Skorzeny's papers in context of Albarelli's "Coup in Dallas."

[Leslie Sharp]

A research friend recently asked: What does Ganis say about Souetre and/or his relationship with Skorzeny? Does Lafitte appear in the book as well? 
 

My response: I believe Major Ganis [author of "The Skorzeny Papers: Evidence of the Plot to Kill JFK"] relies primarily if not solely on Otto's Skorzeny's papers along with open source material related to OAS Captain Jean Souetre. The dissolution agreement of the Ganis-Albarelli collaboration prohibits him from including anything Hank may have shared in confidence from the Lafitte datebook about Souetre's movements in November 1963. 
 

Major Ganis was also prohibited from mentioning Pierre Lafitte in context of the Dallas plot for the same reason. It is my understanding that he developed significant skepticism about the datebook so he was entirely comfortable with the restriction. He argued with me that Hank never showed him the physical instrument. I've made attempts to explain to him that — to my knowledge — Hank did not actually take physical possession of the datebook until November 2018; he invited the Major to meet him in London for the launch of authentication and Ganis declined the invitation. By then, their collaboration was "in trouble" primarily over the characterization of Otto Skorzeny as a "FORMER" N.a.z.i.. Hank contended Skorzeny wasn't a "former" N.a.z.i. (see, for example, evidence in the film footage from his 1975 military funeral.)

Lafitte hints strongly at an active fascist ideology fueling the plans for the assassination in Dallas. We now realize that "Rudel", Hitler's ace pilot Hans-Ulrich, appears in Lafitte's '63 notes, and that after more than a decade in pursuit of a visa for entry into the US, he suddenly landed one, and landed on the continent around October 9 to attend a conference at Wright-Patterson. The October 9 Lafitte datebook entry spells out active contributors to the plot for Dallas, including Jean Souetre. 
 

On Hank's behalf, I should make clear he also believed strongly that the information from Ganis's Skorzeny collection which he presented in "The Skorzeny Papers" would some day prove invaluable to serious historians.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Leslie Sharp]

Made clear throughout Skorzeny's papers, he and Ilse were firmly entrenched in Franco's Spain after the war where he functioned unfettered as an arms dealer with his good friend Victor Oswald, a contract trainer for  Nasser's army, and we know that he was an operative for the Dulles/Stephenson/Donovan World Commerce Corporation and appears in documents related to the CIAs QJ/WIN program among other notable activities. For our purpose, it is the Meadows-Skorzeny oil scheme, comprised of Texas independent oilmen, that ties it altogether. Meanwhile, Ilse traveled the globe under cover of NY based real estate concern, Previews Inc., doing the bidding of her beloved commando. (Previews Inc. was cofounded by Wild Bill Donovan's chief of security, Archbold van Bueren who investigated the Amerasia case, said to have launched what evolved into the Cold War propaganda machine.) 

Thom Hartmann explains what The Reich which Otto and Ilse continued to serve loyally using Madrid as base will look like in the US if the MAGA cult triumphs and lands Trump back in the Oval Office. 

Note: in this piece, Hartmann fails to note that the former PM of Spain who was aligned with a branch of the Falange party in his youth still sits on the board of Fox News Corporation.

' . . . My wife Louise and I have been in Spain all this week while Jefferson Smith fills in for me on my radio/TV show, and we’ve learned more than a little that might answer those questions.

Most Americans, when they think of fascism, think of goose-stepping National Socialist soldiers and death camps, and believe that that whole system of government was totally crushed by the Allies in 1945 at the end of World War II. But Spain was fascist right up until dictator Francisco Franco’s death in 1975 at the age of 82.

There are still many people here in Spain who regard the Franco time fondly; if you were on his side, supported his Falange party — later called simply “The Movement” — or were assiduously nonpolitical, life could be relatively normal.

Just this morning a Spaniard we spent a few hours with told us how most people simply avoided politics back during Franco’s time — and are still, to this day, reluctant to discuss the horrors of his regime. “There is talk of reparations for his victims,” she said, “but it is very contentious. Mostly, people avoid discussing those times.”

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elections/america-after-a-maga-win-in-2024-what-a-fourth-reich-here-might-look-like/

If you weren’t political, life went on like in much of the rest of “free” Europe. People worked, went to theater and dance clubs, raised their kids, vacationed, cared for pets, engaged in hobbies, fell in love or got divorced: As long as Franco’s regime wasn’t mentioned in a negative light, life was good.

As in most fascist or neofascist countries throughout history and today, the wealthy were the most well taken care of, but even working people and the poor enjoyed a reasonable social safety net. In 1942, Franco mandated a national health care insurance program, for example, and throughout his reign expanded the number of hospital beds and clinics across the country; in 1951 he led a movement through much of the Spanish speaking world to establish what became something like American Social Security.

