L.A. is gloriously unstable ground for Sarah Shun-lien Bynum’s slippery stories. Novelist Stephen Graham Jones would never let a dead elk or a horror trope go to waste. At the end of the war, as his colleagues were being tracked down and prosecuted, Otto fled. I want to also understand Horst's motivations for speaking with you, because many of his family were against it. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. A tale of two reckonings: How should Manhattan Beach atone for its racist past. Joseph Alexander, 96, a slight man with a Polish accent, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, spoke on a sunny Sunday to a rapt crowd of about 30 at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. Sands has been here before. But it's also a love story, the relationship between Otto and Charlotta, which is very central for me. Stephen Graham Jones on how he put together ‘The Only Good Indians,’ a Ray Bradbury Prize finalist, and why horror is the most fascinating genre. In 1992, original ‘Real World’ cast member Kevin Powell sparked vital conversations about race. It’s the intimacy of Charlotte’s letters and daily diary entries that give this project its unique shape. Of course, he was not. With Niklas Frank, Horst von Wächter, Philippe Sands. And I said, "What do you mean, mmm hmm?" To mark the publication of the German language version of The Ratline, which follows his prize-winning book East West Street, Philippe Sands explores the ideas that underpin his new work, an account of the lives of Otto Wächter, an Austrian SS Gruppenführer indicted for mass murder, his wife Charlotte, from the moment they met Vienna in April 1929 to his unexpected death in Rome in 1949. And she bequeathed to him the family archive, and it resides still today in the Schloss — the castle — where he lives. It's a concoction.". The community is planning counterprotests and pleading with public officials to do more to intervene in the face of white supremacists. He's not a racist or an anti-Semite. In his latest book, The Ratline, British author Philippe Sands pieces together the life and death of Otto von Wächter. He sort of went, "Mmm hmm." I mean, it's pretty shocking stuff. In fact, I would say Charlotta Wächter is the beating heart of the book. If Sands can build a painstaking enough case, can he finally convince Horst to see the truth? He looked at it. Afterward Otto fled to Germany, where Charlotte eventually joined him. Reams of documents reveal everything from mundane daily details to Charlotte’s bitterness over Otto’s mistresses, followed inevitably by renewed devotion and denial. It was through that book that Sands was introduced to Horst. The racist violence in Amazon’s new series left execs ‘shaken.’ Does it go too far? It was in the Vatican. Like any relationship, I suppose, but here we’re talking about a Nazi in the middle of WWII and then on the run, and the documents provide a text from which we are trying to parse subtext. Like many in Austria and Germany in the 1930s, they both liked skiing and mountaineering and had a long courtship that ended only when she became pregnant. He was, if you like, the chosen child out of the six. Written by Jason Vermes. After the war, Otto fled and lived under an assumed identity before dying in Rome in 1949. KKK fliers, White Lives Matter rally: Huntington Beach confronts ‘storm of hate’. He lived through the war as a young child. I did once lose my rag, as we would say in London. As Adolf Hitler’s armies marched across Europe, the Wächters moved to German-held regions — Austria, Poland, Ukraine — and into ever grander homes left empty, Charlotte scarcely acknowledges, by fleeing Jewish families. Now the world is reopening. By Philippe SandsKnopf: 448 pages, $30If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. “Them,” about a Black family fighting racism and supernatural forces in the 1950s, includes warnings about its graphic depictions of racist violence. Wächter, a high-ranking Nazi officer, was indicted on war crimes for his role in the mass murder of more than 100,000 Polish citizens but escaped capture and trial until his death under mysterious circumstances in 1949. At some point in the filming of the BBC documentary, My Nazi Legacy, Nicholas Frank, the son of Hans Frank, who had been Adolf Hitler's lawyer and was hanged at Nuremberg for mass murder, said of Horst, "You know, he could be a new kind of Nazi." (Antonio Olmos) Day 6 13:27 In The Ratline, author Philippe Sands traces the life and mysterious death of a Nazi mass murderer Otto dies in mysterious circumstances in 1949, and it's very obvious that Horst really loves his mother. Why don't you give it to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.?". A variety of newsletters you'll love, delivered straight to you. I'm very fond of Horst, and curiously, I feel protective because I think I've come to understand he is like a damaged child. