Adolf Hitler and the secret room: a warehouse of Nazi artifacts was found in Argentina. Sensational collection of Nazi artifacts discovered in Argentina

“The Nazis took away our gold, which was stored in the Bank of Greece, took out our money and never returned it,” was the argument thrown into Germany’s face by Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos. The reproach was made in an interview with BBC News in February this year in response to the protest of the German media against the redemption of the Greek government debt. Today, anyone can offend Germany, because during the Second World War, the Nazis robbed all of Europe. However, there is a version that the Third Reich only acted as a puppet in the hands of real villains. In fact, the Krauts were protected by Anglo-Saxon industrialists and financial tycoons. It was they who started the spiral of the Second World War for their own profit.

Tooth fairies

The “Great Aryans” differed from the criminal bugbears only in the scale of their activities. If the latter cleaned out apartments, then the Nazis did the same with entire countries. They robbed not only Central Banks, but also museums, palaces, temples, and stole objects of art, rarities and precious stones. Therefore, it is difficult to name the real price of the loot. Only one thing can be said with certainty: there was most gold. After all, the source for its extraction, in addition to everything else, was the civilian population. Dental crowns, rings, chains, pendants and other jewelry - all this was taken from those tortured in concentration camps, prisoners of war, etc. In Auschwitz alone, the Nazis collected about 76 tons of precious metal in the form of personal gold items.

The gold was melted, and then the Reichsbank mark and swastika were placed on the ingots from the teeth of the dead. According to the special commission to search for “Nazi gold” headed by Professor Jean Francois Bergier (established in the late 1990s), during the war years Germany sold $594.3 million worth of gold to foreign banks (about $6 billion in today’s terms). According to most researchers, Switzerland was the most active recipient of the precious metal. According to Bergier, about 80% of Nazi gold "trading" took place through the Swiss National Bank, as well as through many private banks. These include SBC, UBS, Credit Suisse, Bank Leu, Basler Handelsbank. The Fritz sold the gold for Swiss francs and thus gained about $400 million (more than $4 billion today). Meanwhile, Bergier’s calculations look modest compared to the estimates of other experts. Apparently, the historian managed to grab only the tip of the iceberg. Thus, researcher Michael Hirsch writes that $660 million (more than $6.6 billion) passed through Swiss accounts alone during the war years. (Michael Hirsh « Nazi Gold: The Untold Story», Newsweek, November 4, 1996).

Migratory Krauts

After the war, most of the party bosses and high ranks of the Third Reich, using forged documents, crawled to Latin America - to Argentina, Chile, Peru and Paraguay. It is curious that among the active rescuers of the poor Nazis was none other than Pope Pius XII. The Pontiff was generally very sympathetic to the ideas of fascism. It was at his instigation that the so-called rat trails were blazed to Latin America, the USA, Canada and the Middle East. The most popular were two routes from Germany to South America: through Spain and through Italy - Rome and Genoa.

Until now, many are tormented by the question of where the main villains - Adolf Hitler and Martin Bormann - have gone. For example, the author of the books “Nazis in Bariloche” and “Hitler in Argentina” Abel Basti ( Abel Basti « Bariloche Nazi" And "Hitler en Argentina») believes that Martin Bormann lived in Argentina and Paraguay, and Adolf Hitler also lay low in Argentina and died in 1964. There are other versions. So, in 1991, Bormann was declared dead, and his skeleton was dug up near Hitler’s former bunker in Berlin. The remains were tested for DNA, and everything allegedly matched. Hitler's skull and jaw were found in Moscow in the basements of the Lubyanka, tests were carried out - the identity of the remains was confirmed. It is difficult to say how true these “archaeological excavations” are. In any case, the vague fate of Hitler and Bormann after the war does not change much. About 100 other CC officers immigrated to Latin American countries. Argentina became the most popular location for the fascists and their trophies. It was there that high-ranking Nazi officers and nomenklatura received “shelter” (see "Who crawled to Argentina").

Tsatski in Argentina

Together with the Krauts, “gangster trophies” also flew to Latin America. According to some reports, the Nazis transferred about $10 billion through the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Peru. As for the influx of Nazi capital to Argentina, it was the most impressive. The Argentine dictator Juan Peron sympathized with the Nazis with incredible strength, made friends with them and accepted them with open arms. The pockets of fascist benefactors were extremely wide. According to the CIA, even before the end of the war, Peron received at least $7 million. According to one of the CIA investigations from 1972, in 1947 there were hundreds of millions of dollars in the Swiss accounts of the dictator's wife, Eva Peron. She personally owned 4,600 carats of diamonds and other precious stones, 90 kg of platinum and 2.5 tons of gold.

As US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau wrote in 1945, this country had become a paradise for the capital of high-ranking murderers and criminals of the Third Reich. “Argentina is not only the most likely refuge for Nazi criminals, it was and remains a key point of Nazi financial and business activity in this hemisphere." In a US intelligence investigation published in 1945 called the Argentine Blue Book. (Blue Book on Argentina)) separate figures for this country are given. Thus, Nazi Germany from 1939 to 1945 transferred through banks more than $4.1 million (about $41 million today) to the embassy account in Buenos Aires. The funds were allegedly intended for espionage and the acquisition of assets in the country.

Wealth flowed into Argentina not only through a labyrinth of bank accounts. According to Bormann's plan, the Nazis secretly, like pirates, transported trophies on submarines. According to the most conservative estimates, €4 billion worth of precious metals and stones were delivered in this way. According to historian and author of the book “Hitler’s Flight” Patrick Burnside (Patrick Burnside "Hitler's Escape"), in August 1945, only two submarines U-235 and U-977 unloaded several kilograms of diamonds and about a ton of gold and platinum into Argentine bays. In "The Nazi Hydra in America" ​​by Glen Yeden and John Hawkins (Glen Yeadon, John Hawkins "The Nazi Hydra in America") They put forward a version that submarines have been in Argentina since 1943 and circulated at intervals of five to six weeks. Before the submarines themselves, bales of treasure were transported through France to Spain.

However, here, as with everything related to Nazi gold, there is some uncertainty. “Unfortunately, all information about Bormann's gold consists of equal parts reliable information and myths,” write Yeden and Hawkins.

For example, before the war Argentina was the leader in terms of GDP in the region. As historian David Rock writes in Argentina 1516–1987: From Spanish Colonization to Fisheries. 1516–1987 : From Spanish Colonization to Alfonsin"), GDP growth for ten years, from 1943 to 1952, was no more than 3%. There was rampant inflation; the cost of living jumped by 40% in ten years. If in 1946–1955 the volume of industrial production increased slightly, then the amount of money in circulation during the same period increased eightfold. In 1934–1944, inflation was 1.6%, in 1945–1955 - an average of 19.7% per year. “Economic decline and stagnation reigned... In the early 1950s, Venezuela overtook Argentina in Latin America's per capita GDP and Brazil in foreign trade,” writes David Rock.

