Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
With the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, many Nazi war criminals escaped justice for their atrocities, often to South America. It was widely believed that a network existed to smuggle these criminals out of Europe; the most famous of which was the purported ODESSA (Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen - Organisation of Former SS Members), which became popular in spy novels and films.
The existence of an organisation called ODESSA is today widely regarded as a myth by historians, but it is doubtless that organised Nazi escape networks existed, and they allowed many of these evil people (like Josef Mengele) to live out the rest of their lives free from the consequences of their actions.
One of six Great Mysteries and Myths of the Twentieth Century "missing" episodes from the official Madacy boxset.
With the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, many Nazi war criminals escaped justice for their atrocities, often to South America. It was widely believed that a network existed to smuggle these criminals out of Europe; the most famous of which was the purported ODESSA (Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen - Organisation of Former SS Members), which became popular in spy novels and films.
The existence of an organisation called ODESSA is today widely regarded as a myth by historians, but it is doubtless that organised Nazi escape networks existed, and they allowed many of these evil people (like Josef Mengele) to live out the rest of their lives free from the consequences of their actions.
One of six Great Mysteries and Myths of the Twentieth Century "missing" episodes from the official Madacy boxset.
