Nazis in Argentina: the complicity of a government

[Louis]

Little by little I republish this article that I did 10 years ago and that was lost in the Musket Club.

Argentina was a refuge for Nazi criminals like Adolf Eichmann and Joseph Mengele, with the active complicity of the authorities.

There was a net redemption of German Nazi officials and related schemes - after the defeat of Germany - organized by the first government of Gen. Juan Domingo Peron (1946-1955), which facilitated his escape from Europe when many had orders capture.

This is the stories of some of the characters who passed through here : Uiberreither, Priebke, Kopps, Bohne, Habel, Schwammberger, Schaefer, Kutschmann, Pavelić, Barbie, Roschmann, Heim, Rauff, Dinko Å akić, von Alvensleben, Erwin Fleiss, Adolf Eichmann, Guido Zimmer, Josef Mengele and others...​

 

[Louis]

Siegfried Uiberreither (1908/1984)

The years 1939 and 1940 were ones of military service for Uiberreither, who became a mountain trooper (Gebirgsjäger) and participated in the German landing in Norway.

In 1940, Uiberreither became Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter) of Styria, in 1941 Chief of the Civil Administration in the occupied areas of Yugoslavian "Lower Styria", and in 1942, also the Reich Defence Commissar for the Gau of Styria. In 1943, he was promoted to SA Obergruppenführer. In 1944 he was the leader of the Volkssturm in Styria, a last-ditch home guard set up on Martin Bormann's order's towards the end of the WW2, and associated in Styria with the Nazi "Werwolf".

In May 1945, after the Allies had overrun the Reich and Hitler was dead, Uiberreither was arrested and later compelled to testify as a witness at the Nuremberg Trials.

In 1947, Uiberreither fled when it became clear that there was the threat of being handed over to Yugoslavia. After this, there are clues to his having spent a while in Argentina before he eventually – as it is supposed – went to live with his family in Sindelfingen under a false name.​

 

[Louis]

Erich Priebke (1913/2013)

Was the second in command of the Gestapo during the German occupation of Rome. It is said that he had a great instinct for exposing the activities of partisans and enemy spies. It was one of those responsible for collecting 335 Italians to be killed in the Ardeatine Caves in reprisal for the killing of a handful of German soldiers attacked as partisan.

He was arrested after the war ended and he escaped from a prison camp in Italy in 1946, arriving in 1948 to Argentina with the false name of Otto Pape on board the steamer San Giorgio. He settled for Buenos Aires in 1954, post arrived Bariloche city. When he moved to Bariloche Priebke began directing the Instituto Cultural Argentino Germano Bariloche, and primary and secondary school, the Instituto Primo Capraro.

He was a prominent member of that community until he is discovered by a group of American journalists. Extradited to Italy in 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Under house arrest in Rome, died on 2013.​

 

[Louis]

Reinhard Kopps (1914/2001)

Former agent of the Abwehr .- Known as who denounced to Erich Priebke for its actions in World War II. Not been proven to be a war criminal but some say it may have been involved in the deportations of Jews in Albania. He was one of the main assistant to the famous bishop Hudal in the assembly of the Ratsline or Route Rats. He was editor of the pro-Nazi Der Weg in Buenos Aires.

He joined the Argentina under the false name of Juan Maler in 1948 to keep on board the steamer Santa Cruz. He died in Bariloche (Arg) where he always lived undisturbed for justice.​

 

[Louis]

Gerhard Bohne (1902/1981)

t was a Doctor of Law, director of the AGR (Aktion T4) Working Group of the Reich Health and Nursing. An organization which aimed to wipe out 70,000 people with mental and physical abnormalities in Germany since coming to power of the Nazis until 1941.

Income in 1948 to Argentina in the steam Ana C, as technical assumption to be employed in the industry. He returned to Germany in 1955 after being ousted Peron in 1963 only to return with the false name of Kurt Rudiger.

He was arrested in 1964 and extradited to Germany in 1966. Was declared unfit for trial due to illness.​

 

[Louis]

Herbert Habel (1914 /2000)

Fought on the Russian front and in Normandy.
May have committed war crimes when served the Gauleiter of Linz Airgrubel.
He joined the Argentina under the false name of Kurt Repa in 1950. Spent some time in Buenos Aires and then settle in El Bolson (Rio Negro province) where he died in 2000.
Told on several occasions she met General Peron who helped him regain his true identity and contact was Mengele and Eichmann in Argentina.