Divorce the Germans

A natural question arises as to why the Nazis managed to escape to warmer climes along with the loot. It is documented that the United States was aware of the post-war “migration” of the Krauts along with trophies. According to one of the investigations of the US State Department from 1945, Goering had $20 million in bank accounts in Argentina, Goebbels - $1.8 million, Ribbentrop - $500 thousand (in today's terms $200 million, $18 million and $5 million respectively). It is known that the fascists built up and bought for themselves entire neighborhoods, banks and companies in Argentina. It is logical to assume that someone seriously protected the fugitives and made a good profit from this, obtaining most of the looted trophies.

There is a version that the Nazis were just puppets in the hands of real players with big money. And it is from them that we should demand compensation for damage from the Second World War. We are talking about banking houses and industrial giants in the USA and Great Britain. It was like this: after the First World War, the debt of France and England to the United States amounted to about $11 billion. It was difficult to pay them, so the debtors decided to get out at the expense of the Germans and put forward strict conditions for them to pay reparations.

“The causes of the Second World War were already laid down in the final document of the end of the First World War. Specifically, in the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, according to which Germany, having lost the war, not only lost all its colonies in Europe and beyond, but was sentenced to pay a fabulous sum of monetary reparations of 132 billion gold marks over 37 years. Moreover, 30 billion were to be paid within 30 days,” said D′ Advisor to VTB and ARB Evgeniy Poluektov.

As a result, capital from Germany began to flow abroad. All this led to the “great inflation” in Germany in 1923, which amounted to more than 570%. Here American financiers kindly offered their help to the Germans. It is known that half of the giant loan for the Germans in the amount of $200 million was provided by Morgan Bank.

“Under the Treaty of Versailles, Great Britain received almost all of Germany’s overseas colonies, but also did not have the money to pay with the United States, so the governor of the Bank of England proposed a joint purely financial operation to rob Germany of Germany, which in history was called the “Weimar Circle.” It looked like this: Germany took out an urgent annual loan from the United States at high interest rates and used the loan to pay reparations. Then the United States again gave this money to Germany in the form of loans with interest, etc. Part of the interest paid by Germany to the United States was counted toward repaying the UK’s debt to the United States,” said Evgeniy Poluektov.

Toy swastika

In general, the Germans were completely stuck in the web woven by the Americans and the British. After all, interest on loans was paid in shares of leading German companies. In Charles Haem's 1983 study, Trading with the Enemy, (Charles Higham "Trading with the Enemy») it is indicated that by 1941, American investments in the German economy alone amounted to $475 million. In particular, Standard Oil invested $120 million, General Motors - $35 million, ITT - $30 million, and Ford - $17.5 million.

After this, the spiral of World War II began to unwind. Anthony Sutton in Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler ( Anthony Sutton "Wall Street"andthe Rise of Hitler") gives a list (see “Hitler was raised by the Americans”) leading American companies that directly financed Hitler and his party. According to Sutton, they are the ones who should be charged compensation to victims. And the management of the companies should have been tried as war criminals. The goal of this worldwide undertaking for influential businessmen was to buy up desired assets in Europe and banal robbery. For example, even before the end of the war, more than $500 thousand ($5 million) went from accounts in Germany to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Spain and Turkey. The funds were intended to purchase assets in these countries. This wiring was revealed in recently declassified US Treasury files from 1946. As Abel Basti writes, the Nazis' flight to South America was also carried out at the behest of Washington and London. According to the historian, in the end it was the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve that received the looted gold and foreign exchange reserves of Germany - more than $100 billion by today's standards. In addition, the Nazis transferred to Great Britain and the USA all the latest military developments and scientific achievements Third Reich. By the way, at that time London and Washington were already planning a new adventure called the “Cold War”. The Nazis were needed to fight the communist USSR, whose resources they failed to seize.

Penguins, Nazis and UFOs

There are suggestions that the Nazis migrated not only to warmer climes. Part of Antarctica - Dronning Maud Land - became another refuge for the Germans and an investment target. In particular, the Russian scientist Vitaly Shelepov, the American admiral Richard Birdie and the American intelligence officer Windell Stevens are sure of this.

After the war, documents were found among the Nazis that revealed the incredible results of expeditions to the ice continent. The Germans found interconnected caves with warm air suitable for habitation under the frozen ground. It is known that the research was led by Admiral Karl Doenitz, who in 1938 said: “My submariners have discovered a real earthly paradise.” They nicknamed their “safe haven” among the penguins New Swabia under the code name “Base-211”.

Apparently, the SS men invested fabulous sums in this project. 35 of the most powerful combat submarines were used to supply the construction of the base. According to Windell Stevens, the Germans built eight huge cargo submarines. What is intriguing is what the Nazis were doing in warm caves: they were conducting research on creating a superman and perfect weapons. And all this to conquer the world. Thus, Vitaly Shelepov claims that the Krauts moved a research base for testing ultra-high-speed flying disks to the underground city.

Richard Byrd provides similar data; in 1947, his expedition was targeted by flying saucers. The expedition was called “High Jump” and officially had a purely research purpose. However, the equipment and composition were more like a military campaign. 13 warships, 25 airplanes and helicopters set off to explore Antarctica. 4.1 thousand military personnel and only 25 scientists went to explore the continent. However, after a month of work, the “forwarders” fled. A year later, information began to leak into the European press that members of the expedition had been attacked. Combat aircraft pilots talked about flying saucers, anomalous atmospheric phenomena that caused them mental disorders...

By the way, the Nazis were very interested in the otherworldly - considerable funds were spent on esoteric and occult projects of the Ahnenerbe Institute (German: “Heritage of the Ancestors”; this institution had the status of the main scientific institution of the Third Reich). Allegedly, it was thanks to secret knowledge and the other world that Hitler managed to become a dictator and steal a lot of gold.

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The recent discovery of mysterious structures by Argentine archaeologists near the border with Paraguay has once again spurred public interest in the topic of the Nazi presence in the country. According to the Clarin newspaper, three very strong structures, with a 3-meter wall, were discovered in the Teyú Cuaré park in the province of Missiones. Daniel Schavelson, director of the city's archaeological center at the University of Buenos Aires, says the structures were built by the Nazis during World War II as a possible refuge for the top of the Third Reich in case of defeat in the war. These thoughts were prompted by objects that were found close to these structures, including several coins of the Third Reich from 1938 and 1943, as well as porcelain items German origin. He also noted that, in his opinion, no one ever took advantage of these shelters in hard-to-reach places, because upon arriving in Argentina, the Nazis realized that it was possible to live freely and openly in the country, without fear of anything. Therefore, the Nazis went to places that any nature lover would call beautiful. Before naming these places, let us recall that during World War II Argentina took a wait-and-see position, neutrality. This allowed it to sell its agricultural products to countries from both warring camps.

