What factors led some South American governments to be sympathetic to Nazi war criminals?
score:8
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a massive wave of German emigration to the Americas, the numbers are a bit fuzzy, but there's little doubt that at the conclusion of WW2 there were strong German speaking communities all around South America, mainly in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile. Furthermore, the politics of those countries were - at the time - more or less compatible with those of the Nazis (minus the paranoia), both Brazilian Integralism and Argentine Peronism can be - broadly - described as fascist.
During the war all South American countries maintained a position of neutrality and resisted the pressure from the US to side with the Allies, and most of them only eventually sided with the Allies and declared war against Nazi Germany at the last stages of the war, when trade routes with Germany became unmaintenable. Brazil is the notable exception, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force joined the war in September 1944, still only after intense courting and political and financial pressure from the US and after it became clear that Nazi Germany had little hope of winning the war.
At the conclusion of the war, South America was the ideal hiding place for Nazis. The already established German speaking communities provided safe harbour, through organizations like the ODESSA network, and the general populace was indifferent to the war, as they haven't been particularly affected by it. The various fascist and autocratic regimes of the area couldn't care less about doing the Allies any favours, and at the same time had little reason to antagonize the influential German speaking communities.
At the aftermath of the war and during the first years of the cold war, ties with the US were broken and the relationship of several South American countries with the US became antagonistic. For a relatively short time, the Nazis flourished in South America, especially Argentina, taking full advantage of the fragile political climate, the US - and by association the Allies - were seen with immense distrust. A prime example of the indifference of local authorities towards the Nazis at the time is Josef Mengele's brief detention in Buenos Aires in the late 50s - he was let go, even though his identity was known.
Upvote:1
There was one South government that was openly sympathetic to the Nazis DURING World War II, and that was Argentina. This arose from the fact that the country was furthest away from the U.S. and Great Britain, and also had trade friction with both BEFORE the war, while its relations with Germany was decidedly better. Futhermore, Argentina has the largest proportion of Germans (and Italians) of any South American country.
The end of World War II didn't change much. Argentina remained pro-German, anti-Anglo for at least several decades afterward. As late as 1982, Argentina went to war with Britain over the Falklands, with the U.S. supporting Britain. So Argentinians regard people that we might consider "war criminals," as "political refugees."
More post
- 📝 Wreck of the Juno
- 📝 Free Silver movement: Why were Republicans opposed to it in the 1890s?
- 📝 What was the condition of women in "primitive societies" around the world?
- 📝 After the fall of Constantinople was there a re-evaluation of the basis of Russia's religion?
- 📝 What's the explanation for the similarities seen between the Rapa Nui script and the Indus Valley Script?
- 📝 Was Leo II of Armenia poisoned?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of civilization reaction to learning about impending doom?
- 📝 Were there any successful revolutions that didn't end in a totalitarian regime?
- 📝 Fanons 'Concerning Violence' makes the point that Nazism was the culminating point of the project of European Colonialism, how true is that?
- 📝 Why were the people from the Southeast in the US so different from the rest of the US?
- 📝 Where was the cultural inheritance of the Greco/Roman world/antiquity preserved?
- 📝 Why was the WW2 air war over Europe fought considerably higher than the Eastern Front?
- 📝 Why was Calcutta a node in the opium smuggling network prior to the Opium Wars in China?
- 📝 Help identify Venetian headpiece
- 📝 Before the Civil War, did the USA ever offer something like a "5-year plan" for the South to abolish slavery?
- 📝 Was There a Specified Period Between Declaring War and Attacking Before World War II?
- 📝 Why did the population of Anchorage, Alaska, increase by so much in the 1970s?
- 📝 What tactical situations made the use of traditional horse cavalry effective in World War II?
- 📝 Was Kaliningrad offered to the Lithuanian SSR; was this offer rejected; and if so, why?
- 📝 Why in the 70s and 80s was the United Kingdom called Great Britain in the international naming conventions?
- 📝 What are some Chinese sources testifying the extreme weather events of 535-536 CE?
- 📝 Why was the year 1816 so incredibly cold?
- 📝 Why did the USA sell so many airplanes prior to WW2?
- 📝 Has there ever arisen a nation-state without violence/war/extreme subordination?
- 📝 Why did South Korea (and the UN) accept an armistice line that put Seoul in artillery range of North Korea?
- 📝 Is there any documented criticism of the brutality of the Colosseum from citizens at the time?
- 📝 Inquiry into the nature and roots of the temporal power of the Roman Catholic Pope:
- 📝 How were large sums of money carried/transmitted prior to the 1940s or so?
- 📝 Which native groups were hostile to the fur trade in North America?
- 📝 How and when did the word "nuclear" replace the word "atomic"?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What factors led some South American governments to be sympathetic to Nazi war criminals?
- 📝 What led to American air superiority over the Axis in World War II
- 📝 What factors led to much higher US war bond sales and participation rates in WWII over that of WWI?
- 📝 What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?
- 📝 What factors made success a possibility for the South in the American Civil War?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What led to the first fight in the American Civil War?
- 📝 What Factors Have Led to the Duration of US Copyrights Continuously Increasing?
- 📝 What factors related to the Eastern Crisis contributed to the outbreak of World War 1?
- 📝 What percentage of British and American troops were involved in direct combat with enemy in World War II
- 📝 What are the French gains after the American Revolutionary War
- 📝 What other war crimes trials, besides those of Nazi war criminals, were held after WWII?
- 📝 What particular watershed events led to the War of the Roses?
- 📝 What impact did the Seven Years War have on the American Revolution?
- 📝 What uniforms did each of the American Civil War regiment wear during First Bull Run / First Manassas
- 📝 To what extent did Gandhi affect the factors that led to the partition of India?
- 📝 What was the nominal strength of a company in a British Regiment during the American war of Independence?
- 📝 What factors led to the 30% devaluation of pound sterling in 1949?
- 📝 What were the factors that led to stagflation in the United States during the 1970s?
- 📝 What factors led to the rise of political parties in the United States?
- 📝 Has the American Civil War led to any significant innovations in 19th-century warfare?
- 📝 In American Civil War era paper cartridges, what was taking up the space between powder and bullet?
- 📝 What led Guderian as far south as Gomel, in August, 1941?
- 📝 What factors led to the US government issuing nutrition guidelines in 1916?
- 📝 What capabilities did Southern soldiers in the American Civil War have to get news about the North?
- 📝 What factors contributed to the U.S economy flourishing during the early cold war period?
- 📝 Were repeating rifles pitted often against breach-loaders in American Civil War battles and what happened?
- 📝 What events or situations of WW1 led to a Nazi fascination with Anglo-Saxon powers?
- 📝 What are some examples of famous people in history who made big mistakes that they learnt from and this then led them to succeed?
- 📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?