Argentina to declassify documents about Nazi ‘ratline’ escape routes after WWII
Following a promise by president Javier Milei last month, documents including banking and financial transactions will be publicly released
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
Argentina will move to declassify all government documents relating to Nazi fugitives who settled in Argentina after World War II, government officials said Tuesday.
The announcement follows up on a promise made by Argentinian President Javier Milei last month that he will grant access to documents related to the financing of escape routes, the so-called “ratlines,” that helped Nazis escape Europe after the Holocaust.
Argentina’s Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers Guillermo Francos said Milei had ordered the release and declassification of the archives, including documents detailing banking and financial transactions and records held by Argentina’s Defense Ministry.
In February, Milei promised officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center his cooperation in granting access to the documents during a meeting at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires.
For decades, organizations including the Wiesenthal Center, named after the famed Nazi hunter, have sought records related to unofficial escape routes taken by thousands of Nazis during the years after World War II. Up to 10,000 Nazis and other fascist war criminals escaped justice by fleeing to Argentina and other countries.
Several other countries in the Americas received Nazis, including Canada, the US, and Mexico. Nazis also fled to Australia, Spain, and Switzerland. In some cases, US intelligence officials used ratlines to pluck top Nazi scientists away from Soviet orbits.
One of two primary escape routes went through Germany and Spain, then across the Atlantic to Argentina. The second route went from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, and then across the Atlantic. The elaborate routes developed with unofficial support from several Vatican officials in 1942, initially as an escape path for Catholics fleeing Europe.
Up to 5,000 Nazis are said to have settled in Argentina, including Holocaust “architect” Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, one of the most recognizable — and wanted — Nazis. Traveling along a ratline in 1948, the notorious Auschwitz physician used the new identity of Helmut Gregor when fleeing Europe.
While Mengele and other Nazi criminals are long presumed dead, the archives may help clarify details of his escape and arrival in the South American country.
The Times of Israel Community.