At that time, the Argentine government constantly received information from its intelligence services that German submarines operating in the Atlantic regularly approached the shores of Argentina, loading boxes with food, medicine and spare parts. There have been growing reports that some landowners are actively hosting visitors from these submarines. Most often, the land estates of these hospitable hosts were located along the Atlantic coast of Argentina. But Bariloche became the unofficial “capital” of the Germans in Argentina after their defeat in World War II.

Bariloche (San Carlos de Bariloche) - beautiful city pine forests and flowering meadows, mountain lakes and clean air, ski slopes and comfortable hotels, raspberry and black currant thickets. Everything here is filled with German-Austrian pedantry, order, cleanliness: alpine landscapes, the clear waters of Lake Nahuel Huapi, neat lawns and streets, elegant well-kept houses. Bariloche was founded by German settlers at the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German diaspora became more active and began to buy up all the land in the area, build houses, raise livestock, and open farms. Many houses were built in the mountains, in hard-to-reach places. Until now, the only way to get there is by helicopter, which lands directly on the site near the house, or on its roof. San Carlos de Bariloche was built entirely with money from the German diaspora and its latifundists. The population in 2015 was 120,000 people. The city is surrounded by lakes (Nahuel Huapi, Gutierrez, Moreno and Mascardi) and mountains (Tronador, Cerro Catedral, Cerro Lopez).

The history of “German Argentina” is as follows. Since the 19th century, Argentine Patagonia has become a German enclave, which was developed by immigrants from Germany. One of the most famous landowners in Patagonia at the beginning of the twentieth century was the company Lahousen and Co., whose owners, the brothers Dietrich and Christel Lahousen, were natives of Bremen. The brothers were among the top ten richest Argentine entrepreneurs. Lahousen and Co. had many sheep farms, the wool produced on which was exported to Europe. The company also owned dozens of ranches, numerous pastures with elite livestock, an extensive trading network, shops, shops, cafes, bars and restaurants throughout the south of Argentina. It was here, on the lands of the Lahousen brothers, on the small island of Huemul, in early 1951, that the Austrian scientist Ronald Richter carried out the first controlled nuclear reaction(Juan Peron nuclear project). The Lahousen Empire ensured the highest level of security and secrecy. Another property of the Lahuzens in Patagonia is Villa San Ramon, on the deserted and remote from Bariloche shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi, the borders of which extend to the pampa. The only railway and airstrip in Patagonia ran here. Villa San Ramon was co-owned by the German Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, and Prince Stefan of Schaumburg-Lippe was a counselor at the German Embassy in Buenos Aires in the 1930s and 1940s. Stefan Schaumburg-Lippe testified in September 1946 to a commission investigating Nazi activities in Argentina. In charge of all affairs at the Villa San Ramon was Rodolfo Freide, personal secretary of Juan Domingo Perón and curator of the Argentine internal security service.

Today this land is called the birthplace of the Fourth Reich. Researcher of the topics “Nazi criminals in Argentina”, “Nazi gold in Argentina”, the famous Argentine historian and journalist Jorge Camarassa, in his numerous books and articles, claims that since January 1945, Hitler’s submarines took part in a successfully carried out operation to remove high-ranking officials from the agonizing Germany persons of the Third Reich and especially valuable cargo. The surrender of the crews of the submarines U-530 and U-977 to the Argentine authorities in Mar del Plata was a cover for this operation. It is believed that many of the top officials of the Third Reich went to live in their homes near Bariloche. In 2020, the United States must declassify all archives related to these two submarines. Then, perhaps, we will learn perhaps at least part of the truth of this page in the history of the Second World War.

Land of tourists and nuclear energy

Now San Carlos de Bariloche, for good reason. called the Switzerland of South America. Firstly, thanks to the masterpieces created by nature itself, the amazing beauty of forests and bright blue lakes, the cleanliness and transparency of the air, and secondly, the ski slopes and hotel chains built here, with unique German buildings, order and cleanliness. The city has many shopping galleries, shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, and hotels of excellent quality. The hotel complex of San Carlos de Bariloche has about 20,000 hotels. The most popular ski slopes are: Edelweiss, Acongagua, La Nevada, La Cascada, LAS Tres Reyes, Nahuel Huapi. There are 47 tracks here in total. total length 70 km are located on both slopes of the Otto and Catedral mountain ranges with a height difference from 2388 to 1400 m. This is where the best ski lift in South America is located, with spacious cabins for six seats. Bariloche has long been a prestigious resort for the Argentine elite. This is the main and starting point for those wishing to get to know the region of the lakes, a real paradise for those who are keen on fishing and hunting, or who like to ride horses and conquer mountain peaks, play golf and simply relax, enjoying the mountain scenery.

From Bariloche you can go to national park Nahuel Huapi. This distance can be covered in about eight hours - about 320 km. Along the way, you can make stops at observation platforms, small villages or tiny towns. The main excursion program begins with a ride on the Teleferico Cerro Otto funicular to the top of the mountain, then a cruise on Lake Nahuel Huapi on a comfortable catamaran, to national park Los Arayanes. There is a unique myrtle forest preserved there, the only one in the world, its area is 12 hectares. Then Victoria Island, Lopez Bay, Trebol Lagoon, Lake Moreno and Mount Campanario.

Argentines are grateful to the many generations of immigrants from Germany who preserved this nature reserve for posterity, back in 1930 in San Carlos de Bariloche it was decided to form one of the largest national parks in the country, Nahuel Unapi. In winter, ski lovers relax here, and in summer, connoisseurs of the beauty of mountains, rivers and mountain lakes flock here. The beauty of the mountain peaks in the spurs of the Andes, near Bariloche and further south, is difficult to describe in words, it must be seen with my own eyes. Silent evergreen thousand-year-old forests, crystal clear blue or bright blue expanse of lakes, brightly flowering vegetation of this region, granite mountain peaks and blue valleys of glaciers - all this is Bariloche. And in the very south, Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia open the door to the vast, secret and mysterious Antarctica.

In addition, there is a nuclear center in the Bariloche area. Although much of Argentina's electricity sector is owned by private companies, the nuclear industry remains largely in state hands. ENSI (Empresa Neuquina de Servicios de Ingeniería S.E.), a joint venture between the province of Neuquén and the Argentine National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), has a heavy water production plant in Patagonia. CNEA owns a number of R&D centers, including the nuclear center of Bariloche (province of Rio Negro). The center houses research reactors and cyclotrons, and produces isotopes. Bariloche Nuclear Center has its own medical Center, which is already known throughout the country for successful research in the fight against cancer and other diseases. Thus, the program for the treatment of cancer diseases, including those that are not subject to surgery, using the new generation BNCT neutron apparatus has already shown unusually stable positive results, reports Official page Nuclear Center Bariloche.

