In his book "Nazis On The Run: How Hitler's Henchmen Fled Europe" Gerald Steinacher, a research fellow from Harvard University, sheds light on just how thousands of Nazis managed to evade detection and start a new life.
Steinacher based much of his book on unpublished documents held by the Red Cross that revealed a system struggling to cope with the millions of displaced people in post-war Europe, and one that could be exploited by fleeing Nazis.
The historian estimates the some 8,000 SS men managed to escape to Britain and Canada alone using documents issued to them by the Red Cross by mistake.
But most fleeing war criminals either headed to Franco's Spain or South America.
While the Red Cross provided inadvertent help, the Vatican, the book claims, may have provided more considered help for Nazis desperate to avoid prison or the gallows. Owing to a desire to revive a Christian Europe or out of a morbid fear of the Soviet Union, the Vatican, through its refugee commission, said Mr Steinacher, provided leading war criminals with false identity papers.
The Red Cross also depended upon Vatican references where issuing travel documents.
The Vatican has always refused to comment on its wartime activities and has kept its archive closed to the public.
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