The Strange Case of a Nazi (Otto Skorzeny) Who Became an Israeli (Mossad) Hit Man

Haaretz ^ | March 27, 2016 | Dan Raviv & Yossi Melman

[Simon Foxx]

On September 11, 1962, a German scientist vanished. The basic facts were simple: Heinz Krug had been at his office, and he never came home...

..Krug was murdered as part of an Israeli espionage plot to intimidate the German scientists working for Egypt. Moreover, the most astounding revelation is the Mossad agent who fired the fatal gunshots: Otto Skorzeny, one of the Israeli spy agency’s most valuable assets, was a former lieutenant colonel in Nazi Germany’s Waffen-SS and one of Adolf Hitler’s personal favorites among the party’s commando leaders.

[Simon Foxx]

A bit dated, but a Skorzeny reference in a different thread prompted me to post this here. Apologies if it was posted 2 years ago. I just find this to be an absolutely fascinating "Rest of The Story" ...

[Luke21]

He was a saboteur of the highest order and a free agent. He was the German James Bond without all the Roger Moore trappings.

He would work for Nasser one minute and the Mossad the next. A fascinating and forgotten figure of history.

[allendale]

Underscores the reality that there is a mindset pattern among human beings that allows that human to kill other humans with impunity and without conscience or regret. They appear throughout history and it is not uncommon for their ilk to achieve high office and power.

[Perseverando]

They appear throughout history and it is not uncommon for their ilk to achieve high office and power.

People that have a propensity to use "I, me, my, mine" a lot in their conversations? Ummmm? That reminds me of someone, but I just can't remember who at the moment. /sarc

[Simon Foxx]

I see this “mindset” in the following way - there are times when ordinary morality can be superseded by the needs of a greater good, or higher cause (ie war, basically).

But this philosophy cannot be unchecked (or else you wind up with Aushwitz and the Killing Fields). Hence we have the Laws of War and Crimes Against Humanity that limit (under threat of punishment) the degree to, and circumstances under which, the “ordinary morality” can be superseded during wartime.

[Simon Foxx]

I’ll help you. There are two relatively recent political figures who pepper (to this day) their speeches with “I, Me, Mine”.

One is nicknamed “The Rapist”. The other is nicknamed “The Marxist”.

BOTH were elected POTUS of the USA for varying reasons and under varying circumstances (one of which happens to be the prevailing Monumental historical and philosophical ignorance of a large swath of the American voter).

[David]

Otherwise known as “Large Otto”; met in DC on the President’s yacht in the summer of 1950; consulted with the US intel agencies over common issues in connection with the Cold War with the Soviet’s.

[robowombat]

Skorzeny’s memoirs are fascinating. They first appeared in a heavily redacted version in the 50’s . Two much more complete editions appeared in the last few years. There is one version published by Schiffer and another ‘edited’ by Craig Luther and Hugh P Taylor offered by James Bender. Of the two the Bender version seems the most complete. It is, like all of Bender's books beautifully produced and of the highest quality and it is expensive , $50+.It is fascinating reading Skorzeny’s text and realizing how carefully he chose his words and how he used military euphemisms to pass over events he wished to air brush.

[allendale]

Unfortunately it has often gone unchecked and at times to grotesque levels. The victims of stone cold common criminals, the minions of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, the Rwanda genocides, Turkey’s massacre of Armenians, the summary executions of entire populations recorded throughout ancient and recent history.

Give Woody Allen credit. He summarized it best and had great psychological insight. When accused of being an agnostic Jew and indifferent to the Holocaust , his answer was priceless. “ I have no doubt that 6 million Jews were murdered, but my fear is that records are made to be broken”. Lets not forget that Mao in the 1950’s broke that record overtly killing by some estimates 60 million Chinese. It must also be remembered that he personally did little or none of the killing but had no trouble finding goons, thugs and henchmen who avidly did the murders. The other despots also had no trouble recruiting mass killers. People should always realize that such people continue to exist among us and the thin veneer of law, civility and religion has not proven to be impenetrable barriers to their vile actions given the right political circumstances. Americans are not immune to this behavior.

[Oatka]

Underscores the reality that there is a mindset pattern among human beings that allows that human to kill other humans with impunity and without conscience or regret.

Investigative Discovery had an episode where a guy ordered a hit on an investor,IIRC. He told the victim he wanted to show him a motorcycle in the back of the shop, and on the way introduced him to the hit man. They shook hands and smiled at each other and as the kid walked away, the hit man bashed in his skull with an iron pipe.

A poster boy for the death penalty if there ever was one, but he got a plea deal to rat out the guy who hired him. The video showed him confessing, without a whit of remorse.

Infuriating.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I don’t believe he worked for Mossad killing off rocket scientists in Egypt. After the war, Abdul El Nasser was a big client of his and a huge fan. A lot of the principles of terrorists today can be traced back to the Skorzeny/Nasser partnership.

[Simon Foxx]

Would love to read more. Do you have any links or references? Thanks.

[Sans-Culotte]

Bump for later.

[SunkenCiv]

• The Strange Case of a Nazi Who Became an Israeli Hitman [2016]
• How a Nazi SS commando became a Mossad assassin [2016]
• Otto Skorzeny: The Nazi who Influenced ISIS [2017]
• How did Hitler's scar-faced henchman become an Irish farmer? [2015]

[Simon Foxx]

I believe that virtually ANY human being can be induced/brainwashed into such behavior under the right (wrong) circumstances. ALL men are evil by their nature. An allegiance to a higher power is required in order to check such behavior, in individuals first, and then, by extension, in a nation. The reverse process will yield a nation (ex: Nazi Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China) where such atrocities can be carried out wholesale.

[Fhios]

Nice schmitte. A popular Waffen SS hero of middle class well respected by friends, grudgingly respected by enemies. He was charged with perfidy in advocating and implementing infiltrating the enemy by wearing their uniform, speaking there language infiltration techniques. I believe he was acquitted either by a technicality or his defense would have betrayed allies using his techniques. Either Way, you need friends to get acquitted from charges that carry the death penalty and the proof against you are your books and training camps.

[robowombat]

Yes Stalin found plenty of willing murderers during the agricultural collectivization campaign. Many were eager Young Communist activists who were convinced they were conducting a great transformational crusade when they stripped peasants of every bit of food and then seized basic possessions such as heavy clothing, beds and bed covers, other furniture items, and all livestock including poultry. The result was millions starved in the Ukraine during the next winter. It is amazing what supposedly normal people can be gotten to do with through lying propaganda and creation of fake SJ crusades.

[karnage]

Amazing story.

[Fedora]

Ralph Ganis's new book The Skorzeny Papers, based on Skorzeny's unpublished papers, links Skorzeny to the QJ/WIN hit team and George de Mohrenschildt of JFK assassination fame.

[vetvetdoug]

Skorzeny was dropped with around fifty other SS troops near Tehran to assassinate Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill in the German Operation Long Jump. Had it not been for a bit of double agent good luck they came close to being successful.