But… if you spoke out against his fascist movement, job opportunities vanished, you could be imprisoned, or even “disappeared,” as happened to tens of thousands. One of the people we spoke with here told us how the media was entirely in the bag for Franco with pro-fascist slogans and news shorts airing constantly, along with commentary praising him even interspersed into music and programs on radio and TV.

Trump and his followers have given us numerous insights into how he’d transform American society to resemble something like Franco’s regime. As with Franco, loyalty to Trump and his cult was a far more important factor in rising through the ranks of government and even private industry.

Trump has promised — most recently just a few weeks ago — that he would use the awesome police powers of the federal government to target his political enemies for persecution, imprisonment, and possibly even death.

 

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elections/america-after-a-maga-win-in-2024-what-a-fourth-reich-here-might-look-like/

Edited July 5, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Greg Doudna]

On 7/4/2023 at 3:12 PM, Leslie Sharp said:

A research friend recently asked: What does Ganis say about Souetre and/or his relationship with Skorzeny? Does Lafitte appear in the book as well? 

My response: I believe Major Ganis [author of "The Skorzeny Papers: Evidence of the Plot to Kill JFK"] relies primarily if not solely on Otto's Skorzeny's papers along with open source material related to OAS Captain Jean Souetre. The dissolution agreement of the Ganis-Albarelli collaboration prohibits him from including anything Hank may have shared in confidence from the Lafitte datebook about Souetre's movements in November 1963. 
 

Major Ganis was also prohibited from mentioning Pierre Lafitte in context of the Dallas plot for the same reason. It is my understanding that he developed significant skepticism about the datebook so he was entirely comfortable with the restriction. He argued with me that Hank never showed him the physical instrument. I've made attempts to explain to him that — to my knowledge — Hank did not actually take physical possession of the datebook until November 2018; he invited the Major to meet him in London for the launch of authentication and Ganis declined the invitation. By then, their collaboration was "in trouble" primarily over the characterization of Otto Skorzeny as a "FORMER" N.a.z.i.. Hank contended Skorzeny wasn't a "former" N.a.z.i. (see, for example, evidence in the film footage from his 1975 military funeral.)

Lafitte hints strongly at an active fascist ideology fueling the plans for the assassination in Dallas. We now realize that "Rudel", Hitler's ace pilot Hans-Ulrich, appears in Lafitte's '63 notes, and that after more than a decade in pursuit of a visa for entry into the US, he suddenly landed one, and landed on the continent around October 9 to attend a conference at Wright-Patterson. The October 9 Lafitte datebook entry spells out active contributors to the plot for Dallas, including Jean Souetre. 
 

On Hank's behalf, I should make clear he also believed strongly that the information from Ganis's Skorzeny collection which he presented in "The Skorzeny Papers" would some day prove invaluable to serious historians.

 

[David Butler]

In case anyone is interested the original auction listing from 2012 is here

https://www.alexautographs.com/auction-lot/the-personal-archives-of-the-most-dangerous-man-i_B64273C68C/

[Leslie Sharp]

11 minutes ago, David Butler said:

In case anyone is interested the original auction listing from 2012 is here

https://www.alexautographs.com/auction-lot/the-personal-archives-of-the-most-dangerous-man-i_B64273C68C/

Thanks, David.

 

We've been curious why a fairly sizable portion of the collection was withdrawn from auction a few years ago.  Have you come across that? I believe the price tag was close to $10,000.

[Paul Brancato]

3 minutes ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Thanks, David.

 

We've been curious why a fairly sizable portion of the collection was withdrawn from auction a few years ago.  Have you come across that? I believe the price tag was close to $10,000.

Is it the group in Madrid who did the video about Skorzeny recently that has some of that collection?

[Leslie Sharp]

Just now, Paul Brancato said:

Is it the group in Madrid who did the video about Skorzeny recently that has some of that collection?

Meaning did they purchase the smaller collection?  I have no idea because the auction listing indicates "withdrawn" suggesting it didn't attract high bids?

 

 

[Paul Brancato]

Do you recall the name or any detail of the Madrid based researchers? 

[Leslie Sharp]

4 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Do you recall the name or any detail of the Madrid based researchers? 

I'm guessing they appear in credits for the film, and/or maybe even on IMBD.

Who was the American or British researcher you corresponded with? She might know.