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Indeed, it is not questionable. Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton hope so. [I] put it into the computer, and it was extraordinary material because the thing to understand about this book is it is, in part, the story of the horrors perpetrated by Otto von Wächter. Sands’ last book, “East West Street,” was a history based in the same part of Ukraine commanded by Otto, exploring the genesis of the concepts of “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” The same Nazis pass through the pages of both books; most of Sands’ family didn’t survive their atrocities. Philippe Sands - See the talk on YouTube here. Sands spoke with Day 6 host Brent Bambury about his new book, his relationship with Horst Wächter who, to this day, denies his father's role in the Holocaust, and focusing his book on a perpetrator rather than their victims. The evidence is absolutely overwhelming. She’s been a staff writer at The New Yorker for over 20 years, and is the recipient of a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship. We remain in good relations and we're in contact quite a lot, even though our views are different. The story is told, in part, through Wächter's son, Horst, who shared a treasure trove of family letters, documents and diaries, dating from 1929 to 1949, with Sands. Horst, the fourth of their six children, was the most devoted to her and shared Charlotte’s archives with Sands. Her most recent book, My Life in Middlemarch, was a New York Times bestseller. Times Book Prize finalists Rachel Howzell Hall, Ivy Pochoda, S.A. Crosby, Jennifer Hillier and Christopher Bollen talk about race, place and genre. Horst, now in his 80s, is a fascinating character, willing to explore his father’s ugly history in great detail without letting go of the belief that he must have been a “good” Nazi. The first, an autobiography, will detail his journey from Indiana to the Trump White House. In Poland and the Ukraine, they lived a glamorous Nazi life, Otto hard at work and Charlotte hosting parties for the party’s elite. Produced by Pedro Sanchez. The evidence against Otto von Wächter is solid. At all times, when I'm with Horst, I'm very conscious that Horst's father was responsible for the extermination of my grandfather's entire family. Der deutsche Begriff „Rattenlinie“ hat sich als ungelenke Übersetzung von The Ratline aus dem amerikanischen Englisch eingebürgert. And if you like, they are damaged and destroyed by their own words because as the acts of killing are going on, she's celebrating the glories of life and he's writing about the absence of Jews to put powder on the tennis court or whatever. Carli Lloyd on 2020: Worst of times, best of times as soccer star reunites with family. It was incredible, actually. What’s more, it includes a cameo by Sands’ neighbor David, a retired spy who’d been in Italy at the time, better known to us as John le Carré. But I don't think he's a bad person. Well, we are sort of. He was involved in the July Putsch in 1934, during which Austrian Nazis assassinated the chancellor but failed to take over the Austrian government. However, the year turned out to be one of her best once she reunited with her family from which she was estranged. By Philippe Sand s. In the coming months we’ll be facing questions about what accountability looks like and how to talk to those who love and support the militants in their families. As anti-Semitic crimes rise and Holocaust awareness fades, a survivor is always ready to speak. He takes refuge in the idea that [his] father never actually killed anyone personally, and that's his escape route as the child. Women’s Prize stands by its nomination of trans author Torrey Peters after open letter. Spring reading: Here’s what to expect from authors featured at the 2021 Festival of Books, A year of isolation left us with a wealth of words. For someone who listened to the podcast and remembered the answer, this section dragged at first. Auf YouTube findet man The Ratline with Philippe Sands, ein von der Juristischen Fakultät des University College London bereitgestelltes Interview auf Englisch. How do we get to a more stable democracy? It is a priority for CBC to create a website that is accessible to all Canadians including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. I thought that was significant because the heart of this book, in a sense, is to understand how