The emergence of the first “rat trails” (as American intelligence agencies called the systems of escape routes for Nazis and fascists from Europe) is associated with the development of Vatican-Argentine relations before and during World War II. No later than 1942, Cardinal Luigi Maglione contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a request for “the desire of the Government of the Argentine Republic to massively apply its immigration law in order to facilitate the current European Catholic immigrants in search of required land and capital in our country." After this, the German priest Anton Weber, head of the Catholic Society of San Rafael, went to Europe to pave the route for future Catholic immigration.

The first center of activity of the “rat trails” that made the escape of the Nazis possible was Spain. Already in 1946, hundreds of war criminals and thousands of former Nazis and fascists accumulated in Spain. At the same time, the Spanish “paths,” although “blessed by the Vatican,” were relatively independent of the hierarchy of the Vatican Bureau of Emigration.

The patron of fugitive Nazis was Argentine President Juan Peron and his wife Evita Peron. Inauguration, 1952
Otto Skorzeny
Adolf Eichmann
"Nazi Hunter" Simon Wiesenthal
A group of SS officers. First from left - Dr. Josef Mengele
Evita Peron. Election speech to a female audience

Decades have passed since the end of World War II, but there are still blank spots and question marks on the list of the main Nazi criminals who found shelter in Argentina. Including question number one: was Hitler among those who fled to South America?

Every year, two days before May 9, ropes were stretched in the enclosed and boring space of our courtyard, surrounded by the shabby bricks of old, pre-revolutionary houses. Housewives from the entrances and basements overlooking the courtyard hung military uniforms on them to ventilate them from mothballs and dampness. The sun shone on the epaulets and medals, the wind swayed the ropes, cheerful bunnies jumped along the walls and jumped into the windows. Following the uniforms, their owners appeared in the late afternoon. Not much, about five or six people. Who survived. And of those, one has no arm, another has no legs, the third has a scar from nose to ear... The men sat down at a rain-washed gray table in a frail front garden and silently moved their glasses. They always drank the first one in silence.
This is how it began in our yard Great Holiday Victory. In those years, she was not far away - the distance from her was within a decade. And the memory of her was tangible, real, living. She, this memory, sang in the wind with a quiet medal chime, sternly drank vodka in the yard, hung on the walls photographs of those who did not return.
Then to us boys - some five, some seven years old - everything was clear, everything seemed simple and understandable. Evil is punished, destroyed, destroyed - it is no longer on Earth. And the main villain received in full, and his black ashes were scattered by hurricanes. What doubts can there be! And who would allow them to arise, doubts? The Soviet country erected truths forever and did not tolerate or allow hesitation, searching, or unnecessary thoughts around them. So we could live well and calmly in that boyish frivolity until the end of time. But the time has come when doubt and thinking are allowed.

Conversation to the sounds of tango
The evil of Nazism still lives on Earth. It is incomprehensible and unjust, however, even today in Europe, America and here in Russia, they raise their hands in a fascist salute, flaunt the devilish symbols of inverted swastikas, SS lightning bolts and Prussian eagles, they crave pogroms and absolute power. And did the main villain, the very antipode of good in human form, receive it in full, did his ashes scatter in space?
The first doubts came in Argentina, in Buenos Aires at the end of the 1980s. Glasnost had already appeared in the USSR, but it was still under saddle, in reins, and obeyed the authorities’ legs almost unquestioningly. Therefore, all sorts of inconvenient thoughts and knowledge had to be carried within oneself - the problem of “the appearance of morality”, as well as “the appearance of ideology” did not lose its acuteness at that time. Any deviation from official truths was still equated to betrayal, the sovereign’s ever-present eye read the subcortex of anyone like an omnipresent hacker, and punishments for sedition continued to be inevitable.
In those days, in the Argentine capital there were still “tangero cafes”, where amateur and professional dancers, history experts and composers, just any inspired people gathered to talk, listen, discuss, and dance tango. If you wanted to see authentic Argentine tango, unclouded by tourist “pop,” as it was performed at the beginning of the last century in the port taverns of Buenos Aires, you had to go there.
The tango theme was certainly prevalent in the Tangero Cafe, but it was far from the only one. The atmosphere and excellent wine were conducive to conversations about everything. It was in one of these cafes, in a leisurely conversation at first, that I first heard the name of the late Silvano Santander. A well-known former politician and member of the Argentine parliament, he once had a serious conflict with the famous President Juan Domingo Peron over the book “Nazism in Argentina” published in the early 50s of the last century. Santander wrote this non-fiction book based on the materials of the commission he headed to investigate Nazi activities in Argentina since 1939. The commission worked during the Perón presidency. For many reasons, some of which are outlined below, Peron was dissatisfied with the commission. As a result, Silvano Santander was forced to temporarily emigrate to Uruguay.

