After World War II, the legend grew of a powerful, shadowy organization, ODESSA, dedicated to sheltering Nazi fugitives from justice. No less than Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal believed in the ODESSA conspiracy. University of Nebraska-Lincoln history professor Gerald Steinacher begs to differ, doubting whether anything so well organized as ODESSA survived the collapse of the Third Reich. In Nazis on the Run, Steinacher studiously uncovers more prosaic explanations for the large numbers of Nazis who slipped the dragnet. Put another way, their disappearance had many causes. Many simply blended in with the millions of displaced persons and refugees; many benefited from governments wanting to get on with postwar problems (Italy) or governments seeking to use their expertise in the Cold War (United States). The Vatican aided anti-Communist and Roman Catholic refugees of all sorts and turned a blind eye to the sins of some of their beneficiaries. Yes, Steinacher shows, there were Nazi networks that shielded members, but no evidence of the ODESSA of best sellers and Hollywood.
