Adolf to Azov

Ottos Skorzeny has to be consider one of the most interesting men alive, with both a past involving Nazi Germany, post war Argentina, and later the Mossad.

He was born in Austria, and was originally part of the Waffen SS, where he rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel.) During his time in the SS, Skorzeny was involved in some of the most notable clandestine mission of the Third Reich. Some of these missions involved rescuing Mussolini during the Gran Sasso Raid in 1943, as well as Operation Greif, which involved Germany soldiers wearing Allied uniforms to run operations, during the Battle of the Bulge. He was also a key player in Operation Long Jump as well.

At the end of the war Skorzeny was arrested. Undeterred, three other SS officers found American MP uniforms. Dressed as MPs the three SS officers claimed that they were at the prison camp to take Skorzeny to his trial in Nuremburg, only to help him escape. For a year and half, he hid out in Bavaria, slowly making his way through Paris France, to Madrid Spain. In Spain he was issued a Nansen Passport, which was a type of passport only issued to states people, for a time. With this Nansen passport, Skorzeny was able to travel freely between Spain, Argentina, and Egypt.

Skorzeny was definitely a smart man, but his time and experience running clandestine operation made him a man among men. This made him the perfect man to act as an advisor to both Argentina and Egypt. Unannounced to anyone, one of the most prolific Nazi hunter groups, the Mossad was also watching him. But they didn’t look like Skorzeny as a target but rather a recruit. Even Israel knew how smart Skorzeny was, and the fact of the matter was the Nazis were much less a threat, than neighboring Arab country, during this time. Egypt at this time was developing rockets to launch against Israel and gaining information about this was a bigger priority than defending Holocaust stories.

In 1963 the Mossad would recruit their first Nazi, to help Israel run special operation in Egypt. This was only three years, after the arrest of Adolf Eichmann

Source:

Ex-SS Man worked for Mossad against Egyptian rocket project”. Jerusalem Post. 20 September 1989