Otto Skorzeny, (born 1908 in Vienna and died July 5, 1975, in Madrid) was a Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel) officer, who gained fame in 1943 for his daring rescue of Benito Mussolini from confinement at Campo Imperatore in the Abruzzi mountains where he had been imprisoned by Marshal Pietro Badoglio.
Benito Mussolini was an Italian political leader who became the fascist dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945. Originally a revolutionary socialist, he forged the paramilitary fascist movement in 1919 and became prime minister in 1922. Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) was the leader of Italy during World War II. He invented the term “fascism” to describe a system run by a dictator who did not allow different political opinions or opposition. The Nazis also believed in fascism.
Skorzeny was interned for two years before being tried as a war criminal at the Dachau trials in 1947 for allegedly violating the laws of war during the Battle of the Bulge. He and nine officers of the Panzerbrigade 150 were tried before a US Military Tribunal in Dachau on 18 August 1947.
They faced charges of improper use of US military insignia, theft of US uniforms, and theft of Red Cross parcels from U.S. POWs. The trial lasted over three weeks. The charge of stealing Red Cross parcels was dropped for lack of evidence. Skorzeny admitted to ordering his men to wear US uniforms, but his defence argued that as long as enemy uniforms were discarded before combat started, such a tactic was a legitimate ruse de guerre.
At Dachau in 1947, he stood trial for war crimes, but the case collapsed and Skorzeny was acquitted. Skorzeny still had to answer charges from other countries and remained held as a prisoner of war. Typically, he escaped with the help of former SS comrades in July 1948. The three former SS officers dressed in US Military Police uniforms entered the camp and claimed that they had been ordered to take Skorzeny to Nuremberg for a legal hearing. Skorzeny afterwards maintained that the US authorities had aided his escape, and had supplied the uniforms. He ended up in Madrid and set up an import/export agency.
He was an advisor to the Argentinian president at the time Juan Perón. In 1963, Skorzeny was allegedly recruited by Mossad and conducted operations for the agency. Skorzeny died of lung cancer on 5th July 1975 in Madrid at the age of 67.