 

[Louis]

Josef Schwammberger (1912/2004)

Was a member of the SS. Between 1942 and 1944, when he commanded several forced labor camps in the Krakow district, Schwammberger was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death of thousands of people on racist grounds.

After the WW2, in 1945, Schwammberger fled to Argentina, where he lived and in 1965 he obtained Argentine nationality. He worked for years in a petrochemical plant.

In 1973 the German government notified the Argentine that Schwammberger was in the country. However, he was only arrested in 1987. The Nazi defense was predictable. First, that he had no responsibility, that he had only fought and obeyed orders. That the fact that he hadn't even changed his name was a clear indicator of his peace of mind. On the other hand, that due to his advanced age and his state of health, he could not be transferred to Germany for his trial. He was presented as a frail grandpa. After procedures, appeals and appeals, the Argentine justice granted the extradition in March 1990.

The process began in June 1991, in Stuttgart, and a year later the judges pronounced the sentence of life imprisonment, in which they found that Schwammberger was responsible for excessive, arbitrary and sometimes motivated "boredom" crimes.

He died in a prison hospital bed on Dec 3, 2004. He was 92 years old. His wife died in Argentina.​

 

[Louis]

Walter Kutschmann SS 1914-1986

He was a prominent leader of the Gestapo for the start of War in Tarponol (Poland), and later head of the Jewish affairs section in the Polish district also Drohobycz.

Kutschmann (circle) 1934

Towards the end of the war was moved to France, but shortly before the apocalypse crossed the border with Spain.
Charged with the death of 20 Polish professors and 18 of its most direct relatives, besides the execution, ordered directly by Kutschmann, 1,500 Jews in 1942 in the Polish sector under police jurisdiction.
Entered Argentina in 1948 (with spanish passport) in steam "Monte Amboto" under the false name of Ricardo Pedro Olmo.
Here he worked as head of household shopping of Osram (lights).

He was arrested on Nov 14, 1985 in the district of Florida, Buenos Aires, with the participation of Interpol agents.
While those a cumbersome process of extradition, died on Aug 30, 1986 on the Fernandez Hospital of Buenos Aires due to a sudden heart condition.​

 

[julianj]

Thanks for this. What an abhorrent lot. It's sad that most of them never faced any kind of justice.

 

[Louis]

Ante Pavelić (Croatian fascist leader) 1889/1959

Military and political leader of Croatian Ushtasa movement.
He becomes head of state when Germany invade in 1941 the yugoslav state.
Nazi accomplice and ally in all its activities in the region during the War.
Directly responsible of Josenovac concentration camp (led by Dinko Sakic.)
Entered Argentina in 1948 by boat from Brazil with the false name. The documentation was of the Red Cross. In April 1957, he was the victim of a shooting attack which he survived, but which left him with permanent aftermath.

The most widespread version assures that it was the work of the Yugoslav secret services (from the government of Marshal Tito), but his daughter maintained until her death that the perpetrators of the attack against her father were Croats who wanted to eliminate him to take over the government in exile.

Regardless of who the perpetrators were, the event had a strong media impact that made it impossible to deny Pavelic's presence in Argentina. The new government made his situation even more precarious and forced him to seek a new destination: Spain.

The only condition that Francisco Franco's dictatorship imposed on Pavelic to give him refuge was that he not show himself more than necessary.
Died in Madrid in 1959.​

 

[Louis]

Edward Roschmann
(1908-1977)

Roschmann was a member of the Nazi SS organization. He was commandant of the Riga ghetto from Jan 1943 until the ghetto was closed in the fall of that year. He was responsible for numerous murders and other atrocities.

In the end of war concealed himself as an ordinary prisoner of war, and in so doing obtained a release from custody in 1947. After that however he became imprudent and visited his wife in Graz, Austria. He was recognized with the assistance of former concentration camp inmates and arrested by the British military police. Roschmann was sent to Dachau concentration camp which had been converted to an imprisonment camp for accused war criminals. Roschmann succeeded in escaping from this custody. In 1948 Roschmann was able to flee Germany.

He travelled first to Genoa in Italy, and from there to Argentina by ship, on a pass supplied by the International Red Cross. Roschmann was assisted in this effort by Alois Hudal, a strongly pro-Nazi bishop of the Catholic church.

