Althouse: "Argentinian President Javier Milei has ordered the release of documents related to Nazis who fled to Argentina after World War II."

March 31, 2025

"Argentinian President Javier Milei has ordered the release of documents related to Nazis who fled to Argentina after World War II."

"These documents have sparked discussions and claims on social media that Adolf Hitler escaped to Argentina and lived there until the mid-1960s. The claims suggest that Hitler may have been aided by the United States and its allies, and that he fathered two children during his time in Argentina. However, these assertions remain speculative and are subject to ongoing debate and scrutiny regarding their historical accuracy."

Says the summary of a trending topic — "Milei Releases Documents on Nazis in Argentina" — on X.

25 comments:

mikee said...: Documents only, or bank account statements of Argentinian officials from that time period, as well? Just asking!; 3/31/25, 11:06 AM
Temujin said...: The Boys from Brazil, Part II...Those other ones in Argentina.; 3/31/25, 11:11 AM
Quaestor said...: "However, these assertions remain speculative and are subject to ongoing debate and scrutiny regarding their historical accuracy."

Nicer than bloody lies concocted to confound the credulous.; 3/31/25, 11:11 AM
mezzrow said...: Back to the classics. Everything old is new again.; 3/31/25, 11:19 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: yeah, its up in the air about where Hitler ended up. LOL. Yeah, its just a mystery. Stalin had Hitler's remains thoroughly examimed. Verdict: Hitler died in Berlin in April 45.; 3/31/25, 11:25 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Whatever happened to all the mass killers in the USSR. Were they ever brought to justice?; 3/31/25, 11:26 AM
narciso said...: unlikely but many of the leading figures that escaped nurenberg, like mengele, barbie, or stangl in brazil, sassen in ecuador did find refuge,; 3/31/25, 11:26 AM
Leland said...: I don’t think the documents sparked those conversations, but they might just show no evidence exists to support the claims.; 3/31/25, 11:29 AM
narciso said...: another hallucination the evidence just doesn't bare it out,; 3/31/25, 11:48 AM
David53 said...: Wait a minute, the smart people told me the Hitler twins were working in Washington to destroy our democracy.; 3/31/25, 12:02 PM
Lem Vibe Banditory said...: Hitler is Satan's replacement. We can replace an architype, but we can't kill'em.; 3/31/25, 12:20 PM
Yancey Ward said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/31/25, 12:26 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I've read that Hitler's only son was finally smuggled out of Germany in June of 1946 shortly after his birth. Rumored to have arrived in New York City.; 3/31/25, 12:27 PM
Quaestor said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/31/25, 12:29 PM
Quaestor said...: Those documents may be interesting and we ought to praise Javier Milei's efforts, but I doubt anything truly shocking will be revealed. Juan Perón's sympathies were well-known, but he wasn't interested in Nazi-era Germans who could not make themselves valuable to his regime. For example, Kurt Tank, Adolf Galland, and Hans-Ulrich Rudel all found a warm welcome in Argentina because their skills and backgrounds promised to advance Peron's military ambitions, particularly his desire to create a home-grown Argentine air force that could thrive without foreign support. (Sweden largely succeeded in realizing a similar ambition.) The previously mentioned trio were welcomed precisely because they could materially advance that goal, particular Kurt Tank, arguably the Nazis' most successful aircraft designer. In the closing weeks of the war, Tank was performing wind tunnel experiments with a new jet fighter design that would eventual inspire two fully realized designs, the Russian MiG-15 and the FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II, one a potential world-beater that nearly flipped the strategic situation in East Asia, the other a failure that proved brilliant design can't succeed without industrial competence. All three departed Argentina when Perón was overthrown and eventually resettled in West Germany, and none ever faced war crime prosecution, though Rudel remained a fervent National Socialist for the remainder of his life.

Their reception in Argentina contrasts sharply with the experiences of Adolf Eichmann. Perón was uninterested in ideological antisemitism, though some of his associates were. Consequently, Eichmann, Josef Mengele, and other wanted men could penetrate Argentina's immigration system under assumed names and carrying forge identity papers provided by the "ratlines" established by the SS and persons within Pius XII's Vatican. However, they lived in the shadows rather than openly. Eichmann lived in a house without electricity or an indoor toilet. When the Mossad finally took him captive, unofficial "extradition" to Israel wasn't vigorously opposed. Mengele evaded capture by being very wary and footloose. Over the years he shuffled between Argentina and Paraguay using numerous false identities, eventually dying in Brazil.

Basically, what we'll learn by this document release is the names of Argentine officials who looked the other way while indicted fugitives crossed Argentine borders.; 3/31/25, 12:31 PM
Darkisland said...: Not many realize what a huge German population Argentina has had going back to mid-1800s

Grom say that 8%of current argentine population claims German ancestry.

60% has Italian ancestry.

30-40% has Spanish ancestry
Also Grok

John Henry; 3/31/25, 12:40 PM
Bystander said...: ROCEAN II asked:

"Whatever happened to all the mass killers in the USSR. Were they ever brought to justice?"

I wouldn't call it justice but NKVD chiefs Yagoda, Yezhov and Beria all got executed, one after the other, for one reason or another. Okay, as close to justice as one could get back then. It was certainly a high risk career choice, one I would have avoided.; 3/31/25, 12:57 PM
Paul said...: Let's see how many Nazis made it there via the Vatican...; 3/31/25, 1:19 PM
Narr said...: Everybody took as many Nazi experts as they could, prosecuted as few as they could, and pointed at each other as miscreants.; 3/31/25, 2:00 PM
Rocco said...: “Not many realize what a huge German population Argentina has had going back to mid-1800s.”

Not just Argentina, but throughout all Latin America, with Brazil and Chile having significant numbers.; 3/31/25, 2:04 PM
Josephbleau said...: “ Not just Argentina, but throughout all Latin America, with Brazil and Chile having significant numbers.”

And don’t forget the Irish, an O’Casey descended from Puerto Rico is now a congressperson from NY.; 3/31/25, 2:21 PM
Darkisland said...: Not just ms O'Casey.

When the Spaniards were colonizing South America, Cromwell was driving the Irish out of Ireland and many wound up going to South America as spanish colonists. The Viceroy of Peru (peru, argentina, chile, ