All language subtitles for H.H.S03E05.Dead.Drops.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD2.0.H.264-alfaHD_track4_[eng]

Narrator: Previously
on "Hunting Hitler"...

So, this is
from June 12, 1945.

Look at this line.

"At this time,
the decision had been taken

to divide the ministries
in two parts

and establish one government
in the north

and one in the south."

They're splitting up.

We have to look
at both routes.

**

Holland:
Counterfeit money?

So, they hid it with the
intention of coming back for it.
Yes.

This was the dead drop
for the escaping Nazis.

Was Narvik the staging point
to send heavy water to Argentina

to make a nuclear bomb
to create the Fourth Reich?

**

**

**

Narrator: Along Hitler's
potential northern escape route

in Narvik, Norway,

U.S. Army Special Forces
Tim Kennedy

has made a massive discovery
that could change

the course of the investigation.

Sunken Nazi vessels
in the same area

where eyewitnesses and
a declassified U.S. Army file

claim that Nazis were
transporting nuclear material

out of the country.

It is a complete
massive U-boat.
Man: Yeah.

Just laying
on the ocean floor.

While we didn't find
any barrels of heavy water,

this is
an unbelievable discovery.

This is massive infrastructure.

Something very important
to the Nazis

was going on right here.

**

**

Look at the size
of this airplane.
It was huge.

And it's sitting right
next to a U-boat.

Narrator:
21-year CIA veteran Bob Baer

and former Terrorist Targeting
officer Nada Bakos

are using
an asset-mapping strategy,

tracking Hitler's
known associates to pinpoint

exactly where the fuhrer
could have gone

after World War II.

Clearly, for the Nazis, Narvik
was a major militarized port.

They are investigating
two potential

escape routes for Hitler --

a souther route
through the Tyrol border region

and a northern route
through Narvik, Norway,

where they discovered
the remains

of two large Nazi vessels.

The question is, were
these used in conjunction
with each other,

or did they just happen
to be at the port

ound the same time?

Baer: The fact they were found
together, it's very strange.

And my experience tells me
it was not for local defense.

So, what were they
doing with them?

Look at this --

OSS,
predecessor of the CIA,

March 15, 1943.

Message from
Colonel Von Lossberg.

Baer:
"I have spoken about refueling
seaplanes from U-boats.

A possibility is to station
a U-boat in the Atlantic,

and when the weather
is favorable, it signals."

What they're talking about here
is flying seaplanes out,

rallying with a U-boat
in the middle of the Atlantic,

refueling, and sending
the seaplanes on.

What these U-boats are
are gasoline stations

in the middle
of the Atlantic.

Look, you've got about
8,000 miles

from Narvik
to Argentina.

Bakos:
And the seaplanes have a range
of 3,000 to 4,000 miles,

so you'd only have
to refuel it once or twice

before it got
to South America.

At the beginning
of the investigation,

we looked at the possibility
that Hitler got to Spain

and then took a U-boat.

It never quite worked
in my mind,

because he was in bad health.

I just couldn't imagine
Adolf Hitler,

as ill as he was,
getting on a U-boat for 30 days.

But now that we know
that they were using seaplanes

being refueled by U-boats
in the middle of the ocean,

it makes
a lot more sense.

This opens up a whole new
set of options

for Hitler
to get out of Europe.

For me, this is the logical end
of the northern route.

Getting a seaplane to
South America from Narvik,

100% certainty
you could do it.

If anybody's capable
of using a combination

of a seaplane and a U-boat,
it's the Germans.

Had they mastered the technique,

they could have gotten multiple
seaplanes across the Atlantic.

We have the end
of our escape route.

I think
it's a huge breakthrough.

We now have to figure out
whether the southern route

would've also gotten him
to South America.

**

Narrator:
Having found the end of Hitler's
potential northern escape route

to South America,

Bob and Nada
turn their attention

to the southern escape route

to uncover whether it could've
also provided Hitler

safe passage to South America.