Roschmann arrived in Argentina either on 10 Feb 1948 or 2 Oct 1948 (2/10/1948 or 10/2/1948, depending on date notation used). He founded a wood import-export firm in Buenos Aires. In 1968, under the name "Federico Wegener" he became a citizen of Argentina.

In 1960, the criminal court in Graz issued a warrant for the arrest of Roschmann on charges of murder and severe violations of human rights in connection with the killing of at least 3,000 Jews between 1938 and 1945, overseeing forced laborers at Auschwitz, and the murder of at least 800 children under the age of 10.

However, the post-war Austrian legal system was ineffective in securing the return for trial of Austrians who had fled Europe, and no action was ever taken against Roschman based on this charge.

In Oct 1976, the embassy of West Germany in Argentina initiated a request for the extradition of Roschmann to Germany to face charges of multiple murders of Jews during World War II. This was based on the request of the West German prosecutor's office in Hamburg.

Roschmann then fled to Paraguay and died in Asuncion, on Aug 8, 1977.​

 

[Gunner]

That's the name of the SS character Maximillian Schell played in the Odessa File.
Not the same story though.

 

[Louis]

Walter Rauff (born June 19, 1906) was an SS officer in Nazi Germany, attaining the grade of Colonel in June 1944.

From Jan 1938 he was an aide of Reinhard Heydrich firstly in the Sicherheitsdienst or SD, the SS security service, later in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA, the Reich Security Main Office, a department created by Himmler in 1939 grouping the Gestapo, SD and Kripo, the criminal police.
Rauff is thought to be responsible for nearly 100,000 deaths during the war.
As a member of the Gestapo took part in the creation of Jado prison camp in Tunisia despite repeated protests by Rommel who was totally against the techniques used by the SS.
There is little information about what developed in this area, only that the prisoners were used as forced labor.
Wanted by the Allies for war crimes, was arrested on April 30, 1945.
Two years later, he escapes from prison and was recruited by Syrian intelligence services.
He then moved to Italy to escape to South America, living in Quito (Ecuador), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Punta Arenas (Chile).
Rauff died at his home in Chile on May 14, 1984 due to a heart attack.​

 

[Louis]

Dinko Šakić (Sept 8, 1921 – July 20, 2008)
Was a convicted Croatian war criminal, an army leader of the fascist Independent State of Croatia, established under Third Reich and Italian tutelage, and commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp during WWII.

Senior official of the pro Nazi state of Croatia Ushtasa.
Commander in Josenovac concentration camp.
Accused of various war crimes, including torture of Remzija Rebac.

He arrived Argentina on Dec 22, 1947 on board the steamer Tucuman.
The passport was issued by the Red Cross, appeared as a mechanic and there are no names.
In 1956 he was awarded a certificate of good conduct to travel to Spain.
Three years later he returned and in 1969 requested a passport and travel to Canada, USA and Spain.
In 1986 he was arrested and released at the airport Barajas in Spain.
In 1998 Croatia formally requested his extradition to Argentina and was arrested at his home in Santa Teresita city.-

He was tried in his country and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He died in Zagreb in 2008, serving the sentence.​

 

[Otosan]

Sic semper tyrannis.

 

[Louis]

Ludolf von Alvensleben
(March 17, 1901, – March 17, 1970)

Was a SS functionary and Major General of the Police. His familiar name was "Bubi" (Little Boy).

Alvensleben was born in Halle to the lower German noble family von Alvensleben. Belonged to the Prussian cadet corps since 1911, and in 1918 he joined the Hussar regiment and fought during WWI. Between 1923 and July 1929, he belonged to the nationalist paramilitary organization Stahlhelm.

After the WW1, Alvensleben graduated with a degree in Agriculture. After the death of his father in December 1912, the family's Schochwitz castle, which had been inherited from Alvensleben's grandfather, the Prussian general Hermann von Alvensleben, became his own. He wed on May 3, 1924; the marriage produced four children. He also later fathered illegitimate children under orders from Nazi officials to procure a master race.

Alvensleben became a member of the Reichstag in 1933; on April 5, 1934, he became commander of the 46th SS Regiment in Dresden. His career continued with appointments to commander of the SS and police in Crimea and commander of the Selbstschutz (“Self-Defense”) paramilitary forces of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, presiding over mass executions durning Intelligenzaktion in Pomerania in "Fordon Valley of Death", Mass murders in Piaśnica and other atrocities.

