Wilhelmus Antonius Sassen (born 16 April 1918 – died 2002) was a Dutch collaborator,
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and a member of the '' Waffen-SS''. He became known around 1960 as "the interviewer of
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
family in
North Brabant
North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...
Nijmegen
Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...
and in
Breda
Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
. His father was impressed by the
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
ideas of the Zwart Front (literally ' Black Front'). Sassen decided against becoming a priest choosing to study law in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...
and
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
instead. As a student, he was a member of the German-Flemish workers' group DeVlag. When Sassen visited the
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...
in Berlin, his admiration for
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
grew. Because of Sassen's pro-Nazi political activities, the authorities expelled him from Belgium, so he was unable to finish his law studies.
In 1938, Sassen became a recruit in the Dutch army and was trained as an artillerist. When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, Sassen was a member of the 7th Field Artillery regiment and was taken prisoner by the Germans for a short time. Sassen married Paula Fisette in 1940; the couple later divorced
Nazi and SS career to 1945
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union (
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
), and Sassen volunteered for the German Eastern front. He became a member of the first Netherlands PK ("Propaganda Kompanie"). Because he had been working for Radio Bremen for some time already, he could start his work as a war correspondent after a short cut training. He was a SS-''Kriegsberichterstatter'' (SS-war reporter) with the SS-division Wiking in the southern sector of the front and in the spring of 1942 witnessed the offensive in the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
. On 26 July 1942, Sassen was wounded near Rostov and during the following eight months recovered in hospitals in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
,
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and Berlin. In April 1943, he was promoted to SS-'' Unterscharführer'' (the lowest rank of non-commissioned officer, comparable to a US Corporal) and assigned to an SS armoured division near
Kharkov
Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.
. In the summer of 1943, he followed another training course on war correspondence and propaganda together with Dutch colleagues in
Villach
Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the po ...
, Austria.
From August 1943 to June 1944, together with his Flemish colleague Jef Desseyn, Sassen formed the permanent editor team of "Zender Brussel" (Radio
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
). The team was also responsible for training courses for war correspondents. On 6 June 1944 (
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
), Sassen was at the front in Normandy reporting the battles around
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Bayeux
Bayeux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northwestern France.
Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts ...
,
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.Avranches
Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''.
History
By the end of the Roman period, t ...
,
Falaise
Falaise may refer to:
Places
* Falaise, Ardennes, France
* Falaise, Calvados, France
** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War
* La Falaise, in the Yvelines ''département'', France
* The Falaise escarpment in Quebec ...
and
Lisieux
Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland.
Name
The name of the town derives from the l ...
. On 1 September 1944, Zender Brussel was ordered to be evacuated to Germany. Sassen remained in the Netherlands, reported the airborne landings around Arnhem and became the editor of the newspaper ''Het Nieuws van den Dag'' in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
. On 23 October 1944, Sassen in his newspaper called upon the hungry and cold of Amsterdam to go robbing food and fuel in the districts of the more rich and wealthy people; this was too much even for the Germans, and on pressure of the '' Sicherheitsdienst'' police, Sassen was dismissed.
Sassen was sent to
Doetinchem
Doetinchem (; Low Saxon: ) is a city and municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the Oude IJssel (Old IJssel) river in a part of the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek. The municipality had a population of in ...
where he was active in the black propaganda Aktifpropaganda, Skorpion West. There he published ''Het Laatste Nieuws''. At the beginning of 1945, Sassen was asked to participate in a Werewolf organisation in case the allied forces overran the German Army in the Netherlands. He became the leader of Neurop (Neu Europa). The group was to pass on military intelligence on allied troop movements and to commit sabotage.
The German Army capitulated sooner than was expected, and Sassen fled together with his younger brother Alfons to
Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...
. Former members of the Dutch resistance offered them a refuge; Sassen had aided certain members of the Dutch resistance during the war, including Anthony Mertens, an old prewar friend.
Escape to Argentina and second career
On 5 June 1945, Sassen was arrested in
Alkmaar
Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...
by British Field Security and interned in Fort Blauwkapel near
Utrecht
Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...
. On 15 December, he fled with two other inmates. He first visited his girlfriend Miep van der Voort in Utrecht, and later to his friend Anthony Mertens. For two years, Sassen was in hiding in Antwerp, Brussels and Amsterdam. With the help of his friends, among whom were Mertens and former SS member Karl Breyer, Sassen managed to obtain a passport. In May 1947, he flew in a
KLM
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
plane to Dublin, Ireland. There he met up with some of his old associates, before setting off to Argentina. Together with his girlfriend, Miep van der Voort, their daughter Saskia, and some former SS men and collaborators, he departed in the coastal vessel ''The Eagle'' under the command of former
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
captain Schneider to Argentina. On 3 November, they arrived at the docks of Darsena Norte in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. Three days later they were allowed to disembark. He married Miep van der Voort, with whom he had two daughters. Their elder daughter is
Saskia Sassen
Saskia Sassen (born January 5, 1947) is a Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University in New York City, and Centennial ...
