38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia
Author(s): Philippe Sands
In the heart of Santiago, the infamous 38 Londres Street becomes the haunting backdrop for a riveting tale that intertwines the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London, the post-war life of senior SS officer Walther Rauff in Chilean Patagonia and the sinister connections between the two men.
Rauff, responsible for the wartime horrors of mobile gas vans, flees justice after the war and finds an unlikely refuge in Chile. Settling in Punta Arenas, he manages a king crab cannery, seemingly far removed from his dark past. But as rumours swirl about Rauff's involvement with Pinochet's secret intelligence services and the disappearances that plagued Chile, a chilling narrative unfolds.
In 1998, as Pinochet faces arrest in London, Philippe Sands is approached to advise the dictator but instead chooses to act as a barrister for Human Rights Watch. This decision leads to an eight-year exploration into Rauff's second life, his ties to Pinochet and his role in the atrocities at the heart of the London proceedings.
Through a unique blend of memoir, detective story, courtroom drama and travelogue, drawing on interviews with key players and extensive research in archives worldwide, Sands unveils a hidden double story of mass murder and a disturbing link between the atrocities of the 1940s and those of our own times.
As the narrative unfolds, we are transported into a world where the echoes of historical crimes reverberate through the corridors of power, exposing the chilling truth behind the lives of two men and their intertwined destinies on 38 Londres Street.
General Information
- :
- : Orion Publishing Group
- : Gollancz
- : 575.0
- : 31 March 2025
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Philippe Sands
- : Paperback
- : en
- : 480
- : LAZ
More About The Product
[An] intriguing, beautifully observed and thoughtful book about immunity and impunity . . . Sands makes his legal arguments come alive -- Roger Boyes * THE TIMES *
Sands is a storyteller and a scholar, capable of turning scraps into an enthralling collage . . . These questions of memory and impunity are forever timely * FINANCIAL TIMES *
A gripping blend of memoir, investigative journalism and courtroom drama, with a narrative spanning decades and thousands of miles -- Zuzanna Lachendro * NEW STATESMAN *
Well told . . . An account of how difficult it is to bring to book those guilty of the most appalling crimes -- Philip Johnston * TELEGRAPH *
Not just a gripping behind-the-scenes court drama . . . [uncovers] the chilling, macabre truth -- Grace Livingstone * TLS *
Sands's achievement is to excavate a deeper intimacy between the cases of Rauff and Pinochet . . . he follows each twist in the double narrative with an impressive combination of moral clarity and judicious detachment . . . But it is Sands's expertise in international law, coupled with a natural storyteller's intuition for structure, that gives his latest book its understated power. His stories have all the more impact for their subtlety -- Rafael Behr * GUARDIAN *
This remarkable, sweeping book completes Sands's trilogy about Nazi war crimes . . . Sands's exhaustive research is as impressive as his storytelling * SUNDAY INDEPENDENT *
The concluding part of Philippe Sands's extraordinary trilogy - part history, part moral investigation, part memoir - that documents the legal and personal battles to bring to account Nazi war criminals and their disciples . . . One of Sands's strengths as a writer is that he resists the impulse to demonise . . . He achieves [a damning picture] with his understated doggedness -- Andrew Anthony * OBSERVER *
Fascinating * JEWISH CHRONICLE *
An extraordinary achievement . . . I read with open mouth and thumping heart. Sands brilliantly traces the atrocious trail of blood that leads from the death camps of Nazi Germany to the torture rooms of Pinochet's Chile. 38 Londres Street takes its place as one of the most unforgettable and important records of the systematic pitiless cruelty of which tyrannies are capable -- STEPHEN FRY
Sands is phenomenal. The research alone leaves one dazed with admiration -- ANTONY BEEVOR
Though nearly a decade in the making, this book could not arrive at a better time, because its subject is one of the most pressing themes of our era: impunity. Weaving together a globe-trotting legal thriller, a personal history and a twin portrait of a pair of mass murderers - one a fugitive Nazi, the other a head of state - Sands has created an indelible and enthralling work of moral witness -- PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
Meticulously researched, delicately told - through jaw dropping interviews with those who witnessed Pinochet's acts first hand. This kind of scholarship has the power to change the world. Devastating and brilliant -- EMILY MAITLIS
The pace of a thriller novel, meticulously recorded and filled with urgent moral and political questions, this is Philippe Sands at his very best -- IAN RANKIN
38 Londres Street is many books, but especially two: on the one hand, an absorbing thriller where the fates of the bloodthirsty Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the Nazi war criminal Walther Rauff intertwine, as do the present and the past, fiction and reality, chance and necessity; on the other hand, a profound, lucid and indispensable reflection on justice and impunity in a world that aspires or should aspire to universal justice. This is not only the most ambitious book Philippe Sands has written, but also his best. An enthralling read -- JAVIER CERCAS
In 38 Londres Street Philippe Sands combines the tone of the thriller with an astute and dramatic account of a most complex and fascinating legal case. Since Sands was present in court, there is an urgency in the narrative and a sharp sense of what was at stake. The book also offers a vivid picture of the personalities involved, including Pinochet himself, his translator, the judges, the British government and the victims of Pinochet's crimes. In the background lies evil itself in the guise of a Nazi in exile, the sinister Walther Rauff. This is a brilliant and important book -- COLM TOIBIN
A true masterpiece. Utterly compelling, a staggering piece of research and beautifully written -- HENRY MARSH
A brilliant and gripping account -- ABDULRAZAK GURNAH
Author Biography: Philippe Sands is Professor of Public Understanding of Law at UCL, visiting professor at Harvard Law School and a practising barrister at 11 KBW. He has been involved in many significant international cases in recent years, including Pinochet, Congo, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Guantanamo, Chagos and the Rohingya. He has served as President of English PEN and as a member of the board of the Hay Festival.