Otto Skorzeny, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Otto Skorzeny

Austrian officer in the German Waffen-SS

Date of Birth: 12-Jun-1908

Place of Birth: Vienna, Austria

Date of Death: 05-Jul-1975

Profession: engineer, military officer

Nationality: Austria

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Otto Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II.
During the war, he was involved in a string of operations, including the removal of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy from power and the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity.
Skorzeny led Operation Greif, in which German soldiers infiltrated enemy lines using their opponents' languages, uniforms, and customs.
For this he was charged at the Dachau Military Tribunal with breaching the 1907 Hague Convention, but was acquitted after a former British SOE agent, testified that he and his operatives wore German uniforms behind enemy lines. Skorzeny escaped from an internment camp in 1948, hiding out on a Bavarian farm for 18 months, then spent time in Paris and Salzburg before eventually settling in Francoist Spain.
In 1953 he became a military advisor to Egyptian President Mohammed Naguib and recruited a staff of former SS and Wehrmacht officers to train the Egyptian Army, staying on to advise President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
He spent time in Argentina, where he acted as an advisor to President Juan Perón and as a bodyguard for Eva Perón.
In 1962, Skorzeny was allegedly recruited by the Mossad and conducted operations for the agency.
Skorzeny died of lung cancer on 5 July 1975 in Madrid at the age of 67.