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Who murdered a Nazi fugitive — and does the answer actually matter?

JL;DR SUMMARY Philippe Sands' book, "The Ratline," delves into the life and sudden, mysterious death of Otto Gustav von Wächter, a lesser-known Nazi fugitive. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

HolocaustJewish GhettosWar CrimesEspionageNazi FugitivesPhilippe SandsOtto WächterThe RatlineHorst WächterPost War Italy

Places mentioned

Kraków, Lesser Poland, Poland
"An Austrian SS officer, Wchter became one of Franks deputies, presiding over the Jewish ghettos of Krakw and Lemberg (now Lviv, in Ukraine)."
Lviv, Lvivshchyna, Ukraine
"An Austrian SS officer, Wchter became one of Franks deputies, presiding over the Jewish ghettos of Krakw and Lemberg (now Lviv, in Ukraine)."
Tyrol, Austria
"He hid in the Austrian Alps for more than three years, assisted by a male companion and his wife, before making his way to Rome."
Rome, Lazio, Italy
"before making his way to Rome. There he stumbled into a nest of spies and died in 1949 under suspicious circumstances."
London, United Kingdom
"the Spanish novelist Javier Cercas told Philippe Sands, professor of international law at University College London."

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Cairo Item ID 84575
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Retrieved 2026-06-11 05:31:17 UTC
Curated 2026-06-11 08:31:48 UTC