The presence of Gladio in Germany came to light in 1952 when Hans Otto, a former SS officer, walked into a police station in Frankfurt and announced that he “… belonged to a political resistance group, the task of which was to carry out sabotage activities and blow up bridges in case of a Soviet invasion….” He said that, although the initiative was made up of former Nazis, new recruits were not expected to espouse neofascist beliefs but only to manifest a deep-seated hatred of Communism.
