The Real Odessa

Frederick Forsyth wrote a bestselling book titles The Odessa File.Its a about the Nazi's of WWII Germany escaping justice from the allies to Argentina.  I like FF because his books teach me something about the world. Sure he tells a good story but you have to conclude that the source of ideas for his books are not just his imagination.

It seems that FF inspired another book titled The Real Odessa which examines historical details of the Nazi escape route to Argentina. In turn The Real Odessa  inspired one of my favorite authors Philip Kerr to write a novel based on The Real Odessa titled A Quiet Flame.
Now a good story might be nothing more than just a good story. In this instance it is much more than that.
The idea that there was concentration camps in Argentina for Jewish immigrants is frightening enough. What Philip Kerr suggests in his novel is that these concentration camps were also extermination camps built and operated in the same way as those of Auschwitz/Birkenau is a chilling thought.

Here's a question posed by Uki Goñi the author of The Real Odessa. Who was the more evil of the two, those who extorted money from the Jews in exchange for visas to leave Germany or those who followed strict orders and didn't grant visas to Jews? At least those who sold visa's and helped the Jews leave Germany saved lives...