Hunting Evil (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

I'd never read anything by Guy Walters before, but, given his credentials as a historian/historical novelist, I anticipated a book with the readability of, say, Anthony Beevor. Far from it: this book is totally lacking in cohesion and fluency. There are several principal strands: the post-war evasion of justice of a small number of Nazis (Eichmann, Mengele, Barbie, Stangl, Pavelic are the main protagonists); the bureaucratic chaos immediately after the war and how this affected the hunt for Nazi war criminals; later attempts to capture these criminals; and collaborators with the escapees (principally the Vatican and Peronist Argentina). Major sub-plots are the demystification of the Odessa myth and the debunking of Simon Wiesenthal. The problem is that the author is incapable of organizing this material into a coherent narrative, and he spends the entire book hopping from one strand to another, often indulging in an over-attention to detail and excessive quotation which is at times tedious. In terms of genre, the author doesn't seem to have decided between dry academic treatise and entertaining historical narrative. In terms of objective/focus, it seems unclear whether the author's aim is to recount the story of the Nazis and their friends, or that of their pursuers and their problems, or simply give Simon Wiesenthal a thorough kicking. It is probably the last-mentioned area in which Walters is most effective.

Guy Walters has written a masterpiece on a subject which had already been explored in the past, namely:the fate of those Nazi criminals who have fled from justice after the collapse of the Third Reich.What makes this book different from the others is the fact that what the authors sets the record straight about certain myths which were created along the years in respect to these fugitives.
Firstly, Mr.Walters destroys a sacred myth by demonstrating that the famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal was a blatant liar and fabricated much of his own past and his so-called success in hunting down 1200 Nazi criminals.In reality,the number was barely one percent of this figure.
It seems that Wiesenthal was an egomaniac and a big one and he always wanted to take credit for things he was not responsible for.
Then he examines another myth:that of the existence of the organization called 'ODESSA', whose purpose was to assist ex-Nazis everywhere.This term was nothing but an umbrella term for a number of such organizations-many of which are described in the book for the first time.
Mr. Walters has travelled the escape routes themselves, has talked to Nazi hunters and Nazi criminals in Rome and Vienna, has consulted many written and oral sources in many countries and the result is a fatastic book you will not be able to put down easily.
He describes famous cases of well-known criminals and their fate:Franz Stangl,Mengele,Eichmann,Ante Pavelic, who was the head of the Croatian puppet state;Klaus Barbie and former SD officer Heinz Felfe and the fate of Herbert Cukurs,the hangman of Riga, who was responsible for the murder of 30000 men,women and children.This last case is less known and reads like a thriller.
He chronicles and scrutinizes the role the Catholic Church has played in assisting those who escaped via the ratlines and managed to reach South American countries,where they thrived because they were helped by their comrades and the corrupt regimes and dictators there.
In addition,there are chapters describing (and deploring)how the Allies failed to pursue and catch these criminals, as well as their cynicism when they did not hesitate to employ them in their respective inteligence services as soldiers in the Cold War.
A fifth of the book includes extensive documentation.It also has many photos-some taken by the author himself.
This book should serve as a warning and as a subtext whose message is that those horrendous and bestial crimes could repeat themselves unless we-the common people-and politicians are careful and moral.
In sum:this book is brilliant !

A good book to read for anyone who takes an interest in the Holocaust/post WW2 era. However it felt like that at the end of every paragraph, the author had to mention the shortfalls of nazi-hunter, Simon Wiesenthal. If he could mention dislike for Wiesenthal a lot less, i would have found the book more enjoyable.I understand why he kept mentioning his name, but its far too much!