They focus on a castle in Tyrol,

which, according to a
declassified U.S. Army file,

was run by high-level

S.S. Commander
Friedrich Schwend.

The Tyrol border region
between Italy and Austria

was crawling with Nazis.

The team found the castle
where Schwend,

who was reporting to
Kaltenbrunner and Himmler,

was burying stashes
for fleeing Nazis.

Schwend is a key part
of the southern network.

He is a high-ranking Nazi.

He's burying stashes.

Clearly he's a facilitator
helping Nazis

escape along the southern route.

The question is --
What were in these stashes?

I mean, normally you would have
new documentation,

passports,
gold, for instance,

but what they really
need to know

is once you're here.
what's your onward destination?

If we're able to find
one of these stashes,

it could be a big breakthrough.

That could open up the entire
southern network to us.

We could find out
how they escaped

and possibly where
they were headed.

**

Look at this.
U.S. Army --

The Hotel Paradiso served

as a hiding place
for trustworthy Nazis,

such as Friedrich Schwend.

Schwend used his gold
to plan possible escape routes.

This file
is telling us

this was part of
a clandestine organization.

"A hiding place
for trustworthy Nazis."

This is more evidence this is
where those stashes were.

Where is
Hotel Paradiso?

Right in the same region
as the castle.

In the mountains,
very isolated.

If you're gonna hide
dead drops or stashes,

you do it
in these mountains.

So far, we've heard
rumors of stashes,

but I want to see some sort
of evidence to back that up.

**

**

Holland:
How far's the border from here?
We're pretty close, aren't we?

Simpson:
We're pretty darn close,
I believe.

Narrator:
In the Tyrol region on the
border between Austra and Italy,

World War II historian
James Holland

and U.S. Army Green Beret
Mike Simpson

arrive at the Hotel Paradiso.

Look at
this place.

**

Holland:
What we need to find out
is whether Hotel Paradiso

is a viable place in which to
hide a Nazi safety-deposit box.

They could have buried
documents, treasure, gold,

who knows what.

You know, the building's
bigger than I thought
it was gonna be.

Yeah,
it's a monster.

It's almost like
they had plans for this

to be something pretty major.
-Yeah.

Bought at some point
in the world by Schwend,

and I'm guessing
Schwend bought it

because, you know,
he can hide people in here.

This is gonna be
an isolated place

where Schwend can do
what he likes.

Simpson: If you wanted a place
to have a safe-deposit box

that somebody
could pick up

some ready cash
to cross the border,

this would certainly be
on the list of places

where I
would put it.

**

Simpson:
Hotel Paradiso is very remote.

It's really the ideal location,
but if I'm Schwend,

and I'm trying to hide these
articles to be found later,

I'm not going to use
the building itself.

People coming in and out
of the hotel

could stumble
upon it accidentally.

If we're gonna locate
one of these Nazi dead drops,

these safe-deposit boxes,

it's gonna be buried
somewhere in that property.

-This is a pretty big property.
-Yeah.

And so we've got to pick
our spot, haven't we?
Yeah.

We need a little bit
of technology on this.

Narrator:
In order to help narrow down

their search
of the hotel property,

which covers an area of
more than 500,000 square feet,

Mike contacts LiDAR
USA's European technician

Travis Widner, who brings in
state-of-the-art technology.

-Hey!
-What's up, man?

Drone-mounted LiDAR
utilizes laser pulses

to produce detailed
3-D renderings

capable of revealing anomalies
below the surface of the Earth

within millimeter precision.

LiDAR technology
has enabled archaeologists

to discover
lost Mayan civilizations

in the rainforests of Honduras.

Widner: What size cache
are we talking here?

Simpson:
Probably something somebody
could have dug up,

grabbed,
walked away with.

You know, backpacks,
suitcase size.

Let's get a 3-D model
of the area,

and then we can decide
where exactly we can dig.

**

-Whoa!
-I love that.

