PHILIPPE Sands is probably this country’s most famous and respect human rights lawyer. He comes to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis, in conjunction with the East Devon-based Shute Festival, on Thursday 25th September to talk about his latest book, 38 Londres Street, in which he uncovers some of the darkest secrets of Chile’s history, linking the horrors of the Nazis and the more recent crimes of the late General Pinochet.
Philippe Sands will be joined by American journalist Jon Lee Anderson to talk about the new book, described as his most ambitious and gripping narrative, uncovering chilling historical crimes which continue to have real worldt today. With a unique blend of memoir, detective story and courtroom drama, the book exposes the chilling truth behind the lives of Pinochet and a former SS officer.
The house at 38 Londres Street, in the Chilean capital Santiago, is home to the legacies of two men whose personal stories span continents, nationalities and decades of atrocity: Augusto Pinochet, President of Chile, and Walther Rauff, who was responsible for the use of gas vans (mobile gas chambers) in the Holocaust.
On the run from justice at the end of the Second World War, Rauff lived variously in Ecuador and Chile. For some time he managed a king crab cannery in Punta Arenas, Patagonia, but he has been identified as playing a leading role in the development and activities of Pinochet’s murderous secret police.
In 1998, Pinochet was in a London medical clinic when the police entered his room and arrested him on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. Philippe Sands was called to advise the former head of state on his claim to immunity, but instead represented a human rights organisation against him. Years later, Sands made a discovery while working on another book which reignited his interest in the case and led to a long investigation into Pinochet’s crimes, his connection to Rauff and the former Nazi’s possible connection to Chile’s disappeared.
As a leading human rights lawyer, Philippe Sands has been involved in many significant international cases, involving, among others, the Congo, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Guantanamo, the Chagos Islands and the Rohingya people of Myanmar. His many books include Sunday Times bestsellers The Ratline and The Last Colony.