The Ratline
The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive
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Narrated by:
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Philippe Sands
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Katja Riemann
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Stephen Fry
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By:
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Philippe Sands
About this listen
"Hypnotic, shocking, and unputdownable." (John le Carré, internationally renowned bestselling author)
Baron Otto von Wächter, Austrian lawyer, husband, father, high Nazi official, senior SS officer, former governor of Galicia during the war, creator and overseer of the Krakow ghetto, indicted after as a war criminal for the mass murder of more than 100,000 Poles, hunted by the Soviets, the Americans, the British, by Simon Wiesenthal, on the run for three years, from 1945 to 1948....
Philippe Sands pieces together, in riveting detail, Wächter's extraordinary, shocking story. Given full access to the Wächter family archives - journals, diaries, tapes, and more - and with the assistance of the Wächters' son Horst, who believes his father to have been a "good man," Sands writes of Wächter's rise through the Nazi high command, his "blissful" marriage and family life as their world was brought to ruin, and his four-year flight to escape justice - to the Tirol, to Rome, and the Vatican; given a new identity, on his way to a new life via "the Ratline" to Perón's Argentina, the escape route taken by Eichmann, Mengele, and thousands of other Nazis. Wächter's escape was cut short by his mysterious, shocking death in Rome, in the midst of the burgeoning Cold War (was he being recruited in postwar Italy by the Americans and the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps or by the Soviet NKVD or by both; or was he poisoned by one side or the other, as his son believes - or by both?)....
An extraordinary discovery, told up-close through access to a trove of family correspondence between Wächter and his wife - part historical detective story, part love story, part family memoir, part Cold War espionage thriller.
"Breathtaking, gripping, shattering." (Elif Shafak)
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Critic reviews
"Gripping...fascinating and important, told in vivid detail...fiercely inquiring...suspenseful...extraordinary." (The New York Times Book Review)
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"Part detective story and part love story...Sands's ability to tease out Horst's emotional, and often contradictory, views of his father as an indicted war criminal is fascinating...he unlocks here a series of provocative questions about culpability, collective guilt, and the advancement of international law." (LA Review of Books)
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- Narrated by: Kate Mulligan
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In August 1939, just days before World War II broke out in Europe, a Jewish man in Vienna named Alfred Berger mailed a desperate letter to a stranger in America who shared his last name. Decades later, journalist Faris Cassell stumbled upon the stunning letter and became determined to uncover the story behind it. How did the American Bergers respond? Did Alfred and his family escape Nazi Germany?
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Wow, what a story and excellent new author!
- By Amazon Customer on 09-11-20
By: Faris Cassell
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Nazi Wives
- The Women at the Top of Hitler's Germany
- By: James Wyllie
- Narrated by: Dalya Raphael
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Goering, Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, Hess, Bormann - names synonymous with power and influence in the Third Reich. Perhaps less familiar are Carin, Emmy, Magda, Margarete, Lina, Ilse, and Gerda. These are the women behind the infamous men - complex individuals with distinctive personalities who were captivated by Hitler and whose everyday lives were governed by Nazi ideology. Throughout the rise and fall of Nazism these women loved and lost, raised families, and quarreled with their husbands and each other, all the while jostling for position with the Fuhrer himself.
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Scary
- By Three River on 05-15-21
By: James Wyllie
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East West Street
- On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"
- By: Philippe Sands
- Narrated by: David Rintoul, Philippe Sands
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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When human rights lawyer Philippe Sands received an invitation to deliver a lecture in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, he began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg Trials.
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Outstanding!
- By lori on 05-07-18
By: Philippe Sands
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The Nazi’s Granddaughter
- How I Discovered My Grandfather Was a War Criminal
- By: Silvia Foti
- Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A deathbed promise leads a daughter on an incredible journey to write about her grandfather who was a famous war hero. But this journey had a terrible destination: the discovery that he was a Nazi war criminal.
