The Odessa File

 First published in 1972, The Odessa File is a thriller that was authored by Frederick Forsyth. It is an account of the adventures that a young German reporter goes through when he tries to find out the location of an ex-SS concentration camp commander. The book alleges that ODESSA, which is the short form for the Organisation of Former Members of the SS, was an international Nazi outfit that existed even before the Nazis were defeated during the second world war.

The story in the novel begins with the suicide of Salomon Tauber, an elderly Jew and a Holocaust survivor. Peter Miller, a German freelance crime-reporter assigned to report the case, pursues not just the suicide but also the story behind it. Miller happens to lay his hands on a diary that the old man religiously wrote: a diary that mentions the name of the Butcher of Riga, Eduard Roschmann, who was the ruthless concentration camp commander.

Miller’s pursuit leads him to make revelation after revelation about the Nazis, which ultimately leads him to discover ODESSA, a mafia-like organisation created by the Nazis. But Miller’s task is not restricted to just uncovering the organisation. The Mossad agents, who seek to kill the German war crime perpetrators, approach him. Now Miller must actually infiltrate ODESSA. What follows is a thrilling story of some more stunning revelations that Miller makes as he searches for the concentration camp commander, who is a mass murderer of the Jews.

The Odessa File was published by McGraw Hill Professional in 2008 and is available in paperback format.

Key Features:

• The Odessa File was adapted into a film by the same name that released in 1974 and starred Jon Voight and Maximilian Schell.
• The film is loosely based on the novel but it also brought-to-light the fate of the real-life Eduard Roschmann.