After German’s defeat in World War II, thousands of Nazi officials, supporters and war criminals fled their country and Europe. Numerous of them built homes and false identities in South America.
Argentina developed “rat lines” to make immigration easier on the escapees. He enlisted help from diplomats and intelligence officers. The Vatican City also helped the runaway Nazi supporters, intentionally and unintentionally. This article contains a few of the infamous nazi officials that escaped to South America.
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann was the brain behind Hitler’s final solution. He was the one in charge of the death camps, and he arranged the smooth identification, assembly and transportation of the European Jews to the numerous concentration camps in operation.
Following the defeat of Germany in World War II, he hid in Austria till a Franciscan monk in Italy helped him obtain an Argentine visa and apply for a fake red cross passport. He movef to Buenos Aires under the alias Ricardo Klement. He settled here with his family till Israeli Mossad agents discovered him.
They then drugged and smuggled him outside the country to Israel, where he faced trial as a war criminal and his role in deporting Jews to death and concentration camps. He was found guilty and received the only death sentence ever issued by an Israeli court.
Josef Mengele
Second, to Adolf Eichmann, Josef was the doctor who conducted gruesome experiments on the prisoners of the Auschwitz camp. He was nicknamed the Angel of Death. He carried out experiments on twins, pregnant women and the disabled.
After world war II, he hid in Germany for three years, and in 1949, a clergyman helped him escape to Italy through Argentina. Here he set up a mechanical equipment shop and remarried with his name. Following the news of Adolf Eichmann’s capture, he went underground.
He eventually drowned off the Brazilian coast in 1979.
Walter Rauff
Walter Rauff was responsible for constructing and implementing the mobile gas chambers that were responsible for killing many murders during World War II.
He also supervised Gestapo operations in northwest Italy, gaining a reputation in Tunisia for being utterly ruthless. While Allied troops arrested him after the war, he escaped and was discovered in 1962 following a letter asking that his pension be sent to his address in Chile.
The Chilean director refused to extradite him, and in 1984, he died in Chile, where he got an honourable burial to the shouts of “Heil Hitler” by German and Chilean mourners.
Franz Stangl
Franz Stangl was popularly known as the “White Death” for his habit of wearing white and carrying a whip around. He served as commandant in some of the death camps and worked under the euthanasia program that oversaw killing people who had mental and physical disabilities.
He escaped from a prison camp in 1947 after being captured, and with the help of a Nazi pro-Austrian bishop, he got a red cross passport that enabled his move to Brazil in 1951.
He was extradited to West Germany after being arrested in 1967. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in 1971 of heart failure.
Josef Schwammberger
Josef is popularly known for using his whip and a German shepherd to attack people. He was directly responsible for the murder of hundreds of who he shot himself. He organised mass execution of Jews and, in Przemyśl shot 35 Jews at the back of their neck.
He was responsible for bringing Jews to Auschwitz and other death camps. In 1944, he rid Mielec of Jews; he was known to have his path littered with corpses. He was arrested in 1945 in Austria but escaped in 1948 and moved to Argentina, where he became a citizen and lived openly. He was caught in 1987 and was guilty of seven counts of murder and 32 counts of accessory to murder. He died in 2004 while serving his life sentence.
Erich Priebke
Erich Priebke was an active participant in the Ardeatine Caves massacre in Rome in 1944, where Nazi officials murdered 335 people. He also aided in transporting over 2000 Jews to Auschwitz. After the war, he served as the middle man between the Vatican City and Nazi officials. After an ambush interview in 1994, he was extradited to Italy and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in 2013.
Gerhard Bohne
Gerhard Bohne was the lawyer and ss officer responsible for the smooth running of Hitler’s Aktion T-4 euthanasia program. He called himself a mercy killer who, in the bid to purify the German race murdered people with mental and physical illnesses.
He fled to Argentina in 1949 with the help of the Argentinian president. He returned to Germany and was charged by a court in 1963. He received bail and went underground in Argentina again. In 1966 he was deported and declared unfit to stand trial. He died in 1981.
