Author:Guy Walters
At the end of the Second World War some of the highest ranking members of the Nazi party escaped from justice. Some of them are names that have resonated deeply in twentieth-century history - Eichmann, Mengele, Martin Bormann and Klaus Barbie - not just for the monstrosity of their crimes, but also because of the shadowy nature of their post-war existence, holed up in the depths of Latin America, always one step ahead of their pursuers.
The nature of their escape was as gripping as any good thriller. They were aided and abetted by corrupt Catholic priests in the Vatican, they travelled down secret 'rat lines', hid in foreboding castles high in the Austrian alps, and were taken in by shady Argentine secret agents. The attempts to bring them to justice are no less dramatic, with vengeful Holocaust survivors, inept politicians, and daring plots to kidnap or assassinate the fugitives.
Guy Walters has travelled the world in pursuit of the real account of how the Nazis escaped at the end of the war, the attempts, sometimes successful, to bring them to justice, and what really happened to those that got away. He has interviewed Nazi hunters, former members of Mossad, and poured through archives across the globe to bring this remarkable period of our recent history to dramatic and vivid life.
First-rate
—— Max Hastings , Sunday TimesIt is gripping and well documented, and deserves a lasting place among histories of the war.
—— TelegraphThe stuff of thrillers ... An enthralling book and a sobering one.
—— Patrick BishopAbsorbing and thoroughly gripping . . . Walters proves emphatically that the reality of Nazi hunting is far more fascinating than the myth.
—— James HollandHunting Evil is a model of meticulous, courageous and pathbreaking scholarship
—— Literary ReviewCompelling and thoroughly researched . . . a timely reminder of the many skeletons in Europe's cupboard
—— TLSWorth it for serious students
—— Ann Treneman , The TimesSolid and lasting...thoroughly resourced and researched
—— Anthony Howard , Sunday TelegraphA Royal Affair is an entertaining tale ...Tillyard's account of the brothers is heroic...[she] tells this astonishing tale with bravura
—— John de Falbe , Daily TelegraphShe has returned to what she knows-and does-best, teasing out the bonds of love, hate and pretend indifference that bind siblings, no matter what their historical pedigree, into a cat's cradle of consequence
—— EconomistThe story is brilliantly told. In its descriptive flourishes it is sometimes fearlessly novelistic, yet it travels long distances for scholarly scruples
—— John Mullan , Times Literary Supplement