 

I would be very interested to learn whether she pursued her project of identifying Nazis whose families settled in Dallas. Is it possible they were the initial conduit to Madrid and the Meadows- Skorzeny scheme? I think i mentioned that a new research friend in Valencia suggests there were no significant oil fields in Spain so they were probably pursuing No. Africa, Ethiopia, Red Sea.  Which leads us to Ed Berger's brilliant work on Yemen, Jack Crichton, Permindex, on another thread. Hope you followed it.

 

And has anyone attempted to converse with Major Ganis recently? Has anyone dared to suggest he turn over the Skorzeny Papers to NARA?  

[Ron Bulman]

Hi Leslie.  This is not worth a thread of it's own so I thought I'd ask this here as it's not yet blown away with criticisms and defenses.

As your aware on pages 575-6 of Coup is a list of select - abbreviated - datebook entries.  Finding the full entries in the book for reference or quotation is often difficult.  How much trouble would it be to provide a list of pages they are on, or preferably a list of the full entries in order?

I know I would find this useful when looking back and I think it might help others (as well as me) put them in context and relation to each other over time.

Food for thought.

[Karl Kinaski]

Skorzeny wasn't the mastermind behind the rescue of Benito Mussolini in 1943 as Albarelli thought. 

Quote, german wiki "Otto Skorzeny" translated with google:

Quote

Although Skorzeny was neither involved in the direct planning of the operation nor he commanded it, he was singled out by Nazi propaganda as a “liberator of Mussolini,” promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer, and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 13, 1943.[3 ] The fact that the operation was primarily planned and carried out by members of the paratrooper troops was deliberately concealed, while the role of Skorzeny and his SS men was greatly exaggerated

It is my understanding by attributing Skorzeny a prominent role in the killing of Kennedy, Albarelli in his book COUP IN DALLAS makes the same move Goebbels made regarding Skorzenys role in the rescue of Mussolini. Lucky Skorzeny: because in reality he had little to do with the rescue of Benito and IMO the killing of Jack. 

 

(It was a paratrooper Harald Mors who played the key role in the rescue of Benito.)

[Leslie Sharp]

On 10/16/2023 at 11:28 PM, Karl Kinaski said:

Skorzeny wasn't the mastermind behind the rescue of Benito Mussolini in 1943 as Albarelli thought. 

Quote, german wiki "Otto Skorzeny" translated with google:

It is my understanding by attributing Skorzeny a prominent role in the killing of Kennedy, Albarelli in his book COUP IN DALLAS makes the same move Goebbels made regarding Skorzenys role in the rescue of Mussolini. Lucky Skorzeny: because in reality he had little to do with the rescue of Benito and IMO the killing of Jack. 

 

(It was a paratrooper Harald Mors who played the key role in the rescue of Benito.)

@Karl Kinaski Had you actually read Coup, you would know that the controversy introduced by Lt. Col. Berberich back in 1987 was addressed. (I would note that apparently Encyclopedia Britannica among numerous other "revered" sources has yet to catch up with Major Mors' version of events.)
 

The Skorzenys

 

Ilse 8:00 PM

—Lafitte datebook, June 19, 1963

 

 

Cable to Madrid – all – ok – tell Tom D.

O says come to Madrid

—Lafitte datebook, October 1, 1963

 

A Couple of Charming Nazis

Otto Skorzeny has come to be regarded, in some quarters, as the premier designer and executor of German special operations during the Second World War based on numerous factors, some borne of substance, and some a reflection of Skorzeny’s deft hand at delegating planning authority combined with an equally deft sense of public relations. In the course of accomplishing his most high-profile mission, the September 1943 glider-borne mountain top rescue of Benito Mussolini, Skorzeny displayed great daring, but his subsequent claims to have planned the operation were a substantial stretch.

         Skorzeny biographer Stuart Smith, Otto Skorzeny: The Devil’s Disciple, plausibly suggests that Major Harold Mors, who headed an elite airborne battalion near Rome at the time, and had a tremendous amount of experience in conducting airborne assaults, was the actual author of the operation at Italy’s Gran Sasso mountain which liberated Mussolini. Military historian Lt. Col. Florian Berberich would comment that “Actually, Skorzeny pretty much went along for the ride—as a passenger…” Still, Skorzeny had been responsible for a great deal of the intelligence collection that pointed the German paratroopers to Mussolini’s location, and decisions he made on the ground played a large part in the success of the operation, which had been formally handed to Skorzeny by Adolf Hitler. Admiral William McRaven, arguably the world’s foremost authority on military special operations, concluded: “Whether Skorzeny was a straphanger or the mastermind of the operation is inconsequential. Ultimately, success resulted from Skorzeny’s action at Gran Sasso, and not from Mors’”

Edited October 31, 2023 by Leslie Sharp