38 Londres Street

On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in Patagonia

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38 Londres Street

By: Philippe Sands

Narrated by: Philippe Sands

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About this listen

In 38 Londres Street, Philippe Sands blends personal memoir, historical detective work and gripping courtroom drama to probe a secret double story of mass murder, one that reveals a shocking thread that links the horrors of the 1940s with those of our own times.

The house at 38 Londres Street 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, a Nazi SS officer responsible for the use of gas vans.

On the run from justice at the end of the Second World War, Rauff crosses the ocean to southern Chile. He settles in Punta Arenas, Patagonia, managing a king crab cannery at the end of the world. But there are whispers about this discreet and self-possessed German - rumours of a second career with Pinochet's secret intelligence service, the dreaded DINA.

In 1998, Pinochet is in a London medical clinic when the police enter his room and arrest him on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. Philippe Sands is called to advise the former head of state on his claim to immunity, but will instead represent a human rights organisation against him. Years later, Sands makes a discovery while working on another book which reignites his interest in the case and leads to a decades-long investigation into Pinochet's crimes, his unexpected connection to Rauff and the former Nazi's possible connection to Chile's disappeared.©2025 Philippe Sands

Philippe SandsPhilippe SandsWeidenfeld & Nicolson

20th Century

History

Law

Military

Modern

Crime

Latin American

20th Century History Law Military Modern Crime Latin American

Critic reviews

[An] intriguing, beautifully observed and thoughtful book about immunity and impunity . . . Sands makes his legal arguments come alive (Roger Boyes)

Sands is a storyteller and a scholar, capable of turning scraps into an enthralling collage . . . These questions of memory and impunity are forever timely

A gripping blend of memoir, investigative journalism and courtroom drama, with a narrative spanning decades and thousands of miles (Zuzanna Lachendro)

Well told . . . An account of how difficult it is to bring to book those guilty of the most appalling crimes (Philip Johnston)

Not just a gripping behind-the-scenes court drama . . . [uncovers] the chilling, macabre truth (Grace Livingstone)

Sands's achievement is to excavate a deeper intimacy between the cases of Rauff and Pinochet . . . he follows each twist in the double narrative with an impressive combination of moral clarity and judicious detachment . . . But it is Sands's expertise in international law, coupled with a natural storyteller's intuition for structure, that gives his latest book its understated power. His stories have all the more impact for their subtlety (Rafael Behr)

This remarkable, sweeping book completes Sands's trilogy about Nazi war crimes . . . Sands's exhaustive research is as impressive as his storytelling

The concluding part of Philippe Sands's extraordinary trilogy - part history, part moral investigation, part memoir - that documents the legal and personal battles to bring to account Nazi war criminals and their disciples . . . One of Sands's strengths as a writer is that he resists the impulse to demonise . . . He achieves [a damning picture] with his understated doggedness (Andrew Anthony)

A mixture of personal memoir and historical detective work [that] tells the story of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet . . . Fascinating

An extraordinary achievement . . . I read with open mouth and thumping heart. Sands brilliantly traces the atrocious trail of blood that leads from the death camps of Nazi Germany to the torture rooms of Pinochet's Chile. 38 Londres Street takes its place as one of the most unforgettable and important records of the systematic pitiless cruelty of which tyrannies are capable (STEPHEN FRY)

Sands is phenomenal. The research alone leaves one dazed with admiration (ANTONY BEEVOR)

Though nearly a decade in the making, this book could not arrive at a better time, because its subject is one of the most pressing themes of our era: impunity. Weaving together a globe-trotting legal thriller, a personal history and a twin portrait of a pair of mass murderers - one a fugitive Nazi, the other a head of state - Sands has created an indelible and enthralling work of moral witness (PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE)

Meticulously researched, delicately told - through jaw dropping interviews with those who witnessed Pinochet's acts first hand. This kind of scholarship has the power to change the world. Devastating and brilliant (EMILY MAITLIS)

Most relevant

A remarkable and moving book, very well read. I learnt a lot. I am left feeling sad and angry, and yet still hopeful about humanity. I also now want to visit Chile!