Walter Rauff

Walter Rauff
Walter Rauff during his arrest in Italy in 1945
Born	(1906-06-19)19 June 1906 Köthen,Germany
Died	14 May 1984(1984-05-14)(aged 77) Santiago,Chile
Allegiance	Weimar Republic(1924–1933) Nazi Germany(1933–1945) Syrian Republic(1948–1949) West Germany(1958–1963) Chile(since 1973)
Service/branch	Reichsmarine Kriegsmarine Schutzstaffel Bundesnachrichtendienst Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional
Rank	SS-Standartenführer(Schutzstaffel) Korvettenkapitän(Kriegsmarine)

Hermann Julius Walther Rauff,alsoWalther Rauff(19 June 1906 – 14 May 1984) was a mid-rankingSScommander inNazi Germany.From January 1938, he was an aide ofReinhard Heydrichfirstly in the Security Service (SicherheitsdienstorSD), later in theReich Security Main Office.He worked for theFederal Intelligence ServiceofWest Germany(Bundesnachrichtendienst) between 1958 and 1962,and was subsequently employed by theMossad,the Israeli secret service. Sailing toSouth Americain December of 1949 & landing inEcuador,living inQuito.Documentary on theHistory Channelas one of the7most dangerous Nazis who fled to South America after World War II.

Rauff escaped an Allied internment camp in Italy & then was able to hide in Italian monasteries.

Rauff was able to live inQuito,for almost ten years afterWorld War II,departing in 1958 & travelling toChilebefore returning toGermanyin 1960 to collect hisNazipension. After this Rauff was then recruited byAugusto Pinochet.Rauff played a role in the creation of the Chilean internal security apparatus during themilitary dictatorship.His funeral inSantiago,Chile, was attended by several former Nazis.

Rauff is accused of being responsible for nearly 100,000 deaths duringWorld War II.Among other actions, he was instrumental in the use ofmobile gas chambersfor the execution of prisoners.He was arrested in 1945, but subsequently escaped and was never brought to trial.

From the Navy to the SS

According to theMI5file on Walter Rauff released in 2005:

Rauff joined theKriegsmarine(the German Navy) in 1924 as a young cadet. After a period of training as a midshipman he was promoted to Lieutenant in 1936 and given command of a minesweeper. He was a friend of Reinhard Heydrich, who also served in the Navy in the 1920s. Heydrich was hired bySSchiefHeinrich Himmlerin 1931 to serve as the head of the SS counter-intelligence system, and when Rauff resigned from the Navy in 1937, Heydrich took him under his wing. Rauff was given the job of putting the SS and its security service, theSicherheitsdienst,onto a war footing.

During his thirteen years in the Navy, Rauff became acquainted with Reinhard Heydrich and saw service inSouth AmericaandSpainas a young officer in 1924.

In 1937, Rauff left the Navy following an adultery scandal, but he was discharged "with all honours", as he said in a 1972 deposition before a German prosecutor in Santiago de Chile.

Between 1940 and 1941, Rauff returned to the Navy as a volunteer, commanding a mine sweeper flotilla in theEnglish Channel.He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander (Korvettenkapitän) in April 1941, shortly before he was discharged from active service, he then returned to the Reich Security Main Office. During early 1940, he headed the SD inGerman-occupied Norwayfor few months.

Gas van engineering

In 1941 and 1942, Rauff was involved in the development ofgas vans,mobilegas chambersused to kill, by poisoning or suffocation, those people deemed enemies of the German state: Jews, disabled people, communists and others. According to declassifiedCIAdocuments:

As an official of the Criminal Technical Institute of the Reich Security Main Office, Rauff designed gas vans used to murder Jews and persons with disabilities.

The MI5 file is more explicit concerning Rauff's "technical" skills:

Rauff supervised the modification of scores of trucks, with the assistance of aBerlinchassis builder, to divert their exhaust fumes into airtight chambers in the back of the vehicles. The victims were then poisoned and/or asphyxiated from the carbon monoxide accumulating within the truck compartment as the vehicle travelled to a burial site. The trucks could carry between 25 and 60 people at a time.

