A Fourth Reich? Nazis in South America

No country can open its doors to this class of criminal and still sleep soundly. No nation crosses these dark boundaries of history with impunity.”

– Argentine Journalist and writer Tomás Eloy Martínez [i]

 Savvy fascists could see the defeat of Italy and Germany even before the end of World War Two. As the Third Reich collapsed there was a mad scramble between the allies for German technology and minds, each was willing to excise the records of the most useful and less infamous. (See Chapter 2 for more on Operation Paperclip) The ex-fascists that even the Allies could not stomach to employ used ‘ratlines’: clandestine paths of escape to South America set up by sympathisers and former SS members supported by Argentina.

The two main routes were Germany to Spain through to South America, Spain remained the only fascist state left post-WWII with the insular and sympathetic Franco its head. The other route was Germany to Rome then South America where in Italy there remained fascist sympathizers in the Catholic church who assisted fugitive ex-POWs onwards to South America.

Argentina was a common destination; Juan Peron was an unrepentant fascist and much like the Allies saw the end of Germany and Italy as an opportunity to use experienced ex-fascists to modernize his country. His fascist viewpoint meant he disavowed what he saw as ‘victors justice’ during the Nuremberg trials and so saw to recruit from the mass of those condemned to death.

Daniel Stahl researcher and author of Hunt for Nazis: South America's Dictatorships and the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes estimates up to 250-300 Nazi criminals ended up in the Argentine military[ii] many mass murderers. The most infamous who managed to escape to South America were:

• Klaus Barbie, ‘the butcher of Lyon’.

• Josef Mengele, the ‘Angel of Death’ of Auschwitz.

• Walter Rauff, designer of mobile gas chambers.

• Adolf Eichmann, one of the principal architects of the Holocaust.

The flight of fascists to Argentina gave some in the West the legitimate fear of what Stahl calls the ‘nightmare scenario’: a Fourth Reich in Argentina although this ultimately never came to fruition. [iii]

This map, discussed by U.S President Roosevelt as proof of Nazi ambitions in South America likely was the product of a sophisticated disinformation campaign by the British. Source.

As Latin America fell to dictatorships in the 70s many journalists began to make the connections of ideology and tactics that both Nazi Germany and Condor nations used. The realisation that both Barbie, who advised the Banzer dictatorship in Bolivia and Rauff who was advisor to Chile’s secret police was used as proof that Nazism had taken over South America.

And indeed there are some witness reports: Robert Cox a British journalist who was briefly held in prison in Buenos Aires recalled seeing a huge swastika painted in the entrance hall of the Federal police[iv] other accounts detail photos of Hitler in offices and his speeches repetitively played in prisons, years later at Pinochet’s funeral some of his supporters performed the fascist salute.[v]

The infamous life of Klaus Barbie 

During WWII Barbie headed the Gestapo in Lyons, France. Barbie was a brutal anti-partisan torturer earning the nickname the ‘Butcher of Lyon’ some of his notable crimes is deporting 44 Jewish children to Auschwitz, he is thought to be directly responsible for 14,000 deaths in Europe.

After the war he worked for U.S intelligence in Europe likely as part of the Operation Gladio[vi], until the French government requested his arrest. He was assisted to flee to South America arriving to Bolivia in 1951 under the alias Klaus Altmann. There worked for the Banzer government on anti-guerilla warfare and torture techniques taking part in Condor operations. Supposedly he helped the Bolivian military track down and eliminate ‘Che’ Guevarra in 1967.  

During the 70s he began to work with cocaine kingpins like Roberto Suárez Gómez who introduced him to Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel helping grow provide security for coca farms in return for funding a neo-Nazi paramilitary called the "The Fiancés of Death" whose membership included Italian neofascist terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie.