can reasonable, cultured, intelligent, highly-educated people like Otto and Charlotta Wächter get involved in mass murder? Poet Amanda Gorman, who discussed her future campaign for president in a new cover story for Vogue, already has endorsements from powerful figures. How conscious was Horst of what you lost when your family was sent to the death camps by his father's administration? My grandfather was born there in 1904. How much did Charlotte know about what the Nazis were doing to the Jews of Poland and Ukraine? He's not a Holocaust denier. It is, you know, his dignity and his memory that is a beating heart of this story. Philippe Sands, QC (born 17 October 1960) is a British and French lawyer at Matrix Chambers, and Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London. Pulling from family archives, British author Philippe Sands pieces together the life and death of Otto von Wächter — a high-ranking Nazi official who was indicted for the murder of over 100,000 Polish citizens — in his new book, The Ratline. Well it was said to me. We just heard you speaking with Horst Wächter, the son of notorious Nazi Otto von Wächter, and it sounded like you were friends. and a USB stick wound its way through my letterbox in London about two weeks later. But Horst needs convincing, so Sands lays out a riveting, deeply researched case that builds chronologically to show who and what Otto was. But I don't like some of his views and I don't like his sense of denial about what his father did. At a safe remove we have “The Ratline” by Philippe Sands. COVID-19 canceled in-person author readings. We ask five L.A. poets for their takes on what lies ahead. Our mission is to get Southern California reading and talking. Black descendants of Bruce’s Beach owner could get Manhattan Beach land back under plan. Essential to the story are diaries and letters kept by Otto’s wife, Charlotte. That the author has now spent so many years dedicated to the story of Otto — hoping to convince his son of the truth — is remarkable. It reads: "It is more important to understand the butcher than the victim." The former House speaker’s memoir, ‘On the House,’ brims with fury over the Trumpy takeover of his party, tales of the good old days, not much else. As he said to me, he hardly knew his father, but he knew his mother very well. It is not questionable. In a gripping new BBC production, Philippe Sands examines the mysterious ‘loving husband’ in Lviv responsible for the death of his grandfather’s family … Did you ever lose patience with Horst, with that repetitive claim that his dad was a good man? It took 30 years, and a reunion, for many to listen. Javier and I were sitting together in the Sistine Chapel and I said to him, "Why are you so interested in the Wächters, Otto and Charlotta?" Mike Pence joins Simon & Schuster’s political roster with two-book deal. British novelist John le Carré, who anatomized Cold War spycraft and sometimes even influenced it, has died after a short illness at the age of 89. What he's responsible for is recognizing the crimes of his father, and this is something he will not do and that is problematic. She lived until 1985. Add some “good” to your morning and evening. I try to maintain my cool when I'm with him, even if he upsets me sometimes. Can you describe this trove, how big it is and the implications of it? Like Philippe Sands, Rebecca Mead often writes about the intersection of history and modern life. He finally descended to Rome, where he hoped the Ratline (an affiliation of fascists and their allies who helped Nazis leave Europe and escape justice) might help him. He was indicted for mass murder, probably more than half a million people. Philippe Sands gave a terrific talk by Zoom on the 5th June. But I can quite see some would be troubled by the idea that I'm trying to put the accent on the perpetrators rather than the victims, which is, of course, not my position. Philippe Sands is an international lawyer and president of English PEN. The prominent British lawyer’s new book focuses on four men with ties to a Polish town. Hear from the poets, historians and fiction writers who gave us the most powerful books of 2020. In The Ratline, author Philippe Sands traces the life and mysterious death of a Nazi mass murderer, With East West Street, Philippe Sands maps the intersection of unspeakable crime and modern justice. 