Otto Skorzeny
Part 1a [1] 42:37 | Part 1b [2] 43:31 | Part 1c [3] 43:33 | Part 1d [4] 43:33
Part 1e [5] 42:20 | Part 1f [6] 32:20 | Part 1g [7] 36:04 | Part 1h [8] 14:36
(Recorded July 8, 1986)
Although much has been written and said about “international terrorism” during the past several decades, relatively little has been said about one of the most prominent figures in the development of the methodology and organizational ontogenesis of terrorism. Former SS officer Otto Skorzeny had much to do with originating the key strategic features of terrorism, as practiced by many post-war terrorist organizations, and also had operational connections to many of them.
In charge of commando operations for the Third Reich and one of Hitler’s personal favorites, Skorzeny understood that highly visible and psychologically significant operations by relatively small units could (under certain circumstances) achieve the same strategic goals as large-scale military undertakings. AFA-22 discusses Skorzeny’s World War II operations and his post-war career. As one of the leaders of ODESSA (the post-war SS organization), Skorzeny not only worked for the Reinhard Gehlen spy outfit, but the CIA as well.
His work for intelligence services placed him in a position to work with, and sponsor, some of the seminal terrorist elements of the century. A significant portion of the program deals with the Olympics massacre of 1972 and the involvement of elements of Western intelligence services with the perpetrators of that crime.
Program Highlights Include: Skorzeny’s kidnapping of the son of Hungarian dictator Horthy during World War II; the role of the Horthy kidnapping in maintaining Hungarian allegiance to Nazi Germany; the operations of Haj Amin Al-Husseini on behalf of the Third Reich (Husseini was a major in the SS and the first leader of the Palestinian National Movement); Husseini’s relationship to Hassan Salameh (the father of Olympics massacre mastermind Ali Hassan Salameh); Hassan Salameh’s operations on behalf of Nazi Germany; Ali Hassam Salameh’s connections to the CIA; the connections of Salameh and Carlos the Jackal to the post-war Skorzeny/ODESSA milieu; the BND/Gehlen affiliation of Olympics Security Chief Hans Langemann; Langemann’s work sponsoring “leftist” terrorist groups in the Federal Republic of Germany (undertaken in combination with Hans Kollmar, the head of the BKA, Germany’s equivalent of the FBI); Skorzeny’s training of the first Palestinian terrorist cadre while working in Egypt for the CIA and Gehlen organization; Skorzeny’s connections to PLO leader Yasser Arafat; Skorzeny’s involvement with the Borghese coup attempt of 1970 in Italy (see RFA-19); Skorzeny’s connections to the P‑2 milieu and its involvement with the “Rose of the Winds” coup plot of 1973 (see RFA-19); Skorzeny’s World War II work with Prince Borghese in the development of suicide commandos; Khadafy’s apparent sponsorship of suicide terrorist units; Skorzeny’s role in helping to develop the Libyan secret service utilized by Khadafy.