In 1980 this group assisted dictator Luis García Meza gain power in an episode commonly referred to as the ‘Cocaine Coup’. In 1983, Barbie was finally arrested (Nazi hunters had tracked him in 1972) and he was extradited to France he died in jail in 1991 at age 77. The U.S formally apologized to France for assisting in Barbie’s escape.

Simon Weisenthal was one of the most well-known Nazi Hunters, helping track down many high-profile Nazis including Eichmann.

In 1980 this group assisted dictator Luis García Meza gain power in an episode commonly referred to as the ‘Cocaine Coup’. In 1983, Barbie was finally arrested (Nazi hunters had tracked him in 1972) and he was extradited to France he died in jail in 1991 at age 77. The U.S formally apologized to France for assisting in Barbie’s escape.

During the Dirty War

Jacobo Timerman an Argentinian Jew wrote about his 1977 imprisonment and torture in the famous book Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number recalled a conversation with a Naval officer years before the coup. The officer had argued for an extermination of all guerillas, Timerman reminds the officer that Germany paid the price for similar actions he is given a reply:

“Hitler lost the war we will win”

in his book Timerman provides many examples of being targeted as a Jewish prisoner in the Argentinian prison. A 1999 report found that 12% of the victims of the Argentine military were Jewish, while only consisting of 1% of the population. [vii]

Stahl views the publicity of Rauff and Barbie in the context of a growing European movement to find and punish Nazi criminals, and the South America solidarity movement. For Stahl and prominent Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, it was not necessary to point to Rauff or Barbie to explain the brutal treatment of civilians or to use them to create greater complicity in their crimes.  For Wiesenthal a South American country wouldn’t need the help of a 69-year-old “to be skilled in barbarism”. [viii]

What was the end of these men? Much like the dictators of South America some faced the consequences of their actions while others lived relatively peaceful lives. Eichmann was hauled off the streets of Buenos Aires by Israeli intelligence services in 1960 and Barbie was eventually extradited in 1983 serving the remaining years in prison. Mengele never faced justice though at least he lived out his life under constant fear of being caught, in 1979 he died while swimming off the Brazilian coast.

(Rumours also pervade whether Mengele may have attended the infamous 1978 World Cup hosted in Argentina but there is little evidence.)

Similarly, Rauff never faced justice and died in 1983.

Sometimes life is without a happy ending.

[i] Tomás Eloy. Martínez, “Peron and the Nazi War Criminals.” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. LATIN AMERICAN PROGRAM WORKING PAPER SERIES. (101-150) 144 (1984). https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/publication/wp144_peron_and_the_nazi_war_criminals.pdf. P.15.

[ii] Daniel Stahl.. Hunt for Nazis : South America’s Dictatorships and the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes.Amsterdam University Press 2018. P. 45

[iii] Ibid P. 17

[iv] Robert Cox Argentina and The Legacy of Nazism. Washington Post, May 23, 1981. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1981/05/24/argentina-and-the-legacy-of-nazism/a60f7663-f47e-442c-a45e-829ae081fcdd/ 

[v] Rory Carroll, and Jonathan Franklin. “Revered and Reviled, Pinochet Makes His Last Journey on Caravan of Death.” The Guardian. December 13, 2006. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/13/pinochet.chile.

[vi] Operation Gladio was established in Italy in coordination with NATO and the CIA following WWII. It involved preparing ‘stay-behind’ forces in case of invasion by the USSR, along with weapons caches. Some accuse the operation of supporting right-wing terrorist organisations and political violence such as bombings and assassinations particularly in Italy during the 1960s-1980’s called the ‘Years of Lead’. It is still disputed by some historians that this operation co-ordinated with known terrorists.  

[vii] Uki Goni. Jews Targeted in Argentina’s Dirty War.The Guardian, March 24, 1999 https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/mar/24/guardianweekly.guardianweekly1.

[viii] Daniel Stahl. Hunt for Nazis : South America’s Dictatorships and the Prosecution of Nazi Crimes. Amsterdam University Press 2018. P.207