The Ratline
Love, Lies and Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive
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The Ratline
Narrated by:
Katja Riemann, Philippe Sands, Stephen Fry
Buy Now for $23.79
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Narrated by:
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Katja Riemann
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Philippe Sands
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Stephen Fry
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By:
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Philippe Sands
As Governor of Galicia, SS Brigadeführer Otto Freiherr von Wächter presided over an authority on whose territory hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles were killed, including the family of the author's grandfather. By the time the war ended in May 1945, he was indicted for 'mass murder'. Hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the Poles and the British, as well as groups of Jews, Wächter went on the run. He spent three years hiding in the Austrian Alps, assisted by his wife Charlotte, before making his way to Rome where he was helped by a Vatican bishop. He remained there for three months. While preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline' he died unexpectedly, in July 1949, a few days after spending a weekend with an 'old comrade'.
In The Ratline Philippe Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of a senior Nazi and fugitive, and of his wife. Drawing on a remarkable archive of family letters and diaries, he unveils a fascinating insight into life before and during the war, on the run, in Rome, and into the Cold War. Eventually the door is unlocked to a mystery that haunts Wächter's youngest son, who continues to believe his father was a good man - what happened to Otto Wächter, and how did he die?
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'A gripping adventure, an astounding journey of discovery and a terrifying and timely portrait of evil in all its complexity, banality, self-justification and madness. A stunning achievement' STEPHEN FRY
'Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable' JOHN LE CARRÉ
'Breathtaking, gripping, and ultimately, shattering. Philippe Sands has done the unimaginable: look a butcher in the eye and tell his story without flinching' ELIF SHAFAK
'A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling' ANTONY BEEVOR©2019 Philippe Sands
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Critic Reviews
A gripping adventure, an astounding journey of discovery and a terrifying and timely portrait of evil in all its complexity, banality, self-justification and madness. A stunning achievement
Hypnotic, shocking and unputdownable
Breathtaking, gripping, and ultimately, shattering. Philippe Sands has done the unimaginable: look a butcher in the eye and tell his story without flinching
A triumph of research and brilliant storytelling
Remarkable . . . Sands's untangling of the mysteries surrounding Otto von Wächter is masterfully done
This is a burningly necessary book. Sands makes a gently unsparing dissection of deception, love, delusion and ineradicable evil. Elegant, painstaking, passionate and quietly enraging
This is a taut and finely crafted factual thriller, reminiscent in density and pace of John le Carré . . . a feat of exhilarating storytelling - gripping, gratifying and morally robust
The forensic stamina and precision that garnered such praise for Sands' 2016 work EAST WEST STREET are equally in evidence here. THE RATLINE is not only about events in the past, but their dangerous legacy in the world today. A formidable piece of historical sleuthing written with all the pace and suspense of a thriller, it is a timely reminder that crimes against humanity don't occur only at the level of states and governments. They take place also in the more secret and less fathomable depths of people's hearts and minds (Rebecca Abrams)
Extraordinary. In fast-paced, John le Carré-like pages (spies, Nazi-hunters, dark Vatican forces) . . . THE RATLINE is an electrifying true crime for the contagion lockdown
Sands is a terrier at research . . . The seething world of post-war Rome, with its senior fascists reprieved and returning to prominence, its war criminals lurking in hiding, its spies and secret services brokering deals and its adventurers and profiteers making fortunes, has seldom been more vividly described (Caroline Moorehead)
A book of twists and intrigues as complex as any le Carré thriller . . . like its predecessor, [it] is replete with vivid descriptions and Sands brings to it the same relentless narrative momentum
Fascinating . . . Switching between the distant and very recent past, the book is episodic in nature, but this only makes it more compelling. It combines a mystery with a straight retelling of history - shining a light into one of the less investigated corners of the Nazi era and its aftermath - and a thoughtful inquiry into how we reckon with it (David Bennum)
THE RATLINE is a compelling piece of forensic historical research - one that is every bit as good as EAST WEST STREET
A truly extraordinary book - a forensic yet deeply humane and measured exploration of the human capacity for self-deception and cruelty (HENRY MARSH)
Excellently told gripping story
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Fabulous
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Fascinating
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