Ratlines
(World War II aftermath)

Ratlines were a system of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in Latin America, particularly Argentina though also in Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Spain and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome to Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together. The ratlines were supported by some controversial clergy of the Catholic Church, and later used by the United States Intelligence officers.

While reputable scholars unanimously consider Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to have committed suicide in Berlin near the end of the war, various conspiracy theories claim that he survived the war and fled to Argentina.

Argentine connection

In Nuremberg at that time something was taking place that I personally considered a disgrace and an unfortunate lesson for the future of humanity. I became certain that the Argentine people also considered the Nuremberg process a disgrace, unworthy of the victors, who behaved as if they hadn’t been victorious. Now we realize that they [the Allies] deserved to lose the war.

—Argentine president Juan Perón on the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals

The final period of German immigration to Argentina occurred between 1946 and 1950 when President Juan Perón ordered the creation of a ratline for prominent Nazis, collaborators and other fascists from Europe. During this period, Argentine diplomats and intelligence officers, on Perón’s instructions, vigorously encouraged these groups to make their home in Argentina.

In his 2002 book, The Real Odessa, Argentine researcher Uki Goñi used new access to the country’s archives to show that Argentine diplomats and intelligence officers had, on Perón’s instructions, vigorously encouraged Nazi and fascist war criminals to make their home in Argentina. According to Goñi, the Argentines not only collaborated with Draganović’s ratline, they set up further ratlines of their own running through Scandinavia, Switzerland and Belgium.

According to Goñi, Argentina’s first move into Nazi smuggling was in January 1946, when Argentine bishop Antonio Caggiano, leader of the Argentine chapter of Catholic Action flew with another bishop, Agustín Barrére, to Rome where Caggiano was due to be anointed Cardinal. In Rome the Argentine bishops met with French Cardinal Eugène Tisserant, where they passed on a message (recorded in Argentina’s diplomatic archives) that “the Government of the Argentine Republic was willing to receive French persons, whose political attitude during the recent war would expose them, should they return to France, to harsh measures and private revenge”.

Over the spring of 1946, a number of French war criminals, fascists and Vichy officials made it from Italy to Argentina in the same way: they were issued passports by the Rome ICRC office; these were then stamped with Argentine tourist visas (the need for health certificates and return tickets was waived on Caggiano’s recommendation). The first documented case of a French war criminal arriving in Buenos Aires was Émile Dewoitine, who was later sentenced in absentia to 20 years hard labour. He sailed first class on the same ship back with Cardinal Caggiano.

Shortly after this Argentinian Nazi smuggling became institutionalised, according to Goñi, when Perón’s new government of February 1946 appointed anthropologist Santiago Peralta as Immigration Commissioner and former Ribbentrop agent Ludwig Freude as his intelligence chief. Goñi argues that these two then set up a “rescue team” of secret service agents and immigration “advisors”, many of whom were themselves European war-criminals, with Argentine citizenship and employment.

In 2014, over 700 FBI documents were declassified revealing that the US government had undertaken an investigation in the late 1940s and 1950s as to the reports of the possible escape of Adolf Hitler from Germany. Some leads purported that he had not committed suicide in Berlin but had fled Germany in 1945, and eventually arrived in Argentina via Spain. Within the pages of these documents are statements, naming people and places involved in Hitler’s alleged journey from Germany to South America including mention of the ratlines that were already in existence. Additional CIA documents contain reported sightings and a photograph of a man alleged to be Hitler in 1954. The claim related to the photograph made by a self-proclaimed former German SS trooper named Phillip Citroen that Hitler was still alive, and that he “left Colombia for Argentina around January 1955.” The CIA report states that neither the contact who reported his conversations with Citroen, nor the CIA station was “in a position to give an intelligent evaluation of the information”. The station chief’s superiors told him that “enormous efforts could be expended on this matter with remote possibilities of establishing anything concrete”, and the investigation was dropped.

Conspiracy theories about Adolf Hitler’s death

Conspiracy theories about Adolf Hitler’s death contradict the accepted fact that he committed suicide in the Führerbunker on 30 April 1945. Most of these theories hold that Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, survived and escaped from Berlin. While these theories have received some exposure in popular culture, these viewpoints are regarded by historians and scientific experts as disproven fringe theories.

Alleged escape to Argentina

Grey Wolf

Some works, such as the 2011 book Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler by British authors Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams, and the 2014 docudrama film by Williams based on it, suggest that Hitler and Braun did not commit suicide, but actually escaped to Argentina. The scenario proposed by these two authors is as follows: a number of U-boats took certain Nazis and Nazi loot to Argentina, where the Nazis were supported by future president Juan Perón, who, with his wife “Evita”, had been receiving money from the Nazis for some time. Hitler allegedly arrived in Argentina, first staying at Hacienda San Ramón, east of San Carlos de Bariloche. Hitler then moved to a Bavarian-styled mansion at Inalco, a remote and barely accessible spot at the northwest end of Lake Nahuel Huapi, close to the Chilean border. Around 1954, Eva Braun left Hitler and moved to Neuquén with their daughter, Ursula (‘Uschi’); and Hitler died in February 1962.

This theory of Hitler’s flight to Argentina has been dismissed by historians, including Guy Walters. He has described Dunstan and Williams’ theory as “rubbish”, adding: “There’s no substance to it at all. It appeals to the deluded fantasies of conspiracy theorists and has no place whatsoever in historical research.” Walters contended that “it is simply impossible to believe that so many people could keep such a grand scale deception so quiet,” and says that no serious historian would give the story any credibility. Historian Richard J. Evans has many misgiving about the book and subsequent film. For example, he notes that the story about Ursula or ‘Uschi’ is merely “second-hand hearsay evidence without identification or corroboration.” Evans also notes that Dunstan and Williams made extensive use of a book “Hitler murió en la Argentina” by Manuel Monasterio, which the author later admitted included made up ‘strange ramblings’, and speculation. Evans contends that Monasterio’s book is not to be regarded as a reliable source. In the end, Evans dismisses the survival stories of Hitler as “fantasies”.

Source: Wikipedia