**

Narrator: To properly scan
for anomalies in the soil,

the team deploys the LiDAR
in a grid-search flight pattern,

covering
the entire hotel property

plus an area 60 feet
beyond the hotel grounds

to ensure they don't miss
any potential targets.

Widner:
So, is this about how far
you guys wanted to go out?

Yeah, right about there
looks right.
Okay.

Holland: So, how long's
this gonna take to do?

Oh, probably
five minutes, tops.
[ Laughing ]
Really?

-To run the whole flight.
-As little as that?

Yeah.

-Amazing.
-21st century technology, James.

Yeah, I mean, just imagine
if we didn't have this.

Simpson: We'd be
out here for days.

Nicely done.

And we'll get to
process this data.
All right.

Widner:
Here's the data.

Boot 'er up here.
Here we go.

Holland:
Oh, wow, look at that!
There's the ilding.
Simpson: Ooh!

Look at that.

-All the trees.
-That's incredible.

Look at all the texture
that gives you.

I mean, it's really
3-Dimensional.

Okay. So, how do we...

spot these potential holes
in the ground?

Well, we're
gonna look for

raised areas
or depressed areas.
Got you.

Anything that doesn't
look natural.
That's right.

We might have to get rid of
some of these trees

to see the surface.

-Wow.
-Look at that.

-What's this?
-That's a nice little pit.

-See that ripple right there?
-Yeah. I see that.

That's uphill from
where the runoff is.

That's not
a natural place

that you're gonna get
an indentation like that.

That's
a great observation.

It's in a completely
unnatural spot.

It's plain as day
right there.

I'll just
mark it really quick.

What's this?
You got a high area
and then -- boop!

-Like, right there.
-Ooh.

There's a dip
right there.

I'm gonna mark
this dip.

Holland: There's two sites
in particular that could be

where Nazi safety-deposit boxes
were buried 70 years ago.

And if we can find just one,
it would give us

one of the best
preserved blueprints

for some kind of escape plan
for the Nazis

at the end of the war.

Great points
to start with.

We need
to start digging.

**

**

If the Nazis buried
anything here,

this is the way
we're gonna find it.

Narrator:
At a former Nazi hotel
along Hitler's potential

southern escape route
in the Tyrol Border Region,

James and Mike are searching
for the hidden location

of an underground stash

which, according
to declassified reports

could have been used
to facilitate

the escape of high-ranking Nazis
at the end of the war.

So, we've got
two spots.

I'll walk you
right over to it.

We're looking for
a meter by a meter, okay?

And probably not quite
a meter deep.

Okay?
All right.

We'll take you over
to the first spot.

Simpson: In this area,
the soil is thickly packed.

It's gonna be difficult
for just James and I

and one shovel to dig here.

Sometimes you got to bring in
your big guns.

Narrator: The team has called in
an excavator

to expedite their search.

The team directs
the excavator operator

to begin digging on
the first of two anomalies

they found using
LiDAR technology.

**

Right there.

Simpson: At this moment,
we actually could be finding

one of these
Nazi safe-deposit boxes.

We're talking about caches
for Nazis on the run with money,

maps, contacts --
whatever they needed.

It's pretty thick.
We wouldn't have been able

to make it through this
on our own.

That size
is perfect.

Just go deep.

**

[ Scraping ]
Whoa!

Lots
of rock here.

**

Look at this. Hold up!
-Whoa!

Yeah, that's rebar.
-Yeah, well...

And this is pipe.
Oh, that's -- Whew!

Holland:
I mean, that's just rubble
from the resort, isn't it?
Right.

There's rebar there,
there's bits of sewage piping,

there's brick. I mean,
no one's gonna be
burying anything in that.
Yeah, you smell that.

That's an old-fashioned
ceramic pipe,

so that's probably
the original pipe

where the sewage came out
of this building.
Mm.

So, now we know why there's
a depression here.

