In recent years, British author and human rights barrister Philippe Sands formed an unlikely friendship with an old gentleman named Horst Wachter.
Horst is the son of a Nazi war criminal, and he’s still living in a tumbledown old castle near Vienna.
During WWII his father Otto was made governor of the city of Lviv, and he was responsible for the deaths of many thousands of people, including more than 80 of Philippe’s relatives.
After the war, Otto Von Wachter disappeared without a trace.
Then a few years ago, Horst gave Philippe access to a vast trove of family documents that directed him to the story of the infamous Ratline, which gave Nazis safe passage to South America.
Listen to this episode of Conversations on the ABC with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski.