Übersee Süd:
The Ultimate Truth about Nazis Fled to South America

What's the true story on South American Nazis? After the war Argentina and Paraguay were run for years by nationalist strongmen, Juan Peron and Alfredo Stroessner respectively, who liked to strut around in military regalia and brutalize dissidents. Argentina had remained officially neutral until early 1945, when economic pressure forced it to throw in with the Allies, but until that point was in intimate contact with Hitler's regime and the fascist Franco government in Spain. Postwar Brazil was still fascist-friendly, a legacy of deposed dictator Getulio Vargas. Surely it's no surprise that the leaders of these countries nurtured fraternal feelings for fleeing Nazis. Not all fugitives from the Third Reich ended up in South America--quite a few are said to have headed for Spain or the Middle East, and the U.S. imported a crowd of Nazi rocket scientists during Operation Paperclip. That said, the true story of how war criminals like Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele wound up in the land of the gauchos has never been fully told, and even now it's difficult to separate fact from fiction. Leading candidates for chief enabler of the great escape include: Odessa. Part of the popular consciousness ever since Frederick Forsyth's best-selling 1972 novel The Odessa File, this secret group (the name is an acronym for Organization der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, "Organization of Former SS Members") supposedly used stashed war booty and connections in high places to spirit Nazi big shots out of reach of the Allies. Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal says he first heard about Odessa during the Nuremberg trials, and in his 1989 book Justice, Not Vengeance he seems convinced it exists, or rather existed. He offers little evidence, though, and others have their doubts. Even some believers say the organization was amateurish and short-lived. The Catholic church. The claim that members of the Catholic hierarchy were instrumental in obtaining documents, cash, and safe passage for many escaping Nazis is only barely scandalous these days. The benign view is that individual clerics acted out of humanitarian concern, believing they were aiding refugees from postwar communist persecution, and were unaware of their charges' sordid pasts. Others say the Vatican knew quite well what was going on but wanted former Nazis as allies in its struggle against the reds. A figure commonly named in this context is Alois Hudal, an openly pro-Nazi German bishop in Rome who is said to have helped engineer the escapes of dozens if not hundreds of Nazis--including Eichmann, who was living in Argentina when the Mossad caught him in 1960, and Franz Stangl, commandant of the Treblinka death camp, who ultimately made his way to Brazil and was captured there in 1967. Evita,  Swiss & the Nazis The above plus Peron. Argentine journalist Uki Goñi, in The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Peron's Argentina (2002), offers what amounts to a synthesis of earlier theories. The "real Odessa," he says, consisted of about a dozen energetic ex-Nazis and Nazi collaborators from several nations, including a few wanted war criminals, working in concert with the Peron regime and sympathetic Catholic officials in both Europe and Argentina. Goñi makes a plausible case that the cabal, which was organized in Buenos Aires following Peron's election as Argentina's president in 1946, orchestrated the emigration of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Nazis and other unsavory types to the country in the late 1940s and early 1950s. (He also claims that the cabal was based at the presidential palace, and that many of its members were given important jobs in Peron's government.) The old Nazis made frequent trips to Europe to troll for more fugitives; some war criminals had to be smuggled out, but in other cases countries were glad to unload their troublesome Nazi refugees. Visas and landing permits were handed out freely, the chief concern being that no communists or Jews be allowed in by mistake. How many ex-Nazis made it to Argentina is not known. Goñi says he identified 300 during six years of research, and it's easy to believe there were many more.   It is absurd to believe that 300,000 fugitive Nazis escaped to South America on the few U-Boats remaining at the end of the war, or that they all made their own travel arrangements...   The truth is much more ordinary, almost mundane. It is all the more shocking as a result. For whatever success ODESSA achieved, they were mere amateurs at Nazi-smuggling when compared with the Vatican.     ~Mark Aarons and John Loftus "Unholy Trinity" It's a lot to swallow, no question, and notwithstanding his 591 footnotes Goñi concedes that many key Argentine records that would've corroborated his story have been destroyed. Still, he avoids the overheated claims of other writers, and the plain fact is that all those Nazis didn't wind up in South America by coincidence--they were going where they were welcome. As for the details? Given the current worldwide consensus that Nazis represent the ultimate human evil (and the resulting disinclination of officials in Argentina and elsewhere to come clean), Goñi's book may be as close as we'll get to the truth. Argentina's government had, in 1938 (on the verge of World War II, and with Hitler's politics regarding Jews already on the move), sanctioned an immigration law restricting access to any individual scorned or forsaken by his country's government. This was implicitly targeted for Jews and other minorities fleeing Germany at the time. This law was discovered and denounced by writer Uki Goñi. This legislation, though already in disuse for many years, was finally vetoed on 8 June 2005.   Co-Opting Nazi Germany: Neutrality in Europe During World War II Which Nazis Fled To South America? The dead, the captured and the fugitives  Marcelo Mackinnon   After June 6, 1944, when the Allied forces launched the biggest military invasion in history at Normandy, the Nazi leaders realized that their military defeat was imminent and formed an organization to evacuate themselves and all the assets they had plundered during World War II. The organization was called ODESSA, whose name was an acronym created from the German phrase "Organization Der Ehemaligen SS-Angehorigen," or "The Organization of Former SS Members." As its name states, it would only help members of the SS or Schutz Staffel (Protection Corps), which was the elite structure of the Nazi party and also Hitler's personal guards.   At the end of the war, the SS was estimated to have 600,000 members, all members of the Nazi Party who were committed to its ideology, in contrast to the members of the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) who were citizens conscripted into its ranks.   Why did ODESSA choose South America? Many Germans began to immigrate to the continent since the mid-19th century, mainly to Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. This helped the fugitives integrate into the communities without arising suspicion. But the main reason was that Germany had longstanding ties with the political power structures in these countries, for example, Prussian military officers trained the Chilean army in the early 1900s.   During World War II, Argentina declared its neutrality but continued to trade with the fascist regimes in Germany, Spain and Italy. Allegedly, Argentinia President General Juan Peron sold 10,000 blank Argentine passports to ODESSA and the many Nazis who arrived in South America using fake Argentine identities can prove this version.   Such was the case of Adolf Eichmann, who joined the Austrian Nazi party in 1932 and was recruited by the SS to serve as a guard in the Dachau concentration camp. Eichmann rose quickly up the ranks under the protection of Heinrich Himmler, one of the main Nazi leaders.   In 1941, Eichmann was head of the Department for Jewish Affairs in the Gestapo, who was responsible for the death of 3 million Jews in extermination camps. At the end of WWII, Eichmann was captured but strangely enough was able to escape from an American P.O.W. camp and flee to Buenos Aires in 1950. In the Argentine capital, Eichmann assumed the false identity of Ricardo Klement, where he hid until 1960, when he was captured by Israeli "Mossad" agents and secretly taken to Tel Aviv. After a five-month trial, Eichmann was sentenced to death and executed in 1962.   Josef Mengele joined the SS in 1938, the same year he received his medical degree, and from then on would be known by the alias of "The Doctor." In 1940, Mengele was recruited by the "Waffen" Division of the SS, (the highest honor for a devout Nazi), and sent to the Ukrainian front. Mengele was seriously wounded during combat, and was therefore posted to the Race and Resettlement Office in Berlin, and also promoted to the rank of captain.   In May 1943, Mengele was appointed to "serve" in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. In the camp, Mengele would always be seen showing off his black SS uniform and medals, and his ruthless treatment of the prisoners made him feared even among the other SS officers. Mengele was in charge of selecting those prisoners that would be killed in the gas chambers and those on which he would carry out his cruel "genetic experiments" such as the dissection of live infants, the castration of male prisoners without anesthetics and attempting to change the color of eyes with injections of dyes.   In 1949, along with other members of ODESSA, Mengele was smuggled to Argentina, then ruled by Peron. The Doctor spent the next 30 years on the run from Israeli agents who attempted to capture him as they had done with Adolf Eichmann. The ODESSA sheltered Mengele in Paraguay, then ruled by General Alfredo Stroessner, and later on moved him to Brazil where his body is said to have been identified by local forensic authorities on June 6, 1985.   However, Mengele's victims have always doubted this version, since posing dead was a ploy frequently used by fleeing Nazis to escape persecution, as in the case of Walter Rauff, who chose to settle in Chile after WWII.   Rauff was also a high ranking SS officer who invented the "Death Trucks" with which 500,000 prisoners were murdered with lethal gas at Auschwitz. Like Mengele, his colleague at Auschwitz, Rauff arrived in South America in 1950, where Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal detected his presence.   After many years of extradition demands by the German justice, Rauff was arrested in 1963 and spent three months in a Santiago jail. Surprisingly, the Chilean Supreme Court freed Rauff because "the crimes had taken too long ago, Rauff had shown good behavior in Chile and was a prosperous businessman."   It seems that there was a powerful "Reason of State" that made the Chilean authorities harbor Rauff, since not even President Salvador Allende, a declared anti-fascist, allowed the Nazi to be extradited. Rauff then settled in the southern city of Punta Arenas, but in 1988 was reported to have "died" in Santiago. During the Pinochet regime, it is alleged that Rauff designed the concentration camps where thousands of political prisoners were confined.   Paul Schäffer began his career in the "Hitler Youth" and during WWII and took part in the Russian front as a medical assistant. At the end of the war, Schäffer remained in Germany working in orphanages where the police arrested him for "pedophile" activities. In 1957, Schaeffer formed a religious sect called the "Private Social Mission" that apparently would help orphans and neglected children.   After being prosecuted by the German justice, Schäffer mysteriously managed to end up in Chile in 1960, along with hundreds of German children and their parents, many of whom were former Nazis. With the approval of Chilean authorities, Schäffer was granted a large terrain in the south of the country near the town of Parral that Schäffer named the "Dignity Colony".   A small settlement called "Villa Bavaria" was built, where the men, women and children would sleep in separate quarters. To the adults, Schäffer would be known as "The Führer" and to the children as "The Uncle," and they would have to work seven days a week, from morning to night and without any pay.   Psychological abuse, torture and drugs were used to control the followers. With their slave labor, the "Colony" began to prosper and became a powerful agricultural farm, which the Chilean authorities presented as an "exemplary charity organization." However, several of the followers rebelled and escaped from the Colony, and the truth was known about Schäffer and his gang.   Many of the residents of the Colony were taken to court to testify, but the Chilean justice system proved inefficient. This situation continued until 1993, when Schäffer went into hiding, only to be arrested on May 2004 in Argentina and deported to Chile. In May 2006, Schäffer was sentenced by the Chilean Supreme Court to 20 years in prison accused of sexual abusing hundreds of children.   The "Uncle" is also accused of assisting Pinochet's secret police in the torture and murder of 150 political prisoners after 1973. Martin Bormann was the highest-ranking SS officer to take refuge in South America, specifically in Chile and Argentina. Bormann joined the Nazi party in 1925, and by the end of WWII was Adolf Hitler's personal assistant.   Bormann became so powerful that he was appointed by Hitler to collect the financial donations made by the richest German businessmen to the Nazi party, and also to look after Hitler's private estate, such as the Berghof (Wolf's Lair) in Bavaria. In 1941, Bormann was appointed Chancellor of the Nazi Party, whereby all official matters and meetings with Hitler had to be previously approved by Bormann.   In 1945, as the Soviet troops advanced on the Berlin Bunker, Bormann witnessed Hitler and Eva Braun's wedding. After the ceremony Hitler ordered Bormann to escape and save his life to carry out a mysterious "final mission."   There are many versions as to how Bormann escaped from Berlin, some claim that he died others that he escaped. Bormann's final fate remained an enigma until 1996 when a passport was found in Chile with Bormann's photo but under the name of Ricardo Bauer. SS Captain Erich Priebke was discovered to be living in Bariloche, Argentina during the 1990's. Priebke was accused of ordering the massacre of 335 Italians in March 1944. The killings occurred at the Ardeatine Caves in Rome, after which Priebke ordered that the entrance be blown up to bury the bodies. Finally, Priebke was extradited to Italy and in 1997 Priebke was sentenced to 15 years in prison.   Priebke is now 93 years old, the oldest Nazi prisoner in custody. After Priebke's detention, further investigations revealed that Bariloche had become a hideout for many other SS officers, many of whom are still living there.   The last case recently exposed is that of Aribert Heim, head doctor at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, whose daughter is a resident of Vina del Mar, Chile. There are many reasons to believe that Heim may still be in that South American country.

New Eagle's Nest   Suddenly, the long blue prow of a lone submarine shoots above the water. It has been almost four months since World War ll in Europe has ceased. This is German U-Boat 977 badly in need of some fresh air. For it has been traveling under water for sixty days. The U-Boat would come up only at night to charge the electric batteries. The Nazi Swastika is clearly visible on both sides of the conning tower. The skipper, Lieutenant Heinz Schäffer is afraid his sub might be mistaken for a Japanese sub and be sunk. For Lt. Schäffer is on the most top secret mission of his entire career. When Germany surrendered unconditionally, some warships and submarines were still at sea. A few of these would seek refuge in a neutral country. The time is 0400 O'clock (4:00 am) in the early morning of August 17, 1945. (Germany had surrendered May 7, 1945.) The place is the South Atlantic Ocean, just off the shore of the city of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina, the second largest country in South America.  U-977 is watching for a signal to come ashore, three green lights. As the signal is given, the sub moves up the Rio de la Plata (the mouth of a large river) to dock in Buenos Aires. As U-977 approaches the pier, Lt. Heinz Schäffer ponders over the identity of his three passengers. This mission has been so top secret that no one knows who they are. A middle aged man and woman with a small girl emerge topside. But they are bundled up in trench coats and wrapped in several scarves. A full squad of Argentine Army air Force Police and a full squad of Secret State Police (Gestapo) await the trio's arrival. They are quickly loaded into an armored car and whisked away. With sirens whaling, their escorts of four motorcycles and six squad cars soon reach the Army Air Force Base. On the main runway a tri-motor Junkers Transport JU52/3 airplane is warming up. This plane has the logo of the Argentine Air Force, but it is one of Germany's finest.   