In 1972, in Santiago de Chile, Rauff made a deposition as a witness before a German prosecutor. On the subject of theextermination of Jews in PolandandRussia,asked whether at that time he had any doubts concerning the use of gas vans, Rauff answered:

Ob ich damals Bedenken gegen den Einsat [sic] der Gaswagen hatte, kann ich nicht sagen. Für mich stand damals im Vordergrund, dass die Erschiessungen für die Männer, die damit befasst wurden, eine erhebliche Belastung darstellten und dass diese Belastung durch den Einsatz der Gaswagen entfiel. [...I cannot say. The main issue for me at the time was that the shootings were a considerable burden for the men who were in charge thereof and that this burden was taken off them through the use of the gas vans.]

Rauff delegated the task of keeping the gas vans operating in theSoviet Unionand other Nazi-occupied areas to an SS chemist,August Becker,who kept Rauff fully informed on the gas van killing operations.

Persecution in Vichy-North Africa

Rauff was later involved in the persecution of Jews inVichy France-controlledTunisiaduring 1942 and 1943, by implementing the antisemitic Statute of the Jews enacted by pro-Nazi metropolitan Vichy state. A month after German Field MarshalErwin Rommel's defeat of the British atTobrukin June 1942, the SS set up a special extermination unit to follow in the wake of Rommel'sAfrika Korps.The unit, commanded by Rauff, was empowered to carry out "executive measures on the civilian population", the Nazi euphemism for mass murder and enslavement.However, his mission to exterminate theMiddle East's Jewish population was brought to an abrupt halt when theBritish 8th Armydefeated Rommel atEl Alameinin October 1942. Rommel was forced to withdraw the remnants of his army toTunisia,where it sustained a bridgehead until May 1943, enabling Rauff's SS to start lower scalepersecutions of local Jews.The MI5 file records that Rauff was posted to Vichy-Tunisia in 1942 as head of the Security Service (SD), where he led a mobile killing squad (Einsatzkommando) which conducted a "well-organised persecution campaign against the Jews andpartisans".

During this time, the Jewish community was particularly hard hit. More than 2,500 Jews in Nazi-occupied Tunisia died in a network of SS slave labour camps before the Germans withdrew. Rauff's men also stole jewels, silver, gold and religious Jewish artifacts. Forty-three kilogrammes of gold were taken from the Jewish community on the island ofDjerbaalone.

Chief of the secret police in Northern Italy

In 1943, Rauff was sent toMilanwhere he took charge of allGestapoandSDoperations throughout northwestItaly.The MI5 file states:

In both these postings [Tunisia and northern Italy] Rauff rapidly gained a reputation for utter ruthlessness. InTunisand Italy he was responsible for the indiscriminate execution of both Jews and local partisans. His work in Italy involved imposing total German control on Milan,Turin,andGenoa.His success in this task earned him the congratulations of his SS superior, who described it as 'a superb achievement'.

Rauff remained in Italy until the end of the war. The MI5 file states:

He narrowly avoided being lynched by an Italian mob, having barricaded himself and a number of other SS officers into the Hotel Regina in Milan. He was arrested by Allied troops and sent to a prisoner of war camp.

His interrogator in thePOW campended his report with these words:

Rauff has brought his organisation of political gangsterism to stream-lined perfection and is proud of the fact. By nature cynical and overbearing, but cunning and shifty rather than intelligent, he regards his past activities as a matter of course.

According to Rauff's declassifiedCIAfile:

Near the end of the war Rauff, then the senior SS and police official in northern Italy, tried to gain credit for the surrender of German forces in Italy, but ended up only surrendering himself. After escaping from an American internment camp inRimini,Rauff hid in a number of Italian convents, apparently under the protection of BishopAlois Hudal.

