout the Nazi-occupied eastern territories until the end of the war.’

‘So where is he now?’ asked Miller.

‘Walking around Hamburg, free as air,’ said Wiesenthal.

Miller looked stunned.

‘They haven’t arrested him?’ he asked.

‘Who?’

‘The police of Hamburg, of course.’

For answer Simon Wiesenthal asked his secretary to bring him the bulging

file labelled ‘Justice – Hamburg’, from which he extracted a sheet of paper. He folded it neatly down the centre from top to bottom, and laid it in front of Miller so that only the left side of the sheet was facing upwards.

‘Do you recognise those names?’ he asked.

Miller scanned the list of ten names with a frown.

‘Of course. I’ve been a police reporter in Hamburg for years. These are all senior police officers of the Hamburg force. Why?’

‘Spread the paper out,’ said Wiesenthal.

Miller did so. Fully expanded, the sheet read:

Miller looked up.

‘Christ!’ he said.

‘Now, do you begin to understand why a lieutenant-general of the SS is walking around Hamburg today?’

Miller looked at the list in disbelief.

‘That must have been what Brandt meant about the inquiries into the former SS not being very popular in the Hamburg police.’

‘Probably,’ said Wiesenthal. ‘Nor is the Attorney General’s office the most energetic in Germany. There’s one lawyer on the staff at least who is keen, but certain interested parties have tried to have him dismissed several times.’