“Nothing has engendered greater problems than the freedom granted to the evil to commit crimes with total impunity.” The appointment belongs to Jean Bodin, 16th -century French writer and opens the last book by Philippe Sands, one of the best non -fiction authors of the last decades. “Calle London 38”, such as the title of the volume, is a true political and legal thriller around two failed extradition cases: the one Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile between 1973 and 1990 and Walter Rauff, the Nazi who invented mobile gas camerasinstalled in trucks, prelude to those that existed in detention fields such as Auschwitz.
The fate of these two men was linked to a territory, that of Chile, in which Rauff lived until his death and who came fleeing from allied justice. It is also suspected from the testimony of some victims, that the German participated in some way in the diverse and macabre Torture and death sessions with which the Chilean dictatorship disciplined its adversaries. Another German, Paul Schäfer, in command of the famous Dignity Colonyis also part of that framework that added horror to the work of Pinochet collaborators.
In the case of the Chilean dictator, the book focuses on the long process that tried its extradition to Spain, during its stay in London, From the request of Judge Baltasar Garzón, in October 1998. The victims of Pinochet resorted to Spanish justice to break the impunity of the former president, who had immunity in Chile, thanks to his appointment as a life senator. The process was very long and plunged into the confusion to the English courts because there was no history of a situation of this nature, which involved such an important political figure. Sands’ work points, for the first time, an agreement between the Government of Chile and that of England to return to his country of origin to Pinochet, with the promise of finally judging him in his homeland.
The long investigation contained in “London 38” (the book has almost 600 pages) is a detailed itinerary of the crimes against humanity of the Chilean dictatorship and its maneuvers to avoid any type of repair. In the case of RAFFF, he recounts his life in Chile as manager of a fish packing, in populations of the southern end (Punta Arenas and Porvenir) and his possible alliance with local intelligence services. An exploration that the writer sued a decade and involved collecting the testimonies of witnesses, victims, former judges and intervening lawyers, both in Chile and in England and Spain.
Other works
Philippe Sands, born in London in 1960, is not only an outstanding writer and joint (his notes can be read in as important media as The Guardian) in addition, he is a lawyer specialized in international law, who has participated in important judgments in front of the main courts of the world. He has been involved as an advisor or litigator in processes in Chile and Argentina and was part of one of the teams that participated in the Pinochet extradition order. His wife is Chilean and she dedicates “London Calle 38” whose title alludes to a DINA detention center (Intelligence Directorate at the time of Pinochet) where he stopped and tortured members of the Government of Salvador Allende and militants opposed to the dictatorship.
His best known book is “East-West Street”where he investigates his family past linked to the city of Lviv (today famous by the War of Ukraine), intellectual cradle of two essential jurists in the history of human rights: Hersch Lauterpachtwho introduced the concept of “crimes against humanity” in jurisprudence and Raphael Lempkinwho proposed the notion of “genocide” as the deliberate intention of exterminating an ethnic nation or group. These terms were first used in Nuremberg, a foundational instance in international law and a first fundamental step in defense without borders of human rights.
As detachment of this text, Sands’ next book was “Exhaust route” which details the flight of a Nazi hierarchy that already appeared in “East-West Street”, Otto Wächter. It discovers the plot of concealment and complicity, by the Church and Italian politicians, with the officials of the third Reich who intended to avoid justice.
The Nazi escape route is also a fundamental chapter of “London Street 38” (RAFF advises Wächter to take refuge in Latin America) and shows the ideological coincidences that the dictatorships of this part of the world had with fascist doctrines.
From England, Sands gave news details about his investigation and compared Argentina’s justice with that of Chile.
News: How long did you spend the investigation of the book? How does such a hard work with your professional activity as a lawyer combine?
Philippe Sands: I did the first interview for the book in 2015 when I interviewed Baltasar Garzón; But the idea goes back to 1998, when General Pinochet was arrested in London. It could be said that my process was a bit delayed. The entire project required thousands of hours, dozens of travel, more than one hundred interviews, some repeated, and at least forty drafts of the manuscript. Not very efficient. And in the middle, family life, friends, the cases I have and teaching. How is it done? Everything is connected, it seems to me.
News: Many of the people he interviewed in the book reveal great secrets. From the agreement between the governments of Chile and the United Kingdom to avoid extradition to Spain from Pinochet, to details on criminal operations of the intelligence services of the dictatorship. Do you recognize in you a special ability to make people speak?
Sands: I have probably had a lucky training. As a child, with my brother, we spent hours listening to our grandparents, looking for clues about what happened in the 1930s and 1940s. At twenty -one I analyzed me, this helped me learn to listen. At thirty -so many I got involved in cases that demanded to speak with possible witnesses and even interrogate them in a trial. And at forty I was already married and had children, a situation that requires care when speaking and listening. The central theme of all this is trust. People are more open if they trust you and believe that you will treat them with justice, which is what I try to do. You will have noticed that in my books I really do not criticize anyone. I allow them to say what they say, register it and write, often without comments, letting the reader form his own opinion.
News: We could draw a line between “East-West Street”, “Exhaust route” and “London Street 38”. Do you have your next book any connection with the previous ones?
Sands: Undoubtedly there is a connection. The idea of “London 38” Street was based on the possibility of a direct connection between the stories: if General Pinochet and Walter Rauff were connected in some way, then there would be a direct line of Hans Frank to Otto Wächter (NR: both Nazi hierarchs, which ruled areas invaded by the German army), after Wächter to Rauff, after Rauff Pinochet to me. In this way, the speech that Frank gave in Lviv in 1941 could be connected, with the crimes of London 38 in July 1974 and with my desk in London in October 1998: a continuous line.
News: How would you describe the books you write? On the one hand, they are the result of a deep investigation but, on the other, they are written with suspense and emotion, using many of the fiction strategies. Are novels or chronic?
Sands: The Germans call them “literary non -fiction”; The Spaniards, “novels” and the English classify them as vaguely derived from the style of John Le Carré. “Calle London 38” introduces fiction elements, indirectly, through the writing of Roberto Bolaño, Pablo Neruda and Bruce Chatwin. I guess the next logical step would be to try luck with pure fiction. In fact, I already have a complete draft, mainly set in Buenos Aires, but most likely I never see the light. I need foot notes. I am irremediably linked to the facts.
News: What differences do you find between the processing of those responsible for the dictatorship in Argentina and Pinochet’s and those who were in charge of repression with it?
Sands: I have reflected a lot about this. How is it possible that in Argentina the crimes of the dictatorship were already addressed in 1985, while in Chile we had to wait twenty years? In Argentina they had, on the one hand, the conflict of the Malvinas, which overthrew the generals, and on the other, a system of courts, justice and individuals willing to act courage. There was not a moment similar to that of the Malvinas in Chile. In fact, we now know that it was quite the opposite, since Pinochet helped the British. He even provided them with a landing floor near Punta Arenas. And then I suppose that the character of both countries is different. Related or not, now a film based on “London 38” Street by Felipe Gálvez and Antonia Girardi is being made and I am very happy that one of the authors of the script is Mariano Llinás. A beautiful connection between both stories and countries.
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