Spying activities in the Middle East

In 1948, he was recruited bySyrianintelligence and went toDamascus,where he served as military adviser to PresidentHusni al-Za'imwhen they fought against the newly established State ofIsrael,only to fall out of favour after acoup a year later.Rauff managed to convince his captors that he was only an adviser and had no command powers; he was released but ordered to leave the country. After barely escaping from Syria, Rauff fled toLebanonand later back to Italy, and gained a transit pass forEcuador,where he and his family settled, later moving to Chile.

Sailing to Ecuador & out of Europe

Making it out of Europe & sailing for Ecuador in December 1949. This was a place Rauff would live until 1958. Living inQuito& working for numerous German businesses in a professional setting.

It is noted Rauff is said to have worked for a while forIsraeli intelligencebefore Mossad was formed. The 2007 bookOn the Trail of Nazi War Criminals Who Weren’t Punishedby Mossad operative Yossi Chen (Chinitz),indicates that Rauff provided intelligence from Syria and was handled by Shalhevet Freier, of the Foreign Ministry. Rauff was paid for this work.

ACIAreport, dated 24 March 1950, states that Israeli agent Edmond (Ted) Cross of the Israeli Service was working to employ former Nazis for observation and penetration in the Arab countries. In 1950 Rauff was safe in South America living inQuito.One of the plans included sending Rauff to Egypt. One report indicated that Rauff did not reach Egypt, but a 1953 memo stated that an operative, most likely Rauff, was in the country at that time. An earlier CIA report, from February 1950, stated that Cross helped Rauff obtain the necessary papers for settling in South America (entering byArgentina) and added: "It is not improbable that Subject's presence in Syria was in connection with a mission for the Israel[i] service". Rauff was working in Syria, as an advisor to President Hosni Zaim, but left the country after Zaim was deposed.

Advisor to the regime in Chile

Before moving to Chile, arriving first in the small South American Country, first sailing toEcuadorand living in the capital ofQuitountil 1958. This was after escaping from a prisoner of war camp managed by the allies in Italy. First going to Syria and working for the inteligence service. After a year, setting sail for South America.

Nazi hunterSimon Wiesenthalholding a picture of Nazi war criminal Walter Rauff in May 1973

.Rauff left Ecuador in 1958 & moved toChileunder the protection of the President of Chile. in 1958, Rauff took on two roles: one as the manager of aking crabcannery inPunta Arenas,which is one of the southernmost towns in the world, and another as a merchant inQuito,Ecuador.However, this was only his civilian career. Rauff had been brought to Chile by then MajorAugusto Pinochetas an "international expert" to organize Chile's internal security apparatus. To this end, Rauff functioned as head of a whole group of German former SS and Gestapo officers that worked in various advisory functions to the Chilean military.

Between 1958 and 1963, Rauff was employed by the Federal Intelligence Service of West Germany (BundesnachrichtendienstorBND)and received 70,000DMfrom the agency.To conceal his activities as a spy in South America, he posed as an export manager and agent forImportadora Goldmann,a company in Santiago, Chile. His point of contact within the BND was Wilhelm Beissner, also known as Bertram, who served as a paymaster for the BND and had known Rauff since their time working together in the Reich Security Main Office.Rauff was eventually warned and removed from the BND before his arrest in Chile. However, he managed to recover some legal fees from the BND, totaling 3,200 DM. Additionally, he received 15,000 DM to start a new business.

Initially, the recruitment of Rauff appeared promising due to his extensive travels, but his reports ultimately proved to be of little value. He was evaluated as "untrustworthy" (charakterlich äußerst unzuverlässig), "intriguer" (er konspirierte nach allen Seiten), and "drunkard" (eng mit dem Alkohol befreundet).As a result, Rauff was dismissed from the BND in October 1962, although some communication channels remained open until July 1963.

In 1960, Rauff visited Germany in order to claim his pension for the time which he had served in theReichsmarine,and he had no trouble with the German authorities. In 1998, Germany passed a law outlawing World War 2 pensions to be laid to Nazis.