6 writers chart a course. His talk in 2017 on East West Street was one of the highlights of that year and this one was just as rivetting. Philippe Sands's Torture Team exposes the American conspiracy to tear up the Geneva Convention after the attacks of 9/11, says Rafael Behr Published: 3 May 2008 So much for the rights of man Directed by David Evans. Review: Belly up to the bar with John Boehner for nostalgic tales of government paralysis. It's obviously a huge question. And if he had been caught and tried, I have no doubt he would have been convicted and sentenced to death. East West Street author Philippe Sands uncovers secrets and lies on the trail of Otto Wächter, his devoted wife – and the son brought up to believe his father was a decent man In ‘The Ratline,’ Philippe Sands befriends son of Otto von Wachter, SS officer involved in killing his ancestors. Otto and Charlotte’s fate rose and fell with the Nazis. Annette Gordon-Reed, Ayad Akhtar, Héctor Tobar, Martha Minow, David Kaye and Jonathan Rauch discuss the Jan. 6 riot and what we do about it. His 2015 documentary about Horst and Niklas Frank, released in the U.S. as “What Our Fathers Did,” and his 2018 BBC4 podcast “The Ratline” explore this story, but neither has the space this book does to dig into the emotional pull between Charlotte and Otto. And his mother, Charlotta, loved him. And he said, "Because it's more important to know the butcher — the perpetrator — than the victim.". She was from a wealthy industrial family; he was a young lawyer with a title and military background. Philippe Sands The PEN Hay Lecture: Words, Memory and Imagination - 1945, and Today Hay Festival 2018 , Tuesday 29 May 2018 Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. A British human rights lawyer and author, Sands has now spent many years working with Horst von Wächter, whose prominent father Otto von Wächter disappeared after the war and was largely forgotten. 5 poets address complications of calling L.A. home. From: NewsFeed Philippe Sands: ‘Let’s rethink the concept of genocide’ #AJOpinion hears from British lawyer Philippe Sands on the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials. Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules by Philippe Sands 324pp, Allen Lane, £12.99. Was Otto a true Nazi believer, a killer, a mass murderer? How will a reopening city treat them? John le Carré, the spy who became the preeminent espionage novelist, dies at 89. He was half of ‘the most famous argument’ in reality-TV history. Audience Relations, CBC P.O. He said, "Terrific idea," and he did it. He lived in the mountains for three years, something he couldn’t have survived without Charlotte, who secretly hiked up to meet him with supplies. Horst was born in 1939, so you get a sense of his age. Watch a clip from the documentary following renowned lawyer Philippe Sands as he meets the sons of two prominent German officials who had been instrumental, during the … The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive. If he cannot break him out of his prison of belief, what hope is there for us now, in America, where we have to fight Nazis all over again? But I'm equally conscious of the fact that Horst is not responsible for what his father did. Get the latest news and notes from our community Book Club. Is that how you would describe your relationship? Finally, I had found in Lviv, in Ukraine, the act of indictment by the Americans and the Polish authorities — mass murder, more than 100,000 Polish citizens — and I showed it to him. Read an Adaptation from Philippe Sands’s New Nazi-Era Saga, East West Street. And it's a complex situation. After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the answer is obvious: Yes, in 2021, America has a Nazi problem. But for the most part, the material is there. I said, "Sure, why not?" Philippe Sands' 'The Ratline' is a Nazi-hunter novel with a unique premise: Sands tries to prove to the Nazi's son that his father wasn't a 'good Nazi.' Charlotte held onto the papers through many moves, across decades, in an effort to prove her husband wasn’t culpable, which is exactly Horst’s rationale for passing them along. Philippe Sands QC is Professor of Law at University College London and a barrister and arbitrator. If Otto had survived amid the shifting allegiances in the early days of the Cold War, he might have found himself to be an asset to the Americans, the very people he was hiding from. Philippe Sands’ The Ratline is a story of love, lies and justice in the aftermath of the Nazi empire, following the renowned QC as he investigated the life of Otto von Wachter -- the Nazi governor who presided over the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews and Poles, including Sands’ own family. A human-rights lawyer conducts conversations with two men whose fathers were indicted as war criminals for their roles in WWII - Nazi Governors and consultants to Adolf Hitler himself. Philippe Sands has been tracking the subjects of “The