Odessa Harbour
After fierce battles Odessa was occupied by German and Romanian forces October 16, 1941. The following day, all remaining Jewish men were ordered to register. Between 3,000 – 4,000 men signed up and were first taken to a prison where they were tortured, then taken down to the harbour where they were murdered by Einsatzkommando 11b and Romanian security forces. During the massacre, thousands of wounded Soviet sailors who had been left behind were also murdered. The bodies were then poured with gasoline and set on fire.
Current status: Monument (2009).
Location: 46°25'39.66"N 30°43'40.11"E
Get there: Tram.
Follow up in books: Arad, Yitzhak: Holocaust in the Soviet union (2009).
Odessa is not only a city but it is also the name of a mythical network that helped Nazi war criminals. Odessa, in this case, is an abbreviation of, Organisation der ehemaligen SS–Angehörigen, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the city of Odessa. According to myth, the network consisted of former SS men who helped their former comrades with money, fake papers and escape from justice. But its existence and efforts are greatly exaggerated, much thanks to the Frederick Forsythe bestseller from 1972, The ODESSA File. The book was also filmed in 1974 with Jon Voight and Maximillian Schell in the leading roles. The famous ”Nazi hunter” Simon Wiesenthal was convinced that ODESSA existed and did justify to its name and reputation.
But ODESSA’s existence as a powerful network helping Nazis in need can not be verified. ODESSA has in a way been named for all smaller (real or not) networks that existed and helped Nazis (and others) one way or another to flee post-war era Europe. But with the help of popular media, and Wiesenthal, the myth has survived about a Nazi network rescuing Nazis and laying foundation for a Fourth Reich. But the myth of ODESSA has also been exploited by Nazi sympathizers to intimidate and give a semblance of being backed by something powerful. Many times, in fact, the rumor of something can be just as effective as something real, you just have to keep it alive. If there ws anyone who made sure to keep the ODESSA myth alive, it was Wiesenthal, better marketing could hardly be obtained.