In December 1962, he was arrested by Chilean authorities after Germany requested his extradition, but he was freed by aChilean Supreme Courtdecision five months later in 1963 on the grounds that his crimes had been committed too long ago.Salvador Allende's election as Chilean president in 1970 did not change the situation. In a friendly letter to Nazi hunterSimon Wiesenthal,Allende wrote that he could not reverse the Supreme Court's 1963 decision.

Former Mossad operative Yossi Chen (Chinitz) relates in his book that the agency attempted to capture Rauff in 1979,even visiting him at his home. The plan was to assassinate him and then issue a press release stating: "Today in Chile, we executed one of the greatest Nazi war criminals – commander of the Gestapo’s technical department who developed and directed the mobile gas vans in which more than 100,000 Jews were exterminated. We are a group of those who will never forget the Nazis’ crimes so we decided, in the name of justice, to execute him". This plan failed.

After the military coup of 1973, Rauff became more directly engaged with the new regime's internal security apparatus. He worked as direct assistant toManuel Contrerasand gave advice on the creation of the secret policeDirección de Inteligencia Nacional(DINA). Rauff was valued as an expert for theSolución Final,meaning the killing anddisappearanceof dissidents. Rauff planned and supervised the building of concentration camps and was involved in finding means of disposing the dead bodies of tortured and murdered dissidents. He allegedly used contacts to former German military officers to smugglesarinto Chile. Rauff also was involved in the creation ofOperation Condor.Former DINA and Chilean military personnel later detailed that Rauff was strongly involved with Contreras' work and acted as executive command officer in DINA.

When Hans Strack, the German ambassador to Chile, was ordered to request Rauff's extradition, Strack, a supporter of exiled war criminals, forwarded the application for his extradition over 14 months later. The delay allowed Chile to refuse the extradition request because the length of time elapsed since his crimes overran the country's statute of limitations.

Allegedly, CIA officials could not determine Rauff's exact position. Pinochet's regime resisted all calls for his extradition to stand trial in either West Germany orIsrael.In the meantime, Rauff disappeared and was discovered by the documentary filmmakerWilliam Bemisterin Los Pozos, Santiago de Chile, in 1979, and interviewed.

The last request to extradite Rauff to West Germany was presented by renowned Nazi hunterBeate Klarsfeldin 1983,but it was rejected by the Pinochet regime, which alleged that Rauff had been a peaceful Chilean citizen for over twenty years and stated that the case was closed since the Supreme Court's 1963 decision. Klarsfeld organised protests in Chile and was twice arrested for causing disturbances.Following her brief detention, the director-general of Israel'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs,David Kimche,officially requested Rauff's expulsion in a meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Jaime del Valle, but the request was turned down.

Death

Suffering fromlung cancer,Rauff died in Santiago on 14 May 1984 from aheart attack.His funeral was the occasion of a Nazi celebration.According to hisMI5file, "he never showed any remorse for his actions, which he described as those of 'a mere technical administrator.'" A German-language biography of Rauff written by Martin Cüppers was published in 2013.

See also

• List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
• Denazification
• Nuremberg Trials

References

Bibliography

• Cüppers, Martin (2013).Walther Rauff – In deutschen Diensten: Vom Naziverbrecher zum BND-Spion(in German). Darmstadt: WBG (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft).ISBN978-353426279-3.
• Mallmann, Klaus-Michael; Cüppers, Martin (2010).Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine.Enigma Books / USHMM. p. 167ff.ISBN978-192963193-3.See alsoUSHMM.
• Stahl, Daniel (2013).Nazi-Hunt: South America's Dictatorships and the Punishment of Nazi crimes.Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag.ISBN978-383532412-1.

External links

• Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group ", Walter Rauff",Disclosure,Nov 2002.
• Shraga Elam and Dennis Whitehead, "Rauff vs. the Yishuv",Ha'aretz,7 April 2007.
• Security Service - MI5, "5 September 2005 releases: German intelligence officers", file ref. KV /1970a, "Walter Rauff".
• Jan Friedmann, "New Research Taints Image of Desert Fox Rommel",Der Spiegel Online,May 23, 2007.