I was just reading the biography of Mexican film star Wolf Rubinsky, who passed away recently (and you really do not want to know why I follow the careers of Mexican film stars).
Anywhoo . … in it it was mentioned that as a lad he had to flee Argentina as a Jew in 1945 when German Nazis took over that government.
Come again??!!??
Now I know after WW2 many many Nazi war criminals fled to South America to hide. And I am sure that many took loot with them, and used bribes for politcal favors and protection.
But actually taking over a govermnet?
I do remmeber that in 1930s some Chilean Nazis took over the Chilean government, but that was short lived. And as far as I remember these were Chilean citizens pretending to be Nazis, not a a bunch of Germans. Was there ever a real German Nazi takeover in Argentina? Does anyone have more info on this?
Why didnt the US, under the Monroe Doctrine, do anything about it, seeing that we sent so many troops to die to eradicate these bastards? http://pwbts.com
I had heard that Argentina was favorable to the Nazi party without tossing their hat into the ring. However, after Europe fell, Hitler’s next step was to use his South American “allies” as a staging port for an American invasion through Central America.
'Course, I might be wrong.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Just how was Hitler planning to get the requisite number of troops, planes, ships, et al to South America to mount a North American invasion.
It’s not particularly easy to go overland as you can’t get through Panama which has lots of jungle and, in WW2, a whole lot of US Navy types waiting around for you at the Canal.
Or would all the Central American countries seen this as an opportunity to rise up against the Big Bully to the north and punch him in the nose, so to speak?
Argentina’s Peron was very pro-Nazi during WWII. But like Spain’s Franco, he avoided joining Hitler in a military alliance, so he was rehabilitated as a “staunch anti-communist” after 1945.
To me it never seemed Franco was pro-Hitler. He was really just out for himself. I know how often I’ve read that Hitler was upset that Franco didn’t show him gratitude.
But then again Franco stood up to Hitler for the most part. And Hitler understood that having a war weakened Spain as an ally, was akin to having another Italy as an ally.
It is interesting that I believe Franco’s “volenteer” troops fought only on the Eastern Front.
Neither Argentina nor Chile was taken over by Nazis at any time. Argentina was governed by the dictatorship of Gen. Juan Peron between 1945 and 1955, with lots of help from wife Evita until her death in 1952. I suppose Peron could be called a semi-Fascist (one of the problems with saying who’s Fascist and who isn’t is the fact that there is no clear definition of Fascism). Peron’s government admitted a lot of ex-Nazis and other unlovely folks after WWII. Still, the Peron government did not persecute Jews. The Mexican film star in question must have had other (certainly quite valid) reasons for fleeing Argentina.
As for Franco, he was supported by Hitler and Mussolini during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 with lots of military aid, Italian troops, and the German air force. When payback time came and Germany and Italy found themselves in WWII, Franco refused to help them out. He did provide a corps of some 20,000 “volunteers”, called the Blue Division, to fight against the Russians on the Eastern Front. Most of them came home dead or not at all.
Most Latin American countries declared war against the Axis Powers at some time or another during the course of WWII, though none of them provided any appreciable military force. Even Argentina declared war against Germany, very late (I believe in February 1945).