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A Compelling Story Well Told
- By Catherine S. Read on 03-17-22
By: Silvia Foti
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All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days
- The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler
- By: Rebecca Donner
- Narrated by: Rebecca Donner
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Born and raised in Milwaukee, Mildred Harnack was twenty-six when she enrolled in a PhD program in Germany and witnessed the meteoric rise of the Nazi party. In 1932, she began holding secret meetings in her apartment—a small band of political activists that by 1940 had grown into the largest underground resistance group in Berlin. She recruited working-class Germans into the resistance, helped Jews escape, plotted acts of sabotage, and collaborated in writing leaflets that denounced Hitler and called for revolution.
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Riveting narrative non fiction
- By Sarah Q on 10-22-21
By: Rebecca Donner
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House of Glass
- The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family
- By: Hadley Freeman
- Narrated by: Hadley Freeman
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Hadley Freeman knew her grandmother, Sara, lived in France just as Hitler started to gain power, but rarely did anyone in her family talk about it. Long after her grandmother’s death, she found a shoebox tucked in the closet containing photographs of her grandmother with a mysterious stranger, a cryptic telegram from the Red Cross, and a drawing signed by Picasso. This discovery sent Freeman on a decade-long quest to uncover the significance of these keepsakes, taking her from Picasso’s archives in Paris to a secret room in a farmhouse in Auvergne to Long Island to Auschwitz.
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Performance
- By Derek on 08-30-22
By: Hadley Freeman
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Genius & Anxiety
- How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947
- By: Norman Lebrecht
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Norman Lebrecht has devoted half of his life to pondering and researching the mindset of the Jewish intellectuals, writers, scientists, and thinkers who turned the tides of history and shaped the world today as we know it. In Genius & Anxiety, Lebrecht begins with the Communist Manifesto in 1847 and ends in 1947, when Israel was founded. This robust, magnificent volume, beautifully designed, is an urgent and necessary celebration of Jewish genius and contribution.
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Post-anxiety
- By Amaze on 03-27-20
By: Norman Lebrecht
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Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister
- Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
- By: Jung Chang
- Narrated by: Catherine Ho
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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They were the most famous sisters in China. As the country battled through 100 years of wars, revolutions, and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the center of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. All three sisters enjoyed tremendous privilege and glory, but also endured constant mortal danger. They showed great courage and experienced passionate love, as well as despair and heartbreak.
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Fascinating reading
- By David L. Jones on 03-26-20
By: Jung Chang
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Stalin's Daughter
- The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
- By: Rosemary Sullivan
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history's most monstrous dictators—her father, Josef Stalin. Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy—the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.
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Insightful and thoroughly researched
- By Jean on 06-16-15
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Hitler and the Habsburgs
- The Fuhrer's Vendetta Against the Austrian Royals
- By: James Longo
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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As he rose to power, Hitler's hatred toward the Habsburgs and their diverse empire fixated on Franz Ferdinand's sons, who became outspoken critics and opponents of the Nazi party and its racist ideology. When Germany seized Austria in 1938, they were the first two Austrians arrested by the Gestapo, deported to Germany, and sent to Dachau. Within hours they went from palace to prison. The women in the family, including the Archduke's only daughter Princess Sophie Hohenberg, declared their own war on Hitler.
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More of the Story
- By EJJ on 08-28-19
By: James Longo
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Enemies of the People
- My Family's Journey to America
- By: Kati Marton
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
In this true-life thriller, Kati Marton draws on her skill as an investigative reporter to discover who her journalist parents really were---and how they survived the Nazis in Budapest and imprisonment by the Soviets during the Cold War.
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Couldn't stop listening
- By Jane on 04-09-10
By: Kati Marton
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The Patient Assassin
- A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and India's Quest for Independence
- By: Anita Anand
- Narrated by: Anita Anand
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The “compelling [and] vivid” (The New York Times Book Review) true story of a man who claimed to be a survivor of a 1919 British massacre in India, his elaborate 20-year plan for revenge, and the mix of truth and legend that made him a hero to hundreds of millions.
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more interesting history
- By Autodidact on 09-07-19
By: Anita Anand
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Fall
- The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain's Most Notorious Media Baron
- By: John Preston
- Narrated by: Simon Bubb
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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In February 1991, Robert Maxwell triumphantly sailed into Manhattan harbor on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, to buy the ailing New York Daily News. Taxi drivers stopped their cabs to shake his hand, children asked for his autograph, and patrons of the hottest restaurant in Manhattan gave him a standing ovation while he dined. Ten months later, Maxwell disappeared off that same yacht in the middle of the night and was later found dead in the water. As John Preston reveals in this revealing biography, Maxwell’s death was as mysterious as his remarkable life.