Ratline” for many years. Few of Otto’s papers remain, but those that do show him sometimes being curt, others being needy. Philippe Joseph Sands, QC (born 17 October 1960) is a British and French lawyer at Matrix Chambers, and Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London. Descendants of a Black family that once owned oceanfront land in Manhattan Beach, in an area known as Bruce’s Beach, could get the land back if legislation passes. Philippe Sands: The book is really the interweaving lives of four men closely connected at different times with the city now called Lviv. Yet when laid out side by side with the historical narrative Sands is able to reconstruct, her documents instead show what she did not see, or what she left out, or what she later tried to forget. Philippe Sands is professor of law at University College London. It was the moment where Horst had said to me, "You know Phillippe, there's no proof, there's nothing." Start with the end and it hardly seems a question: Otto was a high-ranking Nazi official in Poland and Ukraine during World War II; he oversaw the creation of Jewish ghettos and deportations and two of his close colleagues were executed at Nuremberg, Germany. And Horst made available to you this treasure trove of Otto von Wächter's family's letters, documents and diaries and photographs and even audio recordings. And I disagreed with that. I first met Horst in about 2011, so it's been about 10 years. Sign up for the Los Angeles Times Book Club. And he said, "Well, it doesn't prove anything. I've written East West Street, and The Ratline, really to honour my grandfather who I was very, very close to. And I'd seen one or two items from this vast trove — all the letters, the diaries, the photographs, correspondence, everything between his mother and father from 1929 to 1949 — and I said, "You know what, why don't you give that to a museum? What does that mean to you? Horst got very upset and he said to me, "How can I prove that I'm not a Nazi?" Time proved him right. Soccer-wise, Carli Lloyd did not have a happy 2020. You can see the full 90min talk on YouTube by clicking HERE. There are a couple of crucial years that are completely missing in her diaries, which I suspect may not just be an accident, that they will have been destroyed. Can a book about a powerful Nazi and the struggle to pierce his son’s abiding belief in his father’s blamelessness be relevant seven decades after the end of World War II? He is a sweet person looking for the good in his father. Former VP Mike Pence has a deal to write two books. And then he said, "Would you like a copy?" As a Nazi governor, he is implicated in the murders of tens of thousands of Jews, among them your grandfather's family. But in 1949, before he found his way to Argentina or Syria like other Nazis before him, he suddenly fell ill and died.The last quarter of the book is devoted to the slow unraveling of this 60-year-old medical mystery, aimed at addressing Horst’s conviction that his father was poisoned. Five of 2020’s best crime writers on where mystery fiction is today. Rabbi Lawrence in conversation with Philippe Sands, international barrister and acclaimed authour of "East West Street" and "The Ratline". Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of the story collection “Likes,” a finalist for the Times Book Prize in fiction, talks about her destabilizing work. This is a Soviet document. Then I realized Sands was building a narrative of spycraft and power shifts so breathtaking in its twists that it requires each tiny block to resonate fully. The Women’s Prize Trust reaffirmed trans author Torrey Peters’ eligibility for its prize in fiction after an open letter contested her nomination. Carefully, gently, meticulously, he’s engaged every protest, every excuse, every question Horst has raised to show exactly who Otto was and what he did. The Ratline by Philippe Sands review – on the trail of the Nazi who got away A mesmerising biography of a devoted father, husband and war … He acts as counsel before international courts, and sits as an arbitrator. International law is a subject that, on the face of it, has little drawing power. Kellogg is a former Books editor of the L.A. Times. Poet Amanda Gorman for president? I think to understand Horst, the remainder of his life — 75-plus years — is about reconstructing that idyllic past and wishing that in some way it could be once more. L.A. Times Festival of Books lineup: Don Lemon, Douglas Stuart, Zooey Deschanel and more, Why L.A. is the dark heart of crime writing. In the opening and closing pages of your book, you have a quote from Javier Cercas, the Spanish writer that you just mentioned.