Basically, this is
the septic system,

and that's why it
sank in right here.
[ Laughs ]

Yeah.

All right, let's walk him
over to position two.

Narrator:
The excavator moves 150 feet
to the other anomaly

the team identified
with LiDAR.

[ Machinery revving,
beeping ]

Simpson: Wait.
Go ahead.

**

Holland: Wow,
look at that.

-Not as rocky.
-Yeah, it's perfect.

Simpson: The second location
initially looks very promising.

This area is not rocky.

The soil is coming up
very easily.

This would have been an ideal
spot to bury something.

Go ahead and hold up
right there, okay?

[ Machinery shuts off ]

I don't want him to dig
with this any farther.

If they're hiding something,
this is the depth

that we need to start
looking for it.

If we keep going
with these big teeth,

we risk damaging
whatever it might be.
Yeah, I agree.

[ Clang ]

What's that?

That...

looks like
a shovel to me.

How about that?

Simpson:
This is old.

-It's rusted.
-Mm-hmm.

Based on the rust and appearance
of this shovel head,

I think it dates back
before 1950.

I really think that this broke
off while somebody was digging.

It's bent,
the handle's missing.

Well, I can tell you, it's hard
work digging into that.

-Yeah.
-But not impossible.

This clearly means
someone else was digging

in this
exact same spot.

The question is --
was this shovel here

while someone
was either putting in

or removing one of these
safe-deposit boxes?

Or was it a treasure hunter

just looking in the same area
that we were?

Holland:
No, I think it's pretty clear
there's nothing else

in there, is there?
I think it's reasonable
to assume that something

could have been hidden here.
-Yeah.

But at this point,
we have to assume

that whatever it is
is long gone.

I mean, look at how much
territory there is,

but one of the two places
we marked on the LiDAR.

somebody else was digging,
as well,

which I find to be
a strangcoincidence.

**

**

You can hide stuff in this
hotel, no doubt about it.

Narrator: Bob and Nada
review the findings

from Hitler's potential
southern escape route in Tyrol

where a declassified
U.S. Army report claims

the S.S. were burying money
and escape plans

for fleeing Nazis on
the property of an Alpine hotel.

The team searched the area
with a LiDAR,

and they found a couple
disturbances in the soil,

and one of the things
they uncovered

was this shovel
that was broken.

This is
70 years later.

This site probably
very quickly got looted.

You know, we should have
been looking in 1945.

In my experience, whenever
I hit a dead end like this,

I'd always go back
and look at the network

we've already
established.

We know the network
was active in this place,

so in the absence
of any physical evidence,

let's see if we can
pick up the trail

on anyone who
would have used this route

or picked up
one of these stashes.

**

Case,
cash, networks.

Here we go.

This is from CIA.
Eichmann's flight.

So, here's Eichmann showing up
again on the southern route.

"Fully inconspicuous,
I took my suitcase

from this excellent priest
from Vipiteno,

beyond the Italian border
over the Brenner Pass."

So, we have dead drops
in this area.

Eichmann is picking up
one of them.

Look, what's incredible
about this --

there's a priest,
according to Eichmann,

providing assistance
to a mass murderer

after World War II.

So, here's Vipiteno.

It's on the border
between Austria and Italy,

and it's only 45 miles
to the Hotel Paradiso.

We need to figure out
what this priest was doing.

What part does this priest play
in the southern escape route?

Yeah, is it one guy?
Is it one priest?

Or is it
a lot of people?

We got to get the team
to find out.

**

**

Simpson: We've confirmed
that Eichmann was here.

And that's not
even in question.

So, now we just need
to get the details.

Narrator:
Along Hitler's potential
southern escape route,

Mike, James,
and their translator Katya

land in Vipiteno,

a town in
the Tyrol border region.

James Holland
Nice to meet you.

The team makes contact with
historian, Dr. Dietrich Talor

at the Lady
of the Moss Church,

which according
to declassified documents

was connected
to a priest assisting

in the escape
of high-ranking Nazis

including Adolf Eichmann
after the war.

