The Spoils Raked from the Cinders

During the WWII, Anton Gleichner - employed by the Hitler regime to decommission valuables from Jewish citizens in France - realized early on that Germany was bound to lose the war. When an opportunity presented itself, he seized upon it to steal a fortune in gold with the intention of starting a new life in South America.

Against the background of the greatest war looting in history, the story follows Gleichner's desperate and often violent attempts to flee Europe for South America, where he hopes his stolen treasure will provide him with a new identity and an anonymous, comfortable life.

His escape route takes the reader across France, Spain and Portugal where his most primitive instincts barely managed to keep him alive. To his great relief, he eventually reached Buenos Aires. It didn't take long, however, before he discovered that the migration of fleeing Nazi officers to Argentina imperiled his own situation.

Meanwhile, the members of the Nazi leadership who didn't commit suicide or managed to flee to South America, were facing the Nuremberg trials after the war had ended.