Peron and his Evita
For the majority of the Argentine poor, petty bourgeois, peasants and farmers, President Peron, and especially his wife Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, Evita, occupy second place in the scale of national values, after tango and before mate tea, which everyone drinks there since childhood and to death. Therefore, a leisurely conversation in a cafe suddenly quickly turned into a heated argument with boiling passions and quite sincere hatred of opponents for each other. I managed to glean a little then: Silvano Santander accused the presidential couple of sympathizing with Nazism; in some specific actions to provide them with support, both during the Second World War and after it; in saving Nazi criminals... In that chaotic discussion, millions of dollars of the Third Reich and incomprehensible “German settlements like Bariloche” appeared...
Of course, everything I heard seemed to me then to be fantasy, grotesque and nonsense, which often, and almost always, serve as arguments in emotional disputes. But the name Silvano Santander lingered in my memory and aroused my interest. Gradually, over the years, different information, far from emotions, accumulated. The facts were scattered and did not add up to a logical picture, but they were already disturbing and made me think.
For example, Silvano Santander wrote another book in 1953, it was called “Technique of Betrayal.” It had a subtitle: “Juan Peron and Eva Duarte - Nazi agents in Argentina.” I didn’t manage to get my hands on this bibliographic rarity for a long time, but I managed to sit on it for a couple of hours. I didn’t want to believe it - the charming Evita, a hater of the rich and protector of the poor... A peasant girl who managed to make her way from a remote village to the presidential palace... A beauty who drove the entire male population of both Americas crazy... Nowadays, she is the heroine of Madonna in famous movie based on the famous musical by Andrew Weber... The same one - Don"t cry for me, Argentina... Fascist agent? Incredible! Well, okay, let's say Juan Peron was connected with Nazi Berlin. You can still believe in this - major politicians with principles and morals always It's a mess. But Eva! No, I really couldn't believe it.
When Silvano Santander met Simon Wiesenthal, the famous Israeli hunter of Nazi criminals. Together they began to investigate the routes along which eminent Nazis hid from retribution, hundreds of kilograms of gold were transported and tens of millions of dollars of the Third Reich were laundered. Once again, all the traces discovered by Santander and Wiesenthal led to Argentina, to the presidential couple Peron.
Moreover, the Argentine claimed that Eva Duarte had been an agent of the German Abwehr since 1941 and that Wilhelm Canaris personally, who always had a very close eye on Latin America and, in particular, Argentina, instructed her to win the heart of Juan Peron. Then this one, from the point of view of Admiral Canaris, is promising, vain and charismatic, but overly carried away sweet life The colonel was the leader of a group of officers who advocated for a “great Argentina” and admired the deeds of Adolf Hitler. A lover of young maidens, a zhuir and a sybarite, Peron needed a guide to direct the colonel’s vanity in the right direction. Eva Duarte became such a person. According to the official biography, they met in 1944, became lovers the day they met and did not part until the tragic death of Evita, who died of cancer in 1952, at the age of 33. Argentina is still sure: if not for Eva, with her charm, sharp mind and a passion for intrigue, it is unlikely that Juan Domingo Peron would have been able to achieve the presidency in 1946.
However, Silvano Santander did not limit himself to statements alone - in his latest book he also cited authentic documents. For example, copies of the interrogation protocols of the former Nazi German ambassador in Buenos Aires, Baron Edmund von Thermann, and the embassy adviser, Prince Stefan Schaumburg-Lippe (both SS officers), conducted by the Allied Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in September 1946. In particular, the secretary, who apparently did not have strong nerves, “split” very quickly and began to pour out sensations. Including the numbers of bank checks with which the embassy paid for the services " the right people": No. 464803 dated June 26, 1941 in the amount of 33 thousand 600 Argentine pesos was intended for Eva Duarte, and No. 682117 dated June 30, 1941 in the amount of 200 thousand pesos - Colonel Juan Domingo Peron. The sums were more than substantial for those times: Evita received about 10 thousand US dollars, and the colonel - over 50 thousand. Just one check.
The statements of both diplomats also contain references to the secret visit to Argentina in May 1943 of General Wilhelm von Faupel, the Fuhrer's adviser on American affairs. During this mission, the general met with pro-German officers of the Argentine army and navy. Of course, Juan Domingo Perón could not be among them. Separately and privately, General von Faupel spoke with “Fräulein” Eva Duarte.
All these facts, of course, can be disputed. You can ignore them and brush them off. In fact, most Argentines do just that. This is probably why there are heated debates between them today, 60 years after Evita’s death, regarding her ideological preferences. And this is probably why Juan Domingo and Eva Peron are still revered as national heroes, defenders of the poor and persecutors of the rich oligarchs. No one cares about the mysterious disappearance of $100 million from the fund created by the first lady of Argentina to help the poor. As well as the mysterious origin of several kilograms that belonged to her jewelry on total amount over 14 million dollars, which amounted to only a small part of Evita's inheritance. All these questions and doubts fade before the image of a charming woman, shining in the people’s memory, who built houses for the poor, free kindergartens and schools for their children, distributed money and bread to them, stood up for them before the owners of factories and land latifundia, and who suffered a sad death. fate to die young.