Alvensleben just behind H. Himmler

In April 1945, Alvensleben was captured and held in British captivity. At the end of 1945, he made an escape from the internment camp at Neuengamme. After a short stay in Schochwitz, he fled with his family to Argentina in early 1946. Although there is no precise data on the date of their arrival in the country, a 2000 documentary film records that on Nov 27, 1952, the government of Juan Domingo Peron granted Alvensleben citizenship under the name of Carlos Lücke.

He lived until July 1956 in Buenos Aires, then he moved to Santa Rosa de Calamuchita, in Cordoba province. From Nov 1952, he served as inspector of fish farming.

In Jan 1964, the district court of Munich put out an arrest warrant for Alvensleben for the killing of at least 4,247 people in Poland by units of the Selbstschutz under von Alvensleben's command in the autumn of 1939. Attempts by the prosecution had no consequences for Alvensleben and he died in Argentina on 1970 without having been brought to trial.​

 

[Louis]

Erwin Fleiss (1910 Innsbruck, Austria - 1964 Cipoletti, Argentina)

[No available pic]

Member of the NSDAP and chief of the SS in Tirol. Fleiss listed order police capture Innsbruck because of their involvement in the killing of Jews.
After the war he joined Argentina on 19 Sept 1948 in a clandestine manner, from Paraguay.
He lived in Cipoletti (Arg) and was dedicated to the sale of spray and fertilizer equipment for a chemical company.
He died here in 1964 .-
Never requested the extradition to Argentina.

PD: Like already before the WW2, Argentina again was considered one of the mostimportant countries for Austrian immigrants up until Austria’s independence in 1955. In Aug 1948, an article appeared in the Wiener Zeitung identifying Argentina as the ideal country to emigrate to. In contrast to most other states, the Argentinean government was interested intaking in “millions of emigrants” and undertaking the travel costs as well.

 

[Louis]

Josef Mengele (1911/1979)

Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine Mengele was known as "angel of death" for the experiments carried out with humans in the extermination camp at Auschwitz.
He was captured and liberated by the Allies in 1945.
Arrived to Argentina aboard the King in the North vapor under the false name of Gregor Helmut.
In Argentina, the executioner of Auschwitz became, with another identity, a successful businessman, protected by the powerful Nazi community of Argentina that was not unaware of who he sheltered in his ranks. He had the arrogance to return to Germany and his hometown, where he was also hidden. A former Auschwitz prisoner recognized him and denounced him. He returned to Argentina and since then, in 1951, he alternated his country of residence with Paraguay, where he went to live permanently in 1959 because he sensed that he was in danger in Argentina. He was not wrong: the Mossad was after him .-
He began to hide in less populated areas .-
He lived in Paraguay and Brazil .-
Mengele's health had been failing since 1972. In 1976 he had a small stroke, he was hypertensive, a chronic ear infection caused him vertigo, he complained of rheumatism and insomnia. Actually, we spent our sleepless nights because he was afraid of suffering the same fate as A. Eichmann: the few hours he slept each night, he did so with a Walther pistol under his pillow.

On the afternoon of Feb 7, 1979, he took advantage of a visit to the house of his friends Wolfram and Liselotte Bossert, on the Brazilian São Paulo beach of Bertioga, and went into the sea to swim. He was struck down by a stroke. Looks like he didn't even drown. Death was merciful to him.​

 

[Louis]

Kurt Christmann (1907/1987)

Colonel in the Nazi SS, aka Dr. Ronda.
During the war he was a senior SS officer, head of the Gastapo in Klapenfurt and Salzburg.
He was then assigned to Russia where he served as head of a Eizantzgruppe in the town of Kransnodar (Russia) .-
The escape route and the date of admission could not be determined due to insufficient information.
But it is tested if staying in Argentina during Peron's first government until 1965.
His home was located in the town of Florida, Buenos Aires .-
In 1965 he returned to Munich where it is tried and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Led an SS liquidation unit in the Krasnodar area, is said to have ordered 105 people gassed or shot from August 1942 to February 1943. The Public Prosecutor's Office said most of his victims were Jews and included women, children and old people.
He died on April 4, 1987.-​

 

[Otosan]

That death head on his cap and his last name really go together well.