the Nazis post-war escape to Argentina when World War II ended in 1945 leading Nazi officials and prominent members of the party were either found dead were arrested or in many cases had simply vanished those who were arrested faced Justice for their war crimes and crimes against humanity at the nurmberg trials there were those who escaped however who were never found and never experienced retribution for their horrific actions during the war it seems almost unreal that such prominent well-known individuals could just disappear but unfortunately not everyone was horrified by the Nazis actions and despite the War
ending these men still had friends in high places willing to help them take on new identities usually these Nazis ended up scattered across the world with a large number heading to North and South American countries including Brazil and Paraguay but the most popular and most researched Escape destination was Argentina why Argentina Argentina despite its large Jewish population was known for its growing anti-Semitism before and during the war it was also the last country to enter World War II with historian Gerald steinbacher referring to the Argentinian population as germanophile it was a country that already had
a difficult history with its Jewish population in the inauguration of anti-Semitic President Juan Peron in 1946 only further emphasized this fact his goal was to modernize Argent Ina and its Army and believe Specialists from Germany and Austria could help facilitate this Peron was a self-professed admirer of Hitler's Germany and melini's Italy something which was highlighted in his 5-year plan announced for 1947 through 1951 in it Peron laid down a set of guidelines that catered to German and Italian immigrants with a list of preferred countries of origin Peron and many other political leaders recognized the advantage
of these Nazi Specialists residing in their countries despite Global opposition there had been great technological and medicinal advancements during the war despite the horrific ways in which some of these were achieved and no one wanted to be left behind by not securing these Specialists who could progress their country's armies economics and industries and were willing to turn a blind eye to who they were and the atrocities they had committed Argentina in particular recruited heavily from Nazi officials vermed officers and former ss-men on a global level it had been agreed that Nazi scientists should be ostracized
and all war criminals extradited with Argentina agreeing not to take in anyone from the access countries without the Allies permission Peron did not adhere to this and a 1953 CIA report found quote evidence of intention to carry on Nazi activities and of belief in Nazi Resurgence in Germany and other parts of the world has been apparent among Germans in Argentina since 1946 unquote however it is with true iron that the USA criticized Argentina so heavily as they did not adhere to these policies themselves and frequently took in German scientists among others the exact numbers of
those who escaped to the Americas is impossible to quantify due to the changing of identities forging official documents and in some cases complete covering up by the receiving government estimates vary quite dramatically Steiner points out that the Argentinian Commission of historians lists 180 biographies of prominent Nazis perpetrators and war criminals from across Austria Germany France Belgium and Yugoslavia but that they only focused on the most well-known people historian hogar meding estimated anywhere between 300 and 800 senior Nazi officials who escaped Justice including 50 Mass murderers and war criminals and historian fuler cop predicted in 2009
that there were 600 Nazi and Military experts from Germany and Austria alone all of which are much higher estimates than the official figure provided by the Argentinian commission the vental center named after famed historian and Nazi Hunter Seaman vental puts the official figures of Nazi Party members in Argentina much higher at 1,400 and with over 12,000 supporting members and an additional 8,000 other Affiliates how did Nazis escape to Argentina in the first place of course before making their way to Argentina prominent Nazi officials first had to flee the access countries in Europe itself this was
done with the establishment of what were called rat lines Escape Routes from specific places in Western Europe to South America these rat lines were further facilitated by Peron who helped establish them however help of course came from Nazi sympathizers including those in high places in Europe itself incredibly one source of which was the last place on Earth that anyone would expect was the Vatican itself set up in 1947 was an underground Network called Odessa which stood for the organization of ss members and was a secret Escape organization developed to Aid SS soldiers in disappearing from
Germany via Northern Italy along two major Escape Routes these were Breman to Rome and Breman to Genoa from where members of the Red Cross and Vatican priests alongside other agents would help secure the documents needed for the SS officials to construct a new identity and flee Europe Simone vental the Nazi Hunter who track down some of these escaped members described the Odessa Network as thorough and efficient later discovering a third route between Austria and Italy that was aided by the Catholic church and Franciscan friars in particular the Vatican themselves despite hiding Jewish citizens during the
war were also heavily involved in these Escape rat lines often forging and procuring documents for the escaping Nazi officials this has also been corroborated by multiple other accounts and historians findings with one Croatian priest and Vatican representative krunoslav dragovich being a major player in helping the officials Escape Italy obtained forged documents and make their way to Argentina another major player in helping Nazis Escape was special agent former SS hom fura and German Argentinian Carlos hor fer as it became clear the war was going to end unfavorably for the access powers bner appeared in Berlin from
there he liased with Argentine immigration to procure visas and employment for escapes from Germany Austria France Belgium the Netherlands Slovakia and Croatia later in 1945 bner traveled to Spain where he set up additional Escape Routes for members of the SS when his own extradition was ordered in 1947 he too escaped to Argentina using the lines he had helped set up which Nazis escaped we can never list every senior official that escaped justice but there are some names more famous than others three of which who were extremely high up in the Nazi party and some of
the worst committers of atrocities were France stangle Adolf ikan and ysep mangala fortunately two of them did not have a Justice for very long Adolf ikan Adolf ikan was a cold hard unfeeling man he simply saw killing Jewish people as his duty in his role as an SS Ober sturban furer he was one of the SS soldiers that Beal dedicated years to tracking down and helping to extradite there were differing accounts of the exact route of his Escape but all seemed to agree that ikan reached Rome with the help of croatians and received a Vatican
identity card wherein he fled to Argentina it wasn't until 1960 that vental helped uncover his new location by looking at enlarged photographs of Ian's Brothers in order to help identify the man 15 years after he was last seen from there he was tracked down in Argentina and captured on May 23rd 1960 afterwards being sent to an Israeli prison where he was later executed by hanging bron stangle bron stangle was a concentration camp commandant who was involved in the earliest extermination programs in mental institutions like hardheim before becoming a concentration camp commandant although he was actually
captured and imprisoned Stango managed to make it out in 1948 with the help of a bishop at the Vatican who helped him and other SS officers escape to Argentina however stangle only got As far as Brazil where he was extradited in 1970 dying in a doozledorf prison a year later ysep mangala finally there was the angel of death yoseph mangala Infamous for his horrific concentration camp experiments on children particularly twins mangala earned the moniker angel of death during the Norberg trials he actually evaded notice until 1950 at which point he used the Odessa rat lines
to escape to Argentina there he continued to work work as a doctor eventually adding an extra layer of protection to his disguise when he obtained a passport from Paraguay although visant tall maticulously tracked mangala down more than once there was push back from the Argentinian authorities and when they finally issued a warrant for his arrest in June 1960 it was too late ysep mangala had already fled to Brazil on the day of Ian's capture where he remained until his death in 1979 it is said that he never showed any remorse for his crimes and is
widely considered one of the most evil Nazis ever to evade Justice by fleeing to Argentina
