The Skorzeny Papers
- D. H. Bryd (p. 330-335)
Ganis: “The World Commerce Corporation (WCC)….was
established immediately after World War II by OSS chief, General William
Donovan, and Sir William Stephenson, head of the British Secret Service in
America.”
“The WCC (was established) as a private intelligence
group operating out of Madrid (Spain).”
“Robert Ruark was born December 29, 1915 in
Wilmington, North Carolina. After graduating from New Hanover High School, he
enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at age fifteen.
Although later widely known as a journalist he had very little education in
journalism. In 1930, after being fired from an accounting job at the Works
Progress Administration, he joined the United States Merchant Marine. Later, he
worked for two small town newspapers in North Carolina.”
“In 1936, Ruark moved to Washington D.C., and after
a few months ended up as the paper’s top sports reporter. During World War II,
Ruark was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy and served ten
months as a gunnery officer in the Atlantic and Mediterranian. In the 1950s, he
moved to Spain and went into business with two previously mentioned OSS men –
Frank Ryan and Ricardo Sicre of the World Commerce Corporation.”
“….Ruark’s wife Virginia Ruth Webb Ruark, an
interior decorator and designer, was also associated with the WCC. The two were
married in 1938 and divorced in 1963 but in the intrim, they were part of the
Madrid jet set that also included Ryan, Sicre, Skorzeny, Jake Hamon, Artie Shaw
and others. Often in their company was actress Eva Gardner, who was from 1945-1946
the wife of Artie Shaw. Shaw was married eight times in his life.”
“Robert Ruark, became known for his colorful and
witty articles, including the ones about his network of friends. His articles
appeared in newspapers around the world. Some of these stories were about his
experiences in exotic locations. In the spring and summer of 1959, Ruark found
his way to the Congo at the same time as the mysterious CIA asset QJ/WIN.”
“Africa, it seemed, was one of Ruark’s favorite
areas to vacation, and where he became an avid big game hunter. At some point,
apparently in the late 1950s, Ruark became the representative for a big game outfit in Portuguese East Africa
known as Safarilandia. Ruark represented the company in Spain and arranged big
game hunts for his American friends, including members of the WCC and various
oil executives from Dallas, Texas.”
COLONEL BYRD’S ALIBI
“The Safarilandia connection leads us to our next
important revelation concerning another Dallas business executive, Colonel D.
Howard Byrd, owner of the Texas School Book Depository. Byrd was also part of
the elite jet set of Dallas associated with Skorzeny’s network.”
“On November 22, 1963, the very day President John
F. Kennedy was assassinated, D. Harold Byrd had the perfect alibi – he was out
of the country on a hunting trip in East Africa. The hunt was conducted by
Safarilandia.”
“Exactly who arranged for the trip is not known, the
evidence would be weighted toward Robert Ruark. Regardless, the hunt WAS
directed by Werner von Alvensleben.”
“….Safarilandia was run by Werner von Alvensleben –
one of the most famous African hunters of all time. His background was eerily
similar to Otto Skorzeny, as was his looks. To start Alvensleben was a former
member of the Austrian SS just like Skorzeny. Also, like Skorzeny he was
reticent about his day in the SS. The author conducted a detailed review of the
SS records of both men and determined it is likely Alvensleben knew and
operated with Skorzeny in the SS before the war.”
“According to declassified OSS documents,
Alvensleben was tasked by Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, to participate in sabotage
operations in the Tyrol border region of Austria. While in this region, von
Alvensleben is reported to have received an assassination mission directed at
Dr. Stetiel. This occurred sometime around 1932 at a time when the Nazi party
was outlawed in Austria. Von Alvensleben was subsequently arrested and found
guilty of being an accessory before the fact to the assassination and for
attempts to destroy government property.”
“Alvensleben was sentenced to three years in a
political prison but was released after three months in a prisoner exchange. He
was then turned over to the Bavarian police and released a few days later.
Austrian newspapers also connected him to an attempted assassination of Major
Fey, an Austrian Minister of Police who was responsible for banning the Nazi
party in 1932. Von Alvensleben claimed he was never questioned about the case.”
“In 1934, von Alvensleben attended a military training
academy in Munich and was commissioned as a Bavarian police officer in June
1934. He was then reported to have been arrested, along with his father, on
June 30, 1934, a date infamously known to history as the ‘Night of the Long
Knives,’ when Hitler purged the rival SA under Ernst Rohm. At this point, von
Alvensleben was taken to Berlin and, after a bizarre period of being released,
then rearrested, he was finally ordered to leave Germany.”
“In April 1935, he took passage from Bremen arriving
in Cape Town, South Africa, the following month. Over the next few years, he
worked a number of jobs in South Africa and Rhodesia for various mining
companies. At the outbreak of the war he was placed into an enemy alien
internment camp but escaped to Portuguese East Africa. At some point not made
clear by records, von Alvensleben began working for the OSS, reporting to
Huntington Harris, who may have recruited him to infiltrate Nazi smuggling
rings. Harris later became a CIA officer.”
“After the war von Alvensleben opened a huge hunting
preserve in Portuguese East Africa. Several of his hunting patrons are mentioned
in the Skorzeny papers including a man named Jackie Maeder. Maeder was a
shipping expert and moved freight for Skorzeny, he also shipped the animals
killed in the African hunts for Alvensleben.”
“Another patron of Safarilandia was Hassan Sayed
Kamil, an important Middle Eastern business man, also found in the Skorzeny
papers. Kamil was connected to the arms company Oerlikon through a man named
Wilhelm Maller, also a business associate of Skorzeny. Despite all of this
hunting activity swirling around Skorzeny, the author could find no evidence
Skorzeny ever went to Africa on a big game hunt…..”
“(In an) undated letter, determined to be from early
1964 because of its placement with other papers in the Skorzeny archive, the
Contessa Dagmar Alvarez de Toledo Lausanne writes to Skorzeny stating, ‘Yes I
met Harold (Byrd) in Arusha and it was his great wish that we two wold meet.’
(Arusha is in the East African country of Tanzania, the hunting grounds of
Alvensleben’s Safarilandia.) She ends the letter – ‘I am a big game hunter and
shoot darn well….’”
“…On January 9, 1963, the Dallas papers announced
the formation of a new petrochemical company called Premier Petrochemical. The
company was to deal with synthetic fertilizers…..chariman of the new company
was Algur H. Meadows and that one of the companies’ stockholders was Colonel D.
Harold Byrd. Others included Lewis W. McNaughton and Joe Zeppa of Delta
Drilling, overseen by Colonel Jack Crichton.”
“….on October 12, 1963, the Dallas papers carried an
article on Meadows, stating he was to receive a medal from the Spanish
government for his oil work in their country….the ceremony took place on
October 18, 1963….Meadows received the Great Cross of the Order of Civil Merit
on order from Francisco Franco, but personally presented to him by Jose Sirvent
of the Institute of National Industry….”
“There is yet much to be investigated in these
connections. But clearly the Skorzeny Dallas business network was active in
Madrid just prior to the assassination.”
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