Nazi paradise
Until the last opportunity, Argentina maintained neutrality, friendly, sympathetic and sympathetic to the powers of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis. And she gave in only under political and economic pressure from the United States: thirty days before the assault on Berlin by the Soviet Army, she finally declared war on Germany and Japan.
All the years, while war raged and blood was shed in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific Ocean, branches of the leading German arms concerns quietly worked in Argentina: I.G. Farben, Staudt und Co., Siemens Schuckert. The Allied naval blockade prevented them from sending their products to Germany, but money circulated freely through the vessels of a single, untouched financial system.
Suffice it to say that the mansion of the German embassy in Buenos Aires housed branches of the two largest banks of Nazi Germany, which actively and non-stop carried out external and internal operations. The checks that the embassy wrote to its agents were cashed in these banks. Argentine enterprises smuggled platinum, palladium, medicines, and chemicals to Germany and Italy. Argentine wheat and meat were also sent there through Spain. The coast of Argentina, its deserted, abandoned sections, served as a base for German submarines.
By the beginning of World War II, about 500 thousand ethnic Germans with Argentine passports lived in a country of 13 million people. Of course, not all of them were ardent supporters of Hitler, but, as often happens with emigrants, almost all were patriots and nationalists. Postulates such as " great Germany”, “Germany above all” did not make them indignant and indignant. And since almost all 500 thousand were highly qualified specialists, wealthy farmers, successful entrepreneurs, army officers and government officials, the thesis about the racial superiority of the Germans found a grateful response in their souls. Quarterly and regionally, they gathered in “sports clubs”, headed by Gauleiters with SS bearing, and published their own newspapers with portraits of Nazi bosses on the front pages. Created by ethnic Germans with help from Berlin, the “Association of German Charitable and Cultural Societies” became a semi-official branch of the NSDAP.
In a word, in Argentina, since 1933, through the long-term efforts of the Abwehr, the SD, the German Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Propaganda, a nutritious broth was created in which the microbes of Nazism felt great and multiplied with incredible speed. The matter of reproduction became even more fun after 1946, when Juan Domingo Peron came to power in the country, and Evita became the first lady of Argentina.
The Second World War had ended by that time. The Nazis fled to the corners of the globe, wherever they could. True, there were few suitable angles on the ball - the Middle East, North and Equatorial Africa, that's probably all. On this side of the ocean. And in the Western Hemisphere, Latin America was waiting for them - a previously inhabited and equipped corner. Mexico, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Brazil... However, Argentina became the most comfortable and attractive refuge. And not only because President Peron openly expressed dissatisfaction Nuremberg trials and his sentences, but mainly due to the excellent conditions created in advance for Nazi emigration.
“In those days, Argentina was something like paradise for us,” Erich Priebke, a former SS Hauptsturmführer who was involved in executions, plunged into the gentle waters of memories civilians in Italy. Having lived in Argentina for almost 50 years, he gave an interview to American television journalist Sam Donaldson. It's hard to say why. Maybe he wanted to earn extra money for retirement, or an eclipse came over him. But most likely the brave Priebke decided that after 50 years it was quite safe to remind humanity of past exploits and unfading glory.
Miscalculated. Priebke lived quietly and calmly in the town of San Carlos de Bariloche with an Argentine passport, under his own name, he didn’t have enough stars from the sky, but he didn’t live in poverty either. I went to German clubs, dined in German restaurants, drank delicious German beer, read German newspapers, watched German films... I was moderately nostalgic and would eventually rest in peace in a clean and tidy German cemetery. But he was overcome by the demon of vanity. So in Italy they saw the ABC television network program with his revelations and sent a request to Argentina for the extradition of the execution cases of master Erich Priebke. In 1996, the democratic government of Argentina extradited him to Italy. The subsequent fate of the vain Priebke is boring and uninteresting - investigation, trial, sentence, prison.
But the confessions obtained from him during the investigation about how he got into the Argentine pampa reveal many secrets. He escaped easily and even somehow uncomplicatedly from a British prisoner of war camp in northern Italy in 1946. I just walked out the gate and walked away without looking back. A year and a half after the war, the few guards didn’t give a damn - one more, one less. Until September 1948. Priebke and his family lived there, in Italy. After knowledgeable people from among their own they advised him to go to the Vatican. Under holy skies, Bishop Alois Hudal, who did not hide his sympathies for the former Nazis, provided Priebke with an International Red Cross passport in the name of the Latvian Otto Pape, an Argentine visa and a ticket to Genoa, from where the entire Priebke family sailed to Argentina.
The path along which Priebke got to the pampa was called a “rat trail” in the jargon of the stalkers who worked on it. Before May 1945, the Gestapo and SS had laid out many similar trails. Not all passed through the papal residence, but all guaranteed safe escape to safe places. The Nazi movement through this underground system of secret passages was ensured by the organization of SS veterans, founded even before the collapse of the Third Reich and finally formalized in 1946, better known by its German abbreviation ODESSA. This organization, in its ideological fanaticism and level of secrecy, in its sinister rituals and symbolism, was simultaneously reminiscent of the medieval monastic order with an inquisitorially cruel charter and a Masonic lodge obsessed with Satanism. The ODESSA overpass system covered with a strong and tightly connected network all of Europe, from Sweden to Sicily, and all of Latin America, from Mexico to the Antarctic latitudes of Chile and Argentina.
Adolf Eichmann, who led the Reich’s efforts “towards the final solution of the Jewish question,” and Josef Mengele, an SS doctor who conducted experiments on prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp, were brought to Argentina in similar ways. Random people, even those who were in rank and with orders under Hitler were rejected by the network. Only a select few found themselves in the web of its invisible threads, only those capable of benefiting the cause of the creation of the “Fourth Reich” and the revival of Nazism. And this was the real goal of the ODESSA plan.
The chief manager of the SS organization was considered to be Otto Skorzeny, who had settled in Spain, the Fuhrer's favorite, SS Obersturmbannfuhrer, famous for the brilliant execution of special missions. However, Skorzeny never rose to the heights of strategy. Could he come up with a plan for ODESSA and define the tasks of the organization. He is used to performing other people's designs. Of course, Operation ODESSA could not have been his idea. Who ordered him in Madrid? During the war, as an officer for special assignments under Hitler, Skorzeny reported only to the Fuhrer. And a little bit to the chief of all punitive services in Germany, Heinrich Himmler. He looked at the others from his height.
The transfer of huge sums and transportation of hundreds of kilograms of gold outside the Reich, when it smelled like something was fried, was in charge of the “second man in the party” Martin Bormann. Of course, on the instructions and with the approval of the “first man” - Adolf Hitler. Bormann, in addition, enjoyed the reputation of an unsurpassed practitioner and organizer. Therefore, he coordinated all operations of the secret services of the Third Reich to create an extensive infrastructure abroad, including illegal and legal bases, financial system and connection, and, most importantly, people who are firmly embedded in someone else’s life. ODESSA worked with the precision and pedantry of a Swiss chronometer - in a few years the organization managed to remove about 20 thousand Nazis from Germany and settle abroad.
This suggests that the true ideologists and leaders of ODESSA were the same figures who developed and determined the organization’s strategy for the years ahead. Skorzeny, with all his noisy fame as Hitler's daredevil, did not have the authority sufficient to control such people as Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele or the Gestapo chief, SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller, who mysteriously disappeared into the post-war space.
Hans-Ulrich von Kranz, the Argentine-born son of a former SS man, wrote several books investigating the post-war secrets of Nazism. Despite his fascination with mysticism and the occult, von Kranz still condescended to reality. Or rather, the facts he unearthed were real; they controlled the logic and pen of the publicist, forcing him quite often to draw quite serious conclusions. Here is a quote from his book about the disappeared gold of the Third Reich, which characterizes ODESSA:
“This system operates like a finely tuned machine. It has its own center, its own leaders, but even if you eliminate the “head”, all the limbs will still move and fulfill their role. The existence of such an organization as ODESSA makes us seriously doubt that the Third Reich was destroyed in May 1945. No, it continues to exist, albeit without a specific geographical reference. But if there is a surge of nationalism somewhere on Earth, there is no doubt: Hitler’s heirs will be right there and will help found a new, fourth Reich, even more dangerous than the third.”

ODESSA
Before moving on to the idyllic descriptions of Lake Nahuel Huapi in the foothills of the Andes and the town of San Carlos de Bariloche located on its shores, it is necessary to add a few more touches to the portrait official Argentina that time. They will undoubtedly help to understand why the “Bariloche incident” became possible in principle.
Argentine researcher Uki Goñi conducted more than two hundred interviews over the course of six years, exposing the South American part of the intercontinental web woven by the Nazis. Moreover, Gonyi managed to prove that not only German Nazis, but also French Vichyists, Rexists of Belgium, Croatian Ustashes, individual Catholic cardinals from Latin American countries worked as “spiders” in this network... This fascist international provided strong influence on the policies of Juan Domingo Peron, to the point that his tasks were carried out personally by Eva Peron.
In one of her publications, Goñi mentions the visit of the First Lady of Argentina to Europe, which she made in 1947. The visit was a triumph; Evita made a lot of noise with her beauty, charm, and emancipation. old light, who had not yet risen from the ashes, suffering, blood and dirt of the horrific massacre, looked with pleasure and hope at the bright embodiment of life, shining with fireworks of energy, sensuality, and intelligence, which was represented by the invariably and charmingly smiling Evita.
German journalist Georg Hodel, who worked with the Swiss archives that opened in recent years, spoke about the true background of this visit.
Evita started her tour in Spain. Official audience with dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco. And an informal meeting with Skorzeny's colleagues. At Franco's residence, issues of political, economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries were discussed. In a quiet Madrid mansion, where a private reception was held in honor of the distinguished guest, the talk was about money, secret locations, underground routes for delivering “goods” from Europe to Argentina...
In the Vatican, Evita was graciously allowed to kiss the ring of Pope Pius XII, which immediately brought her into the circle of those close to her. Of course, with the pope himself, known for his sympathies for all opponents of the “red infection,” she did not talk about “rat trails.” However, there were plenty of interlocutors in the Vatican who were ready to discuss the details of saving the Nazis even without the pope. Secret report The US State Department, dated May 1947, characterized the Vatican at that time: “This is the largest legitimate structure involved in the illegal trafficking of migrants, mainly Nazis.”
Then the first lady stayed at Alberto Dodero's villa in the town of Rapallo on the Italian Riviera. Multimillionaire Dodero, in addition to an Argentine passport, also had a large flotilla of commercial and passenger ships, the true contents of which rarely coincided with port declarations. So, on June 19, 1947, in the midst of Eva Peron’s European voyage, the first ship of this flotilla unloaded hundreds of German settlers at the remote docks of the port of Buenos Aires. Over the next few years, the Dodero flotilla transported thousands of Germans, Italians, Croats, most of who fled from justice, which was looking for them for crimes committed during the war.
In August 1947, Evita arrived in Geneva, where she held a series of meetings and conferences with people involved in organizing the “rat trail” movement. Naturally, there, in Switzerland, the conversation was primarily about finances. Sympathies are sympathies, but neither Juan Domingo Peron nor his wife ever considered their help as philanthropy. On the contrary, they approached this task very pragmatically: firstly, ODESSA paid for each person saved, and secondly, even during the war years, Germany began to transfer round sums of foreign currency to Argentina and transport hundreds of kilograms of gold there. Of course, both went through Swiss banks, which know how to keep other people's secrets. Recently leaked documents from the Central Bank of Argentina reveal highly suspicious currency and gold accounts held by the Swiss National Bank and a dozen private banks in Argentina during World War II.
Very significant sums from these accounts ended up in the pockets of Eva and Juan Domingo, went towards bribes to officials and, of course, towards the settlement of newly arriving Europeans. A number of researchers believe that the presidential elections of 1946 and the next, 1951, were won by Peron largely thanks to “German money.” Of course, being " people's president“Perón cared not only about his own well-being - he also thought about the country. From the flow of refugees, with the help of specially created secret offices, scientists, engineers, doctors and people of other useful professions were selected, who were naturalized in Argentina in the first place and with a minimum of formalities. The first Argentine Pulqui fighter, for example, was designed in the bureau of aircraft designer Kurt Tank, who once worked at the Focke-Wulf factories.
With Evita’s light hand, the Argentine ambassador to Switzerland Benito Liambi created a kind of secret service to identify people who could be useful to Argentina in the stream rushing along the “rat trails”. One of these secret migration offices, according to the Berne Police Department, was located at 49 Marktgasse, in the very center of the Swiss capital. And it was run by Argentines - Carlos Füldner, Herbert Helfferich, former SS officers, and Dr. Georg Weiss, “110 percent Nazi,” as Swiss police reports described him.
Having arranged affairs in Geneva and Bern, Evita went on vacation to one of the most popular resorts in the world in St. Moritz.
The ODESSA web was finally regulated - Evita even managed, through third parties, to supplement Alberto Dodero's flotilla with aircraft from the Dutch company KLM. It’s not that the Netherlands forgot the years of fascist occupation and suddenly became sympathetic to the Nazis, happily delivering them across the ocean. No, but in the Old World, the web of secret passages and threads created by ODESSA was based not on morality, but on money. Suffice it to say that the Nazis paid Swiss officials 200 thousand francs for each permit to fly outside the country, which was approximately 50 thousand dollars in those days. A huge amount - the price of a house on the lake!

