In 1972 English writer Frederick Forsyth published a novel, THE ODESSA FILE which encompassed the adventures of a young German reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration-camp commander, Austrian Nazi SS-Obersturmfuhrer and Commandant of the Riga Ghetto during 1943, Eduard Roschmann who earned the nickname the “Butcher of Riga.”  In the novel, the German freelance crime reporter, Peter Miller learns that Roschmann was responsible for the death of his father and had committed acts of immense cruelty, torture, and mass murder.  Forsyth’s novel, a blend of fact and historical fiction, follows Miller’s quest and learns that Roschmann is not alone. He is part of something more ominous: Odessa.

The name ODESSA is an acronym for the German phrase “Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen”, which translates as “Organisation of Former Members of the SS”. The novel depicts ODESSA as an international Nazi organization established shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany for the purpose of protecting former members of the SS after the war.    What was most concerning for Miller was that the organization was about to give birth to a new Reich—beginning with a nightmarish plot to regain their former power and carry out Hitler’s “Final Solution.”

Fifty years later, Forsyth, the author of worldwide bestsellers; THE DOGS OF WAR, THE FIST OF GOD, THE AFGHAN, THE KILL LIST among his thirteen novels and his co-writer, Tony Kent, a renown English writer in his own right has revisited the secrets of Odessa in their novel REVENGE OF ODESSA.  Today we find Peter Miller is a retired journalist who is devoted to raising his grandson, Georg ever since his son and daughter-in-law died in a tragic car accident.  Georg is also an accomplished writer who is investigating a series of terrorist attacks in Germany now finds himself the target of assassins and up against individuals involved with a resurgent ODESSA.

(Bestselling thriller author Frederick Forsyth)

The novel begins with the death of Ohio Senator Jack Johnson and his intern Sophie Arnott in a house fire.  The authors soon turn their focus to a Stuttgart soccer stadium where a mass terrorist event takes place.  In the ensuing mayhem we are introduced to journalist and podcaster Georg Miller who was at the stadium and following his instincts goes to the hospital to report on casualties representing the Komet news magazine.  Georg fears that the right-wing shift by German politicians and newspapers will use an Islamic terror attack as a means of limiting the civil liberties of Germans and immigrants for their own political agenda.  The authors set the stage of a recurrent racism, anti-Islamism, and the rise of the Christian right represented by some of the soccer players who argue it is time to fight back.  Georg believed this was a recipe for mass unrest since the stadium shooting followed other attacks months before which was unleashing unbridled hatred.

While investigating the shooting at the hospital Georg came across an elderly man who was suffering from dementia who believed that Georg was his father, Horst Miller who had been with the Federal Police, later the Bundesnachrichfendienst (BDN), Germany’s foreign intelligence service.  Ackermann would inform Georg that he was responsible for his parent’s deaths and after conducting extensive research concluded that he was a policeman who moonlighted as an executioner for Odessa whose goal was to complete the work Hitler started.  In his investigation Georg interviewed Ackermann’s wife Elke who reaffirmed her husband’s actions and ties to Odessa.  Georg’s parents were killed when he was ten years old and raised by his elderly grandparents.

The authors are very cognizant of the contemporary shift politically worldwide and use these ideological movements to explain the resurgence of the Odessa, a more sophisticated and powerful rendition than its earlier historical phase.  For example, was Odessa ratcheting up the Islamic threat as a means of increasing German right-wing nationalism as the Nazis did with the Communist threat in 1934 culminating in the Reichstag Fire?

(co-author, Tony Kent)

Georg’s grandfather, Peter, a well-known journalist in the 1960s and 70s who publicized the Odessa threat, was scared that his grandson’s investigation would make him a target.  Peter believed that the organization of ex-SS officers loyalists had never gone away and could not be killed.  When Ackermann and his wife are murdered because they disclosed the existence of Odessa, Georg is convinced he is their next target, as is his grandfather Peter.

The plot moves back and forth between Germany and the heart of Washington as the death of Senator Johnson and his replacement by Cole Grisham in the Senate and events in Germany are somehow linked.  The authors create an explosive tension that reflects the stakes that are now global.  The resurgence of Odessa as a ruthless force infiltrating politics and terror cells worldwide is chillingly plausible. At a time when far-right movements, disinformation and political polarization are only too real, this novel taps into many anxieties and fears. Revenge of Odessa challenges the accepted conclusion that the defeat of Nazi Germany was final, that justice was served, and the horrors ended forever. Instead, the novel chillingly suggests that the defeat was only temporary; ideologies may go underground, but their roots remain.

A parallel story line is developed which involves a plot to Replace President Robert John Bauer’s Vice President with Cole Grisham.  Both men are ideological soulmates creating a populist front but have the support of a fringe white supremacist movement in the United States.  Their cover is very Donald Trump like – suppposedly standing up for those who feel betrayed by traditional politicians with their own economic agenda.  The heart of the novel centers on the link between the two American politicians and Odessa.

The link is partially uncovered by the work of Vanessa Price, the only remaining staffer from deceased Senator Johnson remaining on Grisham’s staff.  Two others have already been purged by Katie Braid, Grisham’s Chief of Staff.  Vanessa soon learns that an American political action committee – America Tomorrow has been funded by a number of German corporate interests.  Further, Vanessa learns that Braid and two other members of Grisham’s staff were also staffers on America Tomorrow since 2018.  The key question was “what did a German fund have to gain from a White House administration dominated by Bauer and Grisham?

In this multi-layered historical thriller, the authors have created a number of questionable characters.  First and foremost is Ben Klein, a police friend of Georg’s father who once he was killed served as his protector.  Another is Scott Brogan, Georg’s god son and former British MI6 agent whose skills, though deplorable, uncover the depth of the Odessa resurgence.  We are also introduced to Leo Renner, who may have seen himself as the new Fuhrer or at the very least “a nationalist messiah,” as well as the Krantz brothers who formed the muscle for Odessa.  The authors effectively weave events in Stuttgart, Hamburg, and Washington alternating chapters until the various plot lines come together.

REVENGE OF ODESSA is a historical thriller that challenges the accepted conclusion that the defeat of Nazi Germany brought about the destruction of the Third Reich.   Instead, the novel chillingly suggests that the defeat was only temporary; ideologies may dissipate, but their ideological core remains.   Forsyth and Kent deliver a warning that evil does not always disappear.  It asks how many resolved conflicts remain dormant and how many defeated ideologies remain underground to reemerge later.  With that being said, the conclusion of the novel is predictable and though it lays the basis for a sequel it does not measure up to the original ODESSA FILE.