Holland:
We've learned that the priest
here just after the war

was helping a number of Nazis
that were on the run.

We were wondering whether
you could help us in any way.

[ Speaking
native language ]

Seebohm:
He's says "Very little official
research exists on the subject,

but there are still a lot of
stories within the community."

**

**

Holland:
Do you actually know who the
priest was that at that time?

Seebohm:
The priest at the time
was called Corradini.

Corradini was here
for 20 years,

and he would give aid to Nazis
fleeing through the area.

Thousands were coming
through here.

So, what we've got here
is Corradini housing them,

giving them help.

I mean,
what else is he doing?

There is documentation
that they were re-baptized.

**

Baptized?
Why?

He doesn't know.

Simpson:
This is bizarre
to me, James.

A baptism?

Simpson:
I am completely revolted
by this information.

Being baptized as a Catholic
means you are cleansed

of all sins you have
previously committed.

I don't buy
that high-ranking Nazis

known to have committed
mass murder

really repented of their sins.

You see
this baptismal record.

This is
pretty standard.

Would there have been
a baptismal record of that time?

Seebohm:
There are registries
dating back over centuries.

He's going to check
and see if it's possible

that we take a look
at them.

Narrator:
Dr. Talor secures access

to the church's
sealed-records archive,

a collection of documents
dating back hundreds of years.

**

Seebohm: So, this is
from 1943-onward.

**

Simpson: A lot
to go through here.

I mean, there's so many
German names here.

**

Oh, my God!

There's no record Eichmann
was baptized here,

but look at that.

What's that?

"Priebke Erich."

He's a known
Nazi war criminal,

and he escaped
to Argentina.

And he lived there
a free man

for more than 50 years
in Bariloche.

This links the ratline

going through this church
to Bariloche.

That's a hard-data point.
That's major.

Narrator: Erich Priebke
was an S. S. commander

who was responsible
for the deaths

of hundreds of Italian civilians

in an action called
the Ardeatine Massacre.

After the war,

he successfully went underground
and escaped Europe,

surfacing in 1949
in Bariloche, Argentina,

the same town where the team
had previously uncovered

a safe house
linked to Adolf Hitler.

Holland: Ah, this is also
really interesting.

He gets another identity.

He wasn't called
Erich Priebke anymore.

He went as
"Otto Pape."

Simpson: Erich Priebke
had been cleansed.

He came here as
a fleeing Nazi war criminal

with the blood
of hundreds on his hands.

Got complete
absolution for that

and left here a new man

with a fresh start
and a new name.

What's amazing
is you've got

two really well-known
war criminals here.

One, Adolf Eichmann.
We know he was here.

Then we've got
Erich Priebke, too,

another really
infamous war criminal,

and he's not just
being helped by Corradini,

he's being baptized,

and we know that both men
ended up in South America

with completely
different names.

If Austria is where
the Nazis shed their skin,

then South Tyrol

is where
they were born again

and assumed
a new identity.

Simpson: Thus far,
we've been able to establish

that Nazis shed their identities
in Austria.

Seebohm:
Everyone threw everything away

because then no one was a Nazi.

Simpson: These Nazis
then moved to the Tyrol region,

retrieved caches of loot,
were able to be baptized,

were able to be baptized,
assume new identities,

and then move on.

This unassuming Catholic church

is possibly the most
important point on the ratline.

Any high-level Nazis
who entered this church

could've left this church
with a new identity

and a new life ahead of them.

**

**

Baer: I think this is big.
You've got Erich Priebke

who comes to this church,
is re-baptized.

It looks like
it's organized to me.

Narrator:
Bob Baer and Nada Bakos

review the findings
from Hitler's

potential southern
escape route through Tyrol

where a declassified
CIA document reports

that a local priest was aiding
in the escape of fleeing Nazis.