After a short two-hour journey that covers around four hundred miles, they land on a secluded airstrip. This is located on the edge of the jungle near Laguna Mar Chiquita, a large lagoon. This is in the middle of the Cordoba region of Argentina. Here is the location of a plantation fortress that covers a thousand square miles. It is enclosed by a ten foot high chain link fence with four strands of barbed wire at the top. Guard towers are located every four to five miles apart. Armed guards with guard dogs also patrol the entire area. A thousand flood lights shine brightly during the night. Large "Keep Out - No Trespassing" signs are posted in three languages; German, English and Spanish. Finally, two small airplanes circle overhead day and night. There is a large sign over the main front gate that reads, "NEU KEHLSTEIN." When translated into English it reads "NEW EAGLE'S NEST!"   Not too far from Munich, Germany rises the Bavarian Alps, a very beautiful group of mountains. Far up on the slope is a village called Obersalzberg. This is where Hitler had his home as well as bunkers and air raid shelters. And perched above this near the summit, was his lair or retreat. You guessed it, the place was called "Kehlstein" (Eagle's Nest). This is where Eva Braun lived with Hitler for many years. The identity of the three passengers: Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun Hitler (his wife) and their young daughter Uschi Hitler. Germany has surrendered unconditionally but Adolf Hitler had not.  He was now here to keep his promise for the Third Reich would last at least a thousand years! Now many top scientists, historians, and forensic experts have never believed that Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Supposedly Hitler shot himself in the head and Eva used a cyanide poison capsule. Then their bodies were supposedly doused with gasoline and set on fire. The bodies were burned so severely it was impossible to identify them. There was no blood left to be tested and no finger-prints to compare. By May 1st, Russian troops had captured most of Berlin. Josef Stalin, the secretary general, top leader of Russia, wanted positive proof that Hitler was dead. He sent a search team led by Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Klimenko to find the truth. A water soaked body who resembled Hitler was found in an old oak water tank. Although this man had not been touched by fire, he was positively identified as Adolf Hitler. He was put on display in the Reich Chancellery  main hall. Soon another body was found in a wooden box just outside the bunker door. He looked enough like Hitler to be his twin brother. So he was positively identified as Adolf Hitler. (This body had not been touched by fire either.) Two days later, two bodies were dug up out of a small bomb crater, a man and a woman. They were sent to the 496th field hospital in Berlin-Buch. On May 8, V-E Day, both bodies were given a preliminary forensic autopsy. Now we know once and for all this is positively Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun Hitler! Their dental records have been compared and that proves who they really are, case closed.   However, this did not prove anything! The woman identified as Eva Braun Hitler had not died of cyanide poison but from a shrapnel wound in her chest. And we see Adolf Hitler had several doubles. At least one double had his dental records and teeth altered to look exactly like Hitler. All of the men and women that surrounded Hitler were completely fanatical in their loyalty and devotion to him. They all swore an oath, not to the German military or to the German fatherland, but to Hitler himself. Most of them were captured by the Russians, a few by England, and a few by the United States. They were interrogated, tortured, and sent to prison. That is why so many different stories exist concerning the life or death of Hitler and his wife.   As early as September of 1943, "Operation Land of Fire" was put into motion. It was spearheaded by Hitler's private secretary, Martin Bormann, who handled Hitler's finances. He began to smuggle money, gold and art treasures into Argentina by submarine. This is where the finances came from to construct "Neu Kehlstein" the new Eagle's Nest. By the end of World War ll, the government of Argentina had issued 2,003 passports for high Nazi war criminals! Soon reports came pouring in that Hitler was indeed alive and well. He was seen as a headwaiter in a cafe in Grenoble, France. Next he was a fisherman in the Aran Islands, off the coast of Ireland. Then a croupier in a casino in Evian. Would you believe, as a monk in the monastery in St. Gallen, Switzerland? Next holed up in a moated castle Westphalia, Germany. And all the while Joseph Stalin was insisting that Hitler and Eva were living either in Spain or Argentina.   Adolf Hitler was a very complex individual with a photographic memory. Many people believe he was insane, while others believe he was a genius. He certainly was a gifted speaker, able to hold mass audiences spellbound. Hitler believed that he was the twentieth century representative of the medieval Teutonic Knights driving back the slave from German territory. He promised to completely crush the Jewish and communist backed world conspiracy. Eva Braun met Hitler in 1933, and became his mistress for life finally marrying him on April 29, 1945.   Time Magazine selected Hitler as "The Man of The Year" in 1938. Samuel Church, U.S. Industrialist, offered a one million dollar reward for his capture in 1940. In 1986 the daily newspaper in Buenos Aires, Argentina, printed a story. A reporter had just interviewed Adolf Hitler, he is alive and in perfect health, and only 96 years old!