Canaris nodded but said nothing.
“Someone of influence,” Bormann went on, “someone who can make sure Operation Phoenix becomes a reality and, most importantly, remains a secret.”
“I see what you mean.”
“Someone we can trust,” Bormann added. “I have learned over the years that one can usually trust people who have something to gain personally from the success of the enterprise in which one has an interest, more than you can people simply doing something as a duty, or for altruistic philosophical reasons.”
Canaris nodded.
“That has also been my experience, Herr Reichsleiter.”
“I thought perhaps you might know someone who would be suitable.”
“I’ll have to give it some thought, Herr Reichsleiter, but off the top of my head, no one comes to mind.”
“But you do have friends in Argentina?”
“None that I would entrust with knowledge of Operation Phoenix,” Canaris said. “We simply cannot afford any risk of having the Argentine government learn what we plan to do, and what friends I have there are officers of the Armada Argentina.”
“So?”
“They might feel honor bound to inform their government what we are planning.”
“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Bormann said. “Does the name Perón mean anything to you, Canaris?”
“He’s one of the colonels around General Ramírez. According to the late Oberst Grüner, he was instrumental in the coup which deposed President Ramón Castillo a couple of weeks ago—on June seventh, to be precise.”
“You didn’t meet him when he was here?”’ Bormann asked, as if surprised.
“I knew of him,” Canaris said. “But I don’t think I ever met him.”
Of course I knew of him.
Despite what Bormann and his ilk like to believe, all Argentines are not two steps away from embracing Der Führer and National Socialism. There are God only knows how many refugees from the Thousand-Year Reich down there.
It was my duty to learn something about an Argentine officer attached to their embassy here and being fawned over by the elite. It was possible—unlikely but entirely possible—that he was working for the British.
I’ve often thought that the same Germano-Argentines who helped me escape from internment so I could return to serve the Fatherland would now go out of their way to ensure that Germans interned there now stay there, rather than return here to serve Hitler, proof of that being Oberst Grüner having absolutely no success getting any of the Graf Spee crew out of internment and back here.
Oberst Juan Domingo Perón is not a very interesting man, except for his unusual, if rather disgusting, sexual proclivities.
What’s Bormann’s interest in Perón?
“I made an effort to get to know him while he was here,” Bormann said. “And, as a result, learned there are several very interesting things about him.”
Well, one probably is that he likes young girls.
I wonder what Bormann thinks the others are?
“And they are?”
“He believes in National Socialism,” Bormann said. “The philosophy, Canaris, not the party. That distinction is important. He came to Europe first to study Mussolini’s fascism. He was impressed that our friend Benito has made the trains run on time. Efficiency, in other words, impresses him. Then he came here and—I think surprising him—learned that we Germans are somewhat more efficient than the Italians. He was particularly impressed with the autobahn. And with our social programs.”
He’s waiting for my response.
What I would like to say is, “So what?”
“That doesn’t surprise you, does it, Herr Reichsleiter?” Canaris asked.
“He sees how Germany is doing things as something Argentina should emulate is my point, Canaris.”
“I see.”
“And he is very impressed with our Führer, Canaris, the man and the leader.”
“Well, of course, he should be.”
I daresay Roosevelt and Churchill are also impressed with the Bavarian corporal. Again, “So what?”
What the hell is he talking about?
“You’re a clever man, Canaris,” Bormann said, smiling. “You know where I’m going, don’t you?”
“I’m not clever enough to understand where you’re going, Herr Reichsleiter. ”
“And a cautious man, too,” Bormann said, approvingly. “All right, let me give you another hint or two. Colonel Perón is ambitious. He sees himself as a future leader of Argentina, perhaps even as a future leader of more than just Argentina. ”
“That is a weakness of many South American officers,” Canaris said. “They dream of glory.”
“And wealth. Their officer corps does not come from the aristocracy, the landed gentry, so to speak. They have to live on what they’re paid.”
“Excuse me, Herr Reichsleiter, but that’s not always the case,” Canaris said. “The late Oberst Frade came from the landed gentry.”
“Indeed?”
“Oberst Grüner told me that he had—in addition to other business interests—farmlands in excess of eighty-four thousand hectares.”
“I wasn’t aware of that,” Bormann said.
“He was also a close friend of your Colonel Perón,” Canaris said. “I wondered then, and wonder now, if eliminating Frade was really a wise thing to do. The message it was supposed to have sent to the Argentine officer corps— if the deaths of Grüner and Goltz were in fact an act of revenge—seems to have backfired.”
“Perhaps,” Bormann said somewhat impatiently. “But you will of course agree that we no longer have to worry about having a president of Argentina whose son is an American OSS agent.”
“That’s inarguable, Herr Reichsleiter.”
“What we need is a president of Argentina who admires the Führer, National Socialism, believes in the final victory, and is interested in both his political future and feathering his own nest, wouldn’t you agree?”
“And, ideally, who could be trusted with the Phoenix secret,” Canaris said. “And you think Colonel Perón would fit the bill?”
“I’ve thought so for some time, actually. Which brings us to the point of this very private conversation.”
Canaris didn’t reply.
“I’ve actually taken some steps to recruit Colonel Perón’s cooperation in this enterprise,” Bormann said. “Are you familiar with Anton von Gradny-Sawz, Herr Vizeadmiral?”
“The first secretary of the Buenos Aires embassy,” Canaris said. “When the question of a traitor in the embassy came up, I collected and read his dossiers.”
“ ‘Collected and read his dossiers’?” Bormann parroted. “Plural?”
“We had one—just the basic facts—and the Sicherheitsdienst had a somewhat more comprehensive one, and then after the Anschluss, I took over the personnel records of the former Austrian government.”
“And the party had one. Did you ask for that?”
“No. I presumed you had one, and that if there was anything in it that would be of interest to me, you would have passed that on.”
“And what is your opinion of the Herr Baron?”
“Are you asking if I think he may be our traitor?”
“That would be included in your opinion, wouldn’t it? What I was asking was what you think of him.”
“He is a dedicated National Socialist who early on decided that it was his patriotic duty to bring Austria into Greater Germany, and was very helpful in doing so.”
“And for being helpful was rewarded when Austria became Ostmark?”
“Yes.”