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Don't make men like this anymore
- By Sylvia on 04-06-21
By: John Preston
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Mistress of Life and Death
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By the time of her execution at thirty-six, Maria Mandl had achieved the highest rank possible for a woman in the Third Reich. As Head Overseer of the women's camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was personally responsible for the murders of thousands. In this riveting biography, Susan J. Eischeid explores how Maria Mandl, regarded locally as "a nice girl from a good family," came to embody the very worst of humanity.
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When human rights lawyer Philippe Sands received an invitation to deliver a lecture in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, he began to uncover a series of extraordinary historical coincidences. It set him on a quest that would take him halfway around the world in an exploration of the origins of international law and the pursuit of his own secret family history, beginning and ending with the last day of the Nuremberg Trials.
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What listeners say about The Ratline
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ben Helms
- 08-30-24
Fantastic historical account.
Loved the audio performances.
Fabulous historical accuracy.
Unbelievable work to create a timeline that could be followed.
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- W Zuelzer
- 04-24-21
The ratline
Wonderful story The crime was obvious from beginning but the story shows how difficult the truth is to be validated and accepted by some Great story My country should be ashamed to allow the rat line to exist
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5 people found this helpful
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- sarah s
- 02-25-21
Meticulous and well researched!
I truly enjoyed this book. I learned so much information and thank the author for his meticulous research and dedication in searching for the truth regarding this family.
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- night owl
- 02-13-23
Kinda disappointing
I've found other books about fugitive Nazis much more interesting.. I love to hear what a difficult time and mostly unhappy life these men had.Its interesting to.learn about It how wife and how she made the best at whatever situation she was in.She also comes across as someone.who loves herself the most.Her set absorption may be her means of coping and keeping her head in.the sand.
Thinking about herself and keeping her mind off of the .Even when Otto is dying she refuses to face it
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- dfarley0
- 02-16-21
Ratline strong overall
The weakest part of the book is the lack of focus on Otto’s crimes in Poland and Ukraine. It is understood that he was wanted for roundups and killings, but I just didn’t get a feel for his actions as head of the Nazi General Territories. His wife’s cloying letters took up a lot of the book, which didn’t give me much insight into Otto. I liked the readers. I wanted to know more about the Bishop’s reasons for helping Otto and the other escaping killers.
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2 people found this helpful
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- California Quilting Queen
- 07-06-21
Fascinating well performed book
An outstanding book. Truth is strange than fiction. Very well researched and performed Offers multiple viewpoints on Ww Ii
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1 person found this helpful
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- Bob K
- 11-17-21
Amazing Story
Time heals all wounds and also covers up a lot of dirt. This is an astounding story of a high ranking Nazi who was aided by a number of people in escaping the Reich atvthe end of the war. The fact so many willing participants helped him escape is a solod explanation of why this Nazi and others felt they were victims followimg orders who deserved better. The sense of entitlement is mind boggling and while it soumds petty and vindictave I was bitter he never realized what a POS he is and he was never brought to justice.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Chris Romero
- 03-10-21
Excellent historical whodunnit
This was an incredible book. I enjoyed it immensely. The “plot” surprises were unexpected and so engaging. The story leads to profound questions about collective guilt, the Cold War mentality, human nature, family ties, and to what extent time heals. The multiple readers of the audio book was a good choice.
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- Chad Torbet
- 02-14-23
Wow!
Amazing book! You know the book is great when you are sad it’s over. Sands takes you on a journey that creates such vivid imagery along the way!
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- Corina
- 02-18-21
Fascinating and unexpectedly touching
Like Daniel Mendelsohn's riveting and deeply moving account in "The Lost," this story of tracking down every last clue about the "exalted life and mysterious death" of a Nazi fugitive from justice and sharing it with his son, who was determined to cling to his father's memory as a man of moral principle, is both fascinating and unexpectedly touching. Highly recommended by this listener.
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3 people found this helpful