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Allen Dulles, the OSS, and Nazi War Criminals: The Dynamics of Selective Prosecution

Allen Dulles, the OSS, and Nazi War Criminals: The Dynamics of Selective Prosecution

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Kerstin von Lingen
Cambridge University Press, 9/30/2013
EAN 9781107025936, ISBN10: 1107025931

Hardcover, 340 pages, 23.5 x 15.8 x 2.3 cm
Language: English

This book examines the circumstances surrounding SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff's escape from prosecution for war crimes in 1945. Wolff avoided prosecution because of his role in 'Operation Sunrise', negotiations conducted by high-ranking American, Swiss and British officials - in violation of the Casablanca agreements with the Soviet Union - for the surrender of German forces in Italy that enabled the Anglo-American forces to take Trieste. After 1945, Allied officials, amongst them Allen Dulles, in a move that later helped him ascend to the head of the CIA, shielded Wolff from prosecution to maintain secrecy about the negotiations. 'Operation Sunrise' thus relates to the early origins of the Cold War in Europe and had wide-ranging implications, even in the field of justice: new evidence suggests that the Western Allies not only failed to ensure cooperation between their respective national war crimes prosecution organizations, but in certain cases even obstructed justice by withholding evidence from the prosecution.

1. The protagonists
Karl Wolff and Allen Dulles
2. Surrender in northern Italy
Operation Sunrise
3. War crimes policy
4. Protection from prosecution, 1945–1949
5. Wolff's public image
hero or vernichtungsburokrat, 1950–1984
6. Immunity and its origins
geopolitical interests
Conclusion.

Advance praise: 'Kerstin von Lingen's most important book sheds light on a fascinating, cinema-like story. For the first time we learn how Karl Wolff, one of the most prominent surviving SS generals, managed to avoid prosecution with the help of the OSS. This well-researched book is essential reading for everyone interested in the astonishing story of German war criminals in the postwar period.' Sönke Neitzel, London School of Economics and Political Science

Advance praise: 'This fascinating study sheds new light on the role of Allen Dulles in Operation Sunrise, the related protection of Nazi war criminals, and the origins of the Cold War.' Thomas Reifer, University of San Diego and Transnational Institute, Amsterdam