Why did the Nazi's Escape to South America?
Most people have heard that many of the Nazi's that were sadly not convicted of their crimes at the Nuremberg trials after WWII fled to South America. But how were they able to do so and why South America versus so many other places around the world? According to a 2012 article in the Daily Mail, German prosecutors who examined secret files from Brazil and Chile discovered that as many as 9,000 Nazi officers and collaborators from other countries escaped from Europe to find sanctuary in South American countries. Brazil had 1,500-2,000 Nazi war criminals, while 500-1,000 settled in Chile. However, by far the largest number, up to 5,000, relocated to Argentina.
At the time Argentina had already had a fairly substantial population of German immigrants and because of this maintained close ties with Germany while still remaining neutral during the war. The President of Argentina at the time secretly ordered many diplomats and intelligence officers to establish escape routes or “ratlines,” through some ports in Spain and Italy to smuggle thousands of former SS officers and Nazi's out of Europe. Many South American leaders tended to lean towards fascist ideologies and were drawn to ideologies of Mussolini and Hitler but preferred the military tactics of Italy during the early years of WWII. The Argentine president also sought to recruit Nazis with particular military and technical expertise that he believed could help his country, much like the U.S and the Soviet Union who both took scientists from the Third Reich to assist them in the Cold War.
The government under the Argentine President in 1946 sent word through Cardinal Antonio Caggiano (an Argentine) to a French counterpart that the country would be willing to receive Nazi's from France who faced potential war crimes prosecution. That spring, French war criminals carrying passports issued by the International Red Cross stamped with Argentine tourist visas began to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Many of the Nazis who escaped to South America were never brought to justice. Some of them include, SS Colonel Walter Rauff, who created mobile gas chambers that killed at least 100,000 people, died in Chile in 1984. Gustav Wagner, an SS officer known as the “Beast,” died in Brazil in 1980 after the country’s supreme federal court refused to extradite him to Germany because of inaccuracies in the paperwork. And the most notorious of the fugitives was Dr Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” who conducted countless cruel experiments at Auschwitz. He fled to Argentina in 1949 before moving to Paraguay in 1959 and Brazil a year later. Buried under a fake name after drowning off the Brazilian coast in 1979, Mengele's identity was only confirmed after forensic testing of his remains in 1985.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/how-south-america-became-a-nazi-haven
https://www.history.com/news/the-7-most-notorious-nazis-who-escaped-to-south-america
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| Adolph Eichmann who was found guilty after a four-month trial in Jerusalem and received the only death sentence ever issued by an Israeli court. He was hanged on May 31, 1962. |
The government under the Argentine President in 1946 sent word through Cardinal Antonio Caggiano (an Argentine) to a French counterpart that the country would be willing to receive Nazi's from France who faced potential war crimes prosecution. That spring, French war criminals carrying passports issued by the International Red Cross stamped with Argentine tourist visas began to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Many of the Nazis who escaped to South America were never brought to justice. Some of them include, SS Colonel Walter Rauff, who created mobile gas chambers that killed at least 100,000 people, died in Chile in 1984. Gustav Wagner, an SS officer known as the “Beast,” died in Brazil in 1980 after the country’s supreme federal court refused to extradite him to Germany because of inaccuracies in the paperwork. And the most notorious of the fugitives was Dr Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” who conducted countless cruel experiments at Auschwitz. He fled to Argentina in 1949 before moving to Paraguay in 1959 and Brazil a year later. Buried under a fake name after drowning off the Brazilian coast in 1979, Mengele's identity was only confirmed after forensic testing of his remains in 1985.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/how-south-america-became-a-nazi-haven
https://www.history.com/news/the-7-most-notorious-nazis-who-escaped-to-south-america
By facilitating the escape of Nazi officers into their countries, the governments of South America, were, I believe, forgiving them for their horrific crimes. The Argentinian government wanted to use the Nazis knowledge for their own personal gain, but allowing them to enter the country and use their knowledge (that had only a few years before been used to genocide millions of Jewish people) is saying that they don't mind what they've done as long as they can give them something. It is sad that Nazis were able to escape to warm weather and beaches, while the millions of Jewish people they killed never got them chance to even escape to go home.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Aoibhin in the argument that the governments of South America were letting the SS officers off way to easy by having them come to their countries. By allowing many of the SS officers to escape, I feel like there was justice taken away from the Jewish people and everyone else in the concentration camps that suffered because of them. However, once the Germans made it to South America, under false names, I assume that they didn't live a good life because they had to live with the guilt of their actions and constantly being worried about being caught.
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