Ministers of the Fourth Reich
The Argentine section of the network was in charge of Rodolfo Freide, a second generation Argentine. And there was also Rodolfo personal secretary Juan Domingo Peron, Evita's friend and supervisor of Argentina's internal security service. Ludwig Freide, Rodolfo's father, headed the German Transatlantic Bank in Buenos Aires, and at the same time the German diaspora in Argentina. It was Ludwig who was the trusted financial representative of the Fuhrer and Martin Bormann, who accepted tens of millions of Reichsmarks sent from Germany at the end of the war into the accounts of the bank he headed.
In general, the Freide family, built into a large state mechanism, most resembled a cell Sicilian mafia. And for them, too, the concept of “family” was much broader than family boundaries and immeasurably stronger than family ties. However, Freide’s father and son were distinguished by their intelligence, which they had more than enough to avoid trying to seize power from the Perons. Rodolfo did not strive for the position of a “gray eminence,” an actual ruler or second in command in the state. Ludwig, having the widest opportunities, did not want to become the Perons’ “wallet”. Everyone minded their own business and did not meddle deeply with power. Rodolfo ensured the naturalization of Nazis arriving from Germany, in the right moments connecting Juan Domingo, and resolving issues state security nationwide. Ludwig controlled Nazi millions and the German colony in Argentina. They complemented each other perfectly.

The Mystery of Bariloche
San Carlos de Bariloche, located among pine forests and flowering meadows on the shores of a huge mountain lake, is the unofficial capital of the Argentine Germans. Everything here is German-Austrian, not only the people: typically Alpine landscapes, unclouded, transparent waters of Lake Nahuel Huapi, neat streets, neat elegant houses, well-groomed front gardens... It seems so - now golden-haired Gretchen in an embroidered apron will come out onto the porch and sing with her lovely voice throaty Tyrolean “Golario-golo...”. The cemetery in Bariloche is also neat and nice; lying here is probably pleasant and peaceful. On most of the gravestones there is Gothic script, in some places ranks and titles from a past life are read: Oberst, Hauptmann, Sturmbannführer... The dead have no fear. And there are almost no “Nazi hunters” left in the world now - they have become extinct, following their prey.
This town in the foothills of the Andes was founded at the end of the 19th century by the first German settlers. At the beginning of the 20th century, they began to buy up the land on which the city was built, pastures and farmland were laid out along the shores of the lake. As a result, by the thirties of the last century the entire district belonged to the Germans. Thus, on the border of the mountains and the pampa, in Argentine Patagonia, a German enclave, “little Germany”, “Argentine Tyrol” took shape.
The most prominent landowner in Patagonia at that time was the company Lahusen & Co., owned by the brothers Dietrich and Christel Lahusen, natives of Bremen, who were among the top ten richest Argentine entrepreneurs. Their empire in Patagonia included many sheep farms, the wool from which was exported to Europe, dozens of ranches, and an extensive trading network that covered the entire south of Argentina with shops, shops, cafes and restaurants. The most important asset of Patagonia at that time was pastures; The Lahousen brothers owned 100 thousand hectares of these pastures, which were considered the best on the planet. In Patagonia, the power of the Bremen brothers meant no less, if not more, than the power of the country's president.
It is probably no coincidence that on the lands that belonged to the Lahuzens on the island of Huemul, in 1951, the Austrian scientist Ronald Richter, who headed the Peron atomic project, carried out the first controlled nuclear reaction in Latin America. That is, the Lahuzen empire could provide the proper level of security and confidentiality on its lands. By the way, in 1939 the brothers were officially charged with connections with German intelligence, but for some reason there were no administrative conclusions or judicial consequences.
Among the Lahousen possessions in Patagonia or beyond, the interest of researchers has always been attracted by one, rather modest and outwardly unremarkable - Villa San Ramon. The villa itself was located on the deserted shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi, far from Bariloche, but the boundaries of its territory extended far into the plain. The only railway in Patagonia reached there and ended there, and the only runway was located there.
The Lahuzens were not the sole owners of the Villa San Ramon; in general, they did little with their property. The co-owner of Villa San Ramon was... the German principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, and the prince himself served as an adviser to the German Embassy in Buenos Aires in the late 1930s and 1940s. Yes, yes, the same Prince Stefan of Schaumburg-Lippe, who in September 1946 willingly gave evidence to the commission investigating Nazi activities in Argentina.
Rodolfo Freide was in charge of all the affairs of the Villa San Ramon. As if he, the personal secretary of Juan Domingo Peron and the curator of the Argentine internal security service, lacked other, more important concerns than taking care of this property, lost in the foothills of the Andes. However, perhaps it was precisely this concern that seemed most important to Freida.