(born 1947 in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
.
The Sassen family lived first in
Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar
Ciudad Jardín Lomas del Palomar is a planned community, part of the '' partido'' of Tres de Febrero in Greater Buenos Aires and adjacent to the city of El Palomar. It is served by two railway lines, the San Martín Line and the Urquiza Line, whi ...
in Greater Buenos Aires, where their second daughter was born. Sassen started to work as a journalist, translator and as a ghost writer for
Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 – 18 December 1982) was a German ground-attack pilot during World War II and a post-war neo-Nazi activist.
The most decorated German pilot of the war and the only recipient of the Knight's Cross with G ...
Gerhard Mertins
Gerhard Mertins (30 December 1919 – 19 March 1993) was a German paratrooper, post-war arms dealer and German Intelligence operative. In 1943, he participated in the Gran Sasso raid rescuing Benito Mussolini from prison.
According to Manuel Co ...
. He was asked to represent Merex AG, which was a cover for the illegal arms trade controlled by the German secret service
Bundesnachrichtendienst
The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...
.Peter Hammerschmidt, ''Die Nachkriegskarriere des 'Schlächters von Lyon' Klaus Barbie und die westlichen Nachrichtendienste'' (The Lyon executioner's post-war career and the western secret services), University of Mainz
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
Dissertation (2013), p. 37. Other representatives in Latin America were Klaus Barbie (
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
), Friedrich Schwend (
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
), his brother, Alfons Sassen (
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
), and, in Madrid, Spain,
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including th ...
.
In the 1970s, Sassen among others worked as a PR-consultant for
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
's dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Sassen was interviewed for an edition of the British ''
World in Action
''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its producti ...
'' (Granada/ITV, 1978) about his connections in Argentina with Josef Mengele; the fugitive Auschwitz concentration camp physician was still alive in a then unknown location.
Sassen's third wife was Els Delbaere, the daughter of a Flemish artist who, because of his own Nazi past, also fled to Argentina.
Final Solution. In reality the interviews were group discussions arranged by Sassen and his publisher
Eberhard Fritsch
Eberhard Ludwig Cäsar Fritsch (born 21 November 1921 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; died 25 November 1974 in Salzburg, Austria) was the editor and publisher of the pro-Nazi monthly magazine in Argentina '' Der Weg'' (''The Way'') (founded 1947) which ...
and held at Sassen's
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
home over a number of Sundays. Others were also in attendance, although Eichmann and his revelations dominate proceedings. In 1980, the ''Sassen documents'' or ''Sassen tapes'', were transferred to Eichmann's widow, Veronika. The Sassen interviews are documented in detail in ''
Eichmann Before Jerusalem
''Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer'' (german: Eichmann vor Jerusalem – Das unbehelligte Leben eines Massenmörders) is a book by Bettina Stangneth originally published in German in 2011. An edition in English ap ...
'' by
Bettina Stangneth
Bettina Stangneth (born 1966) is a German philosopher. Known for her work on antisemitism and National Socialism, she is the author of several books, including '' Eichmann Before Jerusalem'' (2014), which won an NDR Kultur Sachbuchpreis (non-fict ...
first published in German in 2011 and in English in 2014.
About 15 hours of audio recordings survive out of around 70 hours in total. The tapes were recycled on cost grounds after transcripts of the conversation were made. The complete transcripted text runs to about 700 pages. Fortunately for Eichmann at his
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
trial the tapes and the full transcript were not considered admissable to the court - only 83 pages which Eichmann had annotated or corrected were allowed as evidence. The audio recordings of Eichmann recounting his role in
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
were featured in the documentary series, ''The Devil's Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes'', directed by
Yariv Mozer
Yariv (Mordechai) Mozer, (born 17 February 1978) is an Israeli film producer, screenwriter and film director.
References
Bibliography
* Gerard Groeneveld: ''"Kriegsberichter", Nederlandse SS-oorlogsverslaggevers 1941–1945.'' Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2004. (in Dutch language) p. 356–368
* Jochem Botman: ''"De intriges van de gebroeders Sassen, De collaboratie, het verzet, de ontsnapping en de reünie met oude SS-kameraden in Latijns Amerika.'' Soesterberg: Aspekt, 2014.
* Jame Botman, ''Nazis to the Core, the Sassen brothers and their anti Bolshevik crusade in Latin America'' (Soesterberg, Holland, Publisher Aspekt, December 2015)
* Stangneth, Bettina, ''Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer'', Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2014,