The Dead Range
The Story of the Worst Nazi You Probably Never Heard Of, and His Capture by a Man Who Should Be Famous
The Dead Range is a World War II story about how one of Adolf Hitler’s highest-ranking Nazis was tracked down and captured at war’s end in a remote cabin high in the Austrian Alps (a structure that stands to this day, by the way).
The bad guy in question is Austrian SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner, an Austrian raised a mere 30 miles from Hitler’s birthplace. He had facial dueling scars and stood at about 6’3”; the Nazi physical and ideological ideal at an almost cartoon-like level. By 1935 he was considered a leader of the Austrian SS.; in 1938, he assisted in the Anschluss and was given command of the SS and police force in Austria. Eventually, he was in charge of all of the Reich’s Security Services (including the GESTAPO, KRIPO, SD and all concentration camps) under Himmler.
After Hitler’s and Himmler’s suicides, he was the most powerful Nazi left standing.
If you were to use AI to create an image of a prototypical World War II-era Nazi commander, in fact, you would likely get something that looks exactly like this:
As many people know, there is a propensity for midwesterners to avoid “tooting their own horn.” This might explain why the man who hunted and captured Kaltenbrunner, Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Special Agent Robert E. Matteson, is not famous or the subject of multiple films.
Well - not yet.
Matteson, who went on to a distinguished post-war career in the federal government, self-published decades ago what can only be described as a booklet entitled A Search for Adventure: Part II - The War Years 1940-1946.
Let’s take apart that title. Contained within this slim volume (130 pages) is a first-person account of how Matteson tracked down and brought to justice the upper-echelon Nazi described above.
Just stuff that happens during “The War Years,” right?
He also wrote an account — after CIA chief Allen Dulles asked him to do so for the CIA’s “Studies in Intelligence” series — called The Capture and Last Days of SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Chief of the Nazi Gestapo, Criminal Police, and Intelligence Service. In this case, Matteson did acknowledge his role by adding the words “His Captor” below the (tiny) author credit.
This story is long overdue.
At age 19, Matteson lost his older brother to pneumonia, and two years later, in 1936, both of his parents perished in an automobile accident—traumatic events that drove this humble, reserved man to boldly “get the most out of life”— and to courageously risk his life, such as he did the early, still morning of 12 May, 1945, when Matteson walked alone (in disguise as a lost Austrian hiker) up the steps of an alpine hut where Kaltenbrunner (also in disguise; a “Wehrmacht doctor” complete with stolen paperwork and ID) hid out with Nazi guards.
Matteson’s drive and focus may also may have been influenced by the sudden death of close CIC colleague, Alfred Etcheverry, a few months earlier. “Etch” had been asked by Robert to take his place at a town meeting with an informant so that he, Robert, could interview a potential CIC applicant. Etcheverry was killed when the town was shelled.
Kaltenbrunner was married with two children, but became estranged from his wife and had a relationship with the Countess Gisela von Westarp, who gave birth in a renovated cowshed to twins in March of 1945, less than two months before Matteson — with four Austrian guides and eleven very reluctant GIs (their war was supposed to be over) — ascended the Dead Range (Totes Gebirge) to go after Kaltenbrunner.
He was captured and became the highest-ranking SS leader to be tried — and hung — at Nuremberg.
Matteson, after the war, felt an obligation to ensure Etch’s two young children were cared for financially, which he did for nearly 50 years. On the other side of the Atlantic, remarkably, he also inquired as to the living conditions of Kaltenbrunner’s twins.
This is a timely story of peril, turmoil, intrigue, service, courage, and compassion that begs to be widely shared with a worldwide audience. Subscribers to THE DEAD RANGE will share the journey!
Great story and yes definitely one to be shared with a wider audience. Thanks for sharing John!