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. Walther Rauff a key figure responsible for the wartime horrors of mobile gas vans
fled justice and found an unlikely refuge in Chile. Settling in Punta Arenas he managed 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 approached to advise the dictator 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. 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.