The fact that there was a priest
willing to help a Nazi

gain a new identity really
expands their ability

to be able to move out
of Germany, out of Austria,

and down into Italy
for passage out of Europe.

I think that's huge.

Priebke is given
new documentation here,

and he was known to have
been involved in massacres.

What this is doing is just
giving them a new name

so they can
start a new life,

and they no longer
have to answer

for the crimes
that they committed.

Baer: In 1945,
people didn't have the Internet,

they didn't have
facial recognition.

These Nazi war criminals
changed their names

and just disappeared, and people
didn't know who they were.

You simply assume
a different nationality,

get new paperwork for it,

and then you completely
wash yourself clean.

We've got records of
these guys being baptized.

We've got Eichmann saying
that a priest helped him.

What I'm seeing is
a pattern of activity

of protecting
high-ranking Nazis,

and I've seen this
before.

Narrator:
Previously in the investigation,

the team uncovered evidence
that Catholic priests

were aiding
in the escape of Nazis

at two separate monasteries
in Spain.

One in Galicia...

Woman: Germans come here
in the monastery,

and they used to do
forged documents

to give them
new identity.

...and another
outside of Barcelona.

Holland:
A Nazi war criminal would
want somewhere discreet.

Frankly, he couldn't ask
for a better place.

What I don't know is if it was
part of a bigger organization.

I mean,
how extensive was this?

The Catholic Church
is one of the biggest

human networks in the world.

If the Nazis
could tap into that network,

that would provide them
with supply lines

to be able to funnel
people and goods

and safe havens
all over the world.

Is it
the entire church?

Is it an organization
within the church?

Is it
individual priests?

Yeah, we need
to find that out.

Narrator:
Bob and Nada make contact with
Professor Jonathan Steinberg...

Both: Hi.
Hello.

...the former Chair
of the History Department

at the University
of Pennsylvania

and one of the world's
foremost experts

on the history
of the Catholic Church

during and after World War II.

We have found records
of a priest

in the South Tyrol
baptizing Nazis.

Is it your opinion
he was acting on his own

or he was acting
with somebody else?

So, he just wasn't
a Nazi sympathizer,

this is approved,
and somebody blesses this?

Was the Catholic Church
involved in getting Nazis

out of Germany
to Argentina?

What incentive would
these priests and cardinals

have to help some of
these Nazi officers escape?

If Hitler
were to show up,

what are the chances
of the faction of the church

that helped the Nazis
picking him up

and sending him
to Argentina?

The Catholic Church
operates as a government.

It's sovereign. It's off-limits
to the American government.

Had it wanted to,
the Catholic Church

could've smuggled Hitler out.

He just completely ruled out
the possibility

that the priest helping with
Priebke was acting on his own.

He wasn't a Nazi
sympathizer saying,

"I'll do a favor
for these guys."

It was
part of the church.

It's a network that
anybody could fall back
on at this point.
Yeah.

Now that we have brought
the Catholic Church in,

this convinces me
that if you could find

the right set of people
in the church,

you could move
Adolf Hitler.

It's clear to me that the people
in the church were helping,

but how were they
doing it?

Let's see what we can find
in the database.

**

Baer:
Here we go.

"U.S. Army Summary
of Nazi Activity in Rome.

"Many prominent war criminals
are living in Rome

illegally under false names.

All this activity seems
to stem from the Vatican

through the Monastery
of San Girolamo."

This is huge.

We've got the Army recognizing
this in a classified document

that it's the Vatican
that is processing these Nazis.

Narrator:
Serving as the central governing
body of the Catholic Church,

the Vatican is a sovereign
city-state ruled by the Pope.

Located on 110 acres within
the city limits of Rome, Italy,

the Vatican operates
with complete independence,

minting its own currency,
issuing passports,

and maintaining
a state military force

known as the
Pontifical Swiss Guard.

Look,
here's the Vatican.

**

And here
we have San Girolamo.

It's just over a mile away
from the Vatican.

We are in
the Vatican's front yard,

and you're having
a monastery processing

Nazi war criminals
in 1945.

Baer:
If we can find evidence

of how exactly this monastery
was helping Nazis,

we could unlock
the final piece of the puzzle

of the southern escape route.

We have to get people out there
and see what this place was.

**

**

DePaul:
It's important that we put eyes
and ears in this place.

Narrator:
Along Hitler's potential
southern escape route

in Rome, Italy,

former U.S. Marshalls Commander
Lenny DePaul,

investigative journalist
Gerrard Williams,

and their
local contact, Marcel,

head to
the San Girolamo Monastery

where a declassified
U.S. Army document claims

the Catholic Church was
assisting high-ranking Nazis

to escape from Europe
at the end of the war.

Williams: We've been told
that a network of priests

in the Catholic Church
were involved

in the escape of Nazis
after World War II.

But it's still something
that doesn't really fit with me.

Marcel,
lead the way.

How you can be a man of
the cloth and at the same time,

support people who committed
such huge crimes.

It's mind-boggling.

**

Marcel:
Here's the church.

**

Girolamo.

It's a big door,
Lenny.

Documents we've had access to
show us that San Girolamo is key

to the Nazi escape route
through Italy.

What we need to find out
is how did the Catholic Church

run such a massive operation.

We need to get in
and see what we can see.

[ Dog barking ]

**

I'm gonna take a look
around the corner.

**

I want to get in.
I want to get in.

One way or another,
I want to get in.

-Nothing?
-Nothing.

DePaul: Why do you have
this huge church,

and you can't get
in the front door?

St. Patrick's Cathedral
in New York City...

Open all the time.
Yeah, yeah.
Every door's open.

Williams: I don't think
we're gonna find anything.

It's hidden away.

What we need to do
is find somebody who knows

what's hidden behind
the walls of this church.

Williams: So, do you think
this is our contact?
DePaul: It is.

Matteo.

-How are you?
-Nice to meet you.

Narrator: The team makes contact
with Professor Matteo Napolitano

who serves on the Vatican's
Historical Committee

and has extensively researched
the activities

of the Catholic Church during
and after the second World War.

Matteo, we have a document
which puts this church

right at the heart of
the escape lines through Rome.

Marcel: So, this church,
San Girolamo,

was in fact
the safe house

for the escapes
to get out of Italy.

In my world, that's called
"harboring and aiding

and abetting
a fugitive."

Was there anything else that
San Girolamo was doing

aside from being
a safe house for the Nazis?

They were organizing documents
in order for them to leave.

They needed those documents in
order to get to South America.

So, Matteo, are they
printing documents here?

Are they forging documents
here?

No.

The Red Cross, Len.

Narrator: Founded in
Geneva, Switzerland, in 1863,

the International Red Cross

is the oldest humanitarian-aid
organization in the world.

After World War II,

millions of displaced
European refugees

relied on the Red Cross.

They provided
documentation and papers

issuing over 120,000
temporary passports

by the end of 1951.

If the church provided approval,

Nazi war criminals
using false identities

could gain legitimate paperwork

and passports
through this system.

Marcel:
The Red Cross was actually
producing legitimate documents

with false identities.

Unbelievable.

The documents were secure,
so if they had those documents,

they could easily
get out of Rome.
Go anywhere.

And they could hide
in plain sight.

Williams:
We've seen escaping Nazis
being baptized

into the church under new names.

Their next step is Rome,
where under that new name,

they will get a real passport.

Once they've got that,
they're home free.

You leave with the blessing
of the Catholic Church

and the International Committee
for the Red Cross.

You could not be safer.

That's too easy.
That's the way
it worked.

Wow. Wow.

This is the last piece
of the puzzle, right?

But who did the church in Rome
help to get out of Europe?

Very difficult
to understand

because once they got
these legal documents,

it was very difficult
to figure out.
They're gone.
They're gone.

Williams:
We know that thousands of Nazis
are flooding down the ratlines

to Italy, to Rome.
The question now is --

who could have got out of Europe

using the southern escape route

through Rome
and out to South America?

It's something we need to know.

**

**

-This is where we're going?
-Yep, looks like it.

Narrator: With the help
of their local contact,

Lenny and Gerrard have secured
an exclusive meeting

with a woman who is believed to
have groundbreaking information

about the Nazis' southern
escape route.

Williams: Hi,
I'm Gerrard.

Gisela Heidenreich, the daughter
of a senior S.S. officer

has agreed to share her
firsthand knowledge

with the team.

Williams: We know that a group
within the organization

of the Catholic Church
were involved in the escape

of Nazis after World War II
using the southern escape route.

Now we need to find out
who they helped

and aided to get out of Europe.

We understand
from our contact

that you may have
specific information

about who actually may have used
these ratlines and escaped.

Horst Wagner.

Narrator:
A high-ranking diplomat
and officer in the S.S.,

Horst Wagner
earned a place within

Hitler's elite inner circle,

serving at
the Foreign Ministry in Berlin

for the duration of the war.

Wagner was accused
of war crimes for his role

in the murder of 350,000 Jews,

but managed to escape
and never faced the charges.

How do you know this,
specifically?

Where's that
coming from?

So, you have the conversation
between the two lovers?
Yeah.

You have both sides
of the conversation.
That's unheard of.
Yeah. Yeah.

How many letters
did you find?

Wow.

Can we see
those letters?

Narrator: Gisela grants the team
an unprecedented look

at her collection of hundreds
of original letters

detailing every step of the
Nazis's southern escape route.

Williams: It's amazing,
and this is potentially key

to the investigation.

Horst Wagner
and Gisela's mother,

they thought that these letters
were in secret.

That's why I think this is
actually the whole truth.

This is real.
It's massive!

How does he get out of Germany?
How does he escape?

Is this written
in these letters?

Original documents
in a different name.

Then what?

Seebohm:
Kaltenbrunner fled from here
to the hunting lodge

that was up
in the Dead Mountains here.

Williams: We're talking about
Ernst Kaltenbrunner,

number two in the S.S.
-Yes.

Holland: If you want a system
that can help Nazis post-war,

this is about
as good as it gets.

These are the places that
we've gone and looked at,

walked the ground,
and investigated.

He's pretty much
just dropping bread crumbs

on this ratline
and the route that he took.

So, Gisela, when he finally
decided to leave Rome,

where did he go to?

He finally made it
to South America.

Williams: Wagner's a very,
very senior Nazi,

a close member
of Hitler's circle.

What we have now is a connection
between Adolf Hitler,

the network,
and the southern escape route.

This route is used by the most
senior, governmental,

and S.S. officer class
that you can think of.

The ea that Adolf Hitler
may have been one of them,

it's a possibility.

So, Gisela, you've helped us
flesh out the southern ratline

coming out of Germany
through Bavaria,

down through Austria,
into the Tyrol,

to Rome, and then from there,
all roads lead to Argentina.

That's not just connected
all the dots for us.

That's drawn
a big black marker line

through
the whole of Europe.

This is amazing.

It looks like
that's it for Europe.

We have found the very end
of the southern escape route.

**

Next stop,
Buenos Aires, Argentina.

**

Narrator:
Next time on "Hunting Hitler"...

He remembers there was
a crash and a splash.

He saw it from here.

Have you ever heard that there
were Nazis on this airplane?

**

He's scared.

Hey, hey, hey!
Right here, right here!

**

Holy [bleep].

If you want
corroborating evidence,

this is it right here.

This is
massively significant.

This was part of a Nazi
shuttle service

all throughout South America.

Die Spinne was operating
in Argentina?

This is them counting
every single dollar of them

moving people from Europe
to Argentina and South America.

Recognize
any of these people?

**

It's Josef Mengele.

**

Auschwitz's
Angel of Death.

**