He was Mussolini’s liberator, spy and “organizer” of coups, but also a man ready to change his coat at any opportunity. Otto Skorzeny, an SS officer, easily recognizable by the scar on his cheek and his imposing stature, rose to prominence eighty years ago when he took part in Operation Quercia, the air raid that enabled the Germans to capture Benito Mussolini, who had been captured there to take over time of the Carabinieri in Campo Imperatore. At the operation organized by Air Force General Kurt Student, Skorzeny was present, who, although he did not play a leading role in the matter, managed to take credit for it: he made way and posed next to Mussolini and in one of the photos of that time you can see his enthusiastic figure alongside that of a resigned and low-energy leader. Skorzeny, certainly not lacking in enterprise, decided to accompany Mussolini by boarding the Storch plane in which he was accommodated – risking a plane crash given the crew’s excessive weight. From that day on, this scary-looking man became the Duce’s liberator.
Who was Otto Skorzeny?
Otto Skorzeny was born on June 12, 1908 in Vienna into a family of distant Polish origins. During his youth, the future SS officer stood out for his abilities: he learned French and English and often came into conflict with his father over the family’s strict lifestyle. He was also an excellent fencing fighter: during one of the duels he suffered a deep wound in the face that would affect him for the rest of his life.
His career in National Socialism began in 1932 when he joined the Austrian National Socialist Party and later the SA. After the annexation and invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Skorzeny applied to join the Luftwaffe, but was rejected because of his height, which was considered excessive (he was 1.94 meters tall). He then joined the Waffen-SS and served first in the SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler” and then in the SS Panzer Division “Das Reich”. In 1941 he took part in the Battle of Moscow and was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class in 1942.
be 1943 Honors course experienced a turning point: his name was suggested by Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the powerful head of the RSHA, the Central Office for Reich Security, Nazi Germany’s vast repression and espionage apparatus. Skorzeny then met with General Walter Schellenberg, the commander of Section VI: Schellenberg gave Skorzeny command of the schools where agents were trained in sabotage, espionage and paramilitary techniques. Skorzeny was appointed commander of the Waffen-SS special unit zbV Friedenthal near Berlin.
Among Skorzeny’s first missions was Operation François, an attempt to use the dissident Qashqai people in Iran to sabotage British and American shipments to the Soviet Union. Then a series of more or less lucky shots until the Duce was freed.
Operation Panzerfaust
After Mussolini’s liberation, another Skorzeny plan became infamous for its unfortunate consequences. The Kingdom of Hungary had been in the war on the side of the Axis powers since 1940, but from the end of 1943 the country looked for a way out of the conflict with military defeats in the Soviet Union. To prevent the loss of Hungarian territory, the Germans carried out Operation Margarethe, the military occupation of the country. Deportations began, involving over 400,000 people. The regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy, tried to continue negotiations with the Allies and stop the deportations. But his attempts were discovered by the Nazis: in October 1944, Skorzeny led Operation Panzerfaust, aimed at overthrowing Horthy and encouraging the rise to power of Ferenc Szálasi, leader of the Arrow Cross Party. It was a death sentence for the Jews remaining in Budapest, which was besieged by the Soviets. Thousands were killed in pogroms organized by Arrow Cross members.
Shoes on the banks of the Danube, in memory of the Jews murdered by the Arrow Cross
Skorzeny after the war: from defeat to recycling
The last operation orchestrated by Otto Skorzeny during World War II was disastrous. In late 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, he attempted to infiltrate German soldiers who spoke fluent English behind Allied lines with the aim of causing unrest and confusion. Almost all the spies were captured and sixteen were shot. General Eisenhower put a bounty on Skorzeny’s head. After the war he was interned for two years before being tried as a war criminal at the Dachau Trials in 1947 for alleged violations of the laws of war during the Battle of the Bulge. But in 1948 he managed to escape from the camp where he was interned.
However, the end of the war did not mean the end of Skorzeny’s career. He became an advisor to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. According to some authors, he traveled between Spain and Argentina, where he acted as an advisor to President Juan Perón and a bodyguard to Eva Perón. And perhaps he also worked for the Mossad, the Israeli secret service: the Israeli security and intelligence magazine Matara published an article in 1989 in which he claimed that Skorzeny had been recruited by the Mossad in 1963 to obtain information about German scientists who worked there Egyptian project to develop missiles for use against Israel. In this role he probably took part in the murder of Heinz Krug, who worked for the Egyptian government.