Was Hitler in Argentina?
Versions of Hitler's escape along with other Nazi criminals to Latin America appeared a long time ago. The absolute majority of them were briefly or, on the contrary, extensively presented plots of fantasy, mystical and esoteric novels. It was possible to take them any seriously only by going crazy, like Don Quixote, by reading such literature. However, in June 1998, the FBI released secret files concerning Hitler and his options for fate.
Seven hundred and forty-five pages of documents that have lain in the archives for fifty years under the heading “top secret.” Of course, not all papers are of actual interest, but, as in a gold-bearing vein, nuggets can be found among the tons of waste rock. Several reports addressed to FBI Director John Edgar Hoover. One, dated August 14, 1945 and numbered 374 and 375, contains detailed information about the landing of Hitler and his escort from two submarines on the deserted ocean coast of Patagonia near the town of San Antonio and their difficult journey west, to the foothills of the Andes. In another report numbered 369 dated August 21, 1945, another

Surely everyone has heard how just recently another alleged Nazi hideout was uncovered in Argentina, and has anyone wondered why Argentina accepted the Nazis, why this country practically covered up murderers, tyrants and criminals for many years? Let's try to understand this difficult and complicated story, which human rights activists around the world are trying to unravel.

The Second World War died down and all the Nazi minions, criminals against humanity and murderers of millions of innocent people hastened to hide away from the world court, some lay low in Europe in the hope of being forgotten over time, but most of the Nazis tried to hide further away, somewhere overseas, fearing for their own destinies after defeat in a bloody war.

Thus, not only Nazis from countries that supported or were allies of Germany during World War II escaped punishment. Those who were involved in their acts against people in the world fled to South America. Nazi criminals fled from Europe along the so-called “rat trails.” Under the auspices of various “human rights” organizations and high-ranking officials of the Catholic Church, or using forged documents, pretending to be refugees, of whom there were a lot at that time.

They fled to countries where they were not in danger. At the end of the 40s, Australia, the Middle East, North Africa and South America became a haven for war criminals, former executioners and Nazis. Each of these regions was distinct in its own way, Australia is remote and has vast unexplored territories to hide in, Africa and the Middle East were on the path to independence and were jealous of outside interference, so that human rights activists and military tribunals had access to these regions for many years. has been closed for years. But South America, or more precisely, Argentina, stood apart from this list of regions where Nazi criminals found refuge.

Why did Argentina become a refuge for the Nazis?

Historically, in the 19th century, Argentina was close to Britain, but the crisis that overwhelmed this country before the outbreak of World War II and against its background the developing success of Nazi Germany gave rise to unprecedented popularity of the ideas of Nazi Germany in this South American country; many in Argentina sympathized with Germany and Hitler’s government. And as usual during a crisis, in Argentina in the 1930s, nationalist and sometimes fascist radical movements began to become especially popular. True, it is worth noting that in World War II Argentina took a neutral position, but rather not thanks to, but in spite of, simply fearing pressure from other neighboring countries.

And it’s worth noting that the crisis broke all areas of Argentina’s statehood, including the army, so there could be no talk of any support or opposition; Argentina didn’t even have tanks at that time. Although, Argentina continued trade cooperation with Germany for some time and only at the end of 1945, when the result of the war was virtually a foregone conclusion, it entered into an alliance against Nazi Germany only to improve its reputation on the world stage.

In 1946, when Juan Peron came to power in Argentina, Argentina began to contribute in every possible way to concealing Nazis from Europe. Which, in principle, was not surprising, considering that the President of Argentina himself was once actively interested in the idea of ​​fascism and even met with the dictator Mussolini, this was one of the reasons why Nazi criminals fled to Argentina.

From the late 40s to the 50s of the last century, this South American country became a haven for war criminals also due to the historically large German diaspora in Latin America. Often, Germans occupied high-ranking positions in government organizations and, naturally, contributed to the concealment of their compatriots.

But another reason why the Nazis found refuge in South America was the scientific potential of the Germans, or rather, Nazi scientists, because the Nazis before the war accumulated vast experience and knowledge in scientific and economic sphere, which was so lacking in South American countries that were in a long economic and political crisis. German scientists and doctors, whom the world accused of atrocities against humanity, were sheltered in the hope of taking advantage of their rich scientific knowledge.

Another reason why Nazi criminals in Argentina felt their impunity was, not surprisingly, the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. The then US government was satisfied with the anti-communist position of Argentina and Brazil and they, in turn, turned a blind eye to the fact that former Nazis had found refuge in Argentina. This was the unique situation that arose at that time, which changed only in the late 80s, with the end of the Cold War.

It was at this time that active exposure campaigns and the capture of war criminals began to take place around the world, including in Argentina.

At the same time, the search for Nazi hiding places continues today. Quite recently, a place where Nazi criminals were hiding was found. A large secret warehouse of items from Nazi Germany was discovered just two years ago in northern Argentina, including furnishings from the Third Reich, as well as other artifacts.

Traces of the Nazis are still found in Latin America today; in 2015, a group of archaeologists found an allegedly secret bunker on the border of Argentina and Paraguay, which, according to scientists, could even serve as a refuge for Bormann.

Of course, this conspiracy theory is not supported in Europe, since DNA analysis of the remains found in Berlin confirms that Hitler and Bormann actually died. Although no one saw it. But the fact that the found ruins could belong to the fleeing Nazis is evidenced by the found fragments of German household utensils and coins from the mid-40s.

According to scientists, this place was built specifically for Nazi war criminals after World War II. But was there a need for this shelter if the Nazis felt quite at ease and lived without hiding, not only in Argentina, but also in other countries of South America.

Among such criminals were Hans-Ulrich Rudel, Adolf Eichmann, Josef Mengele (a famous murderer who conducted experiments on living people in). Moreover, the latter lived for many years very close to Buenos Aires in a special German boarding house and only with the beginning active searches from the Israeli service, the Mossad began to hide, unfortunately, he was never caught, and Rudel was one of President Peron’s friends.

Hans-Ulrich Rudel

Adolf Eichmann

Josef Mengele, left

By the way, for a long time the idea was popular among some historians that even Hitler did not actually poison himself, but fled, having previously undergone a number of plastic surgeries and until recently lived in Argentina. In total, during the flight of the Nazis, thousands of war criminals received shelter in Argentina.

Of course, most of the criminals of Nazi Germany have long since died or died, but surely the ongoing search in Argentina will lead to new discoveries and lift the curtain on the secret life of the Nazis in South America and how they got there. But we can only not forget about the atrocities that they committed and the grief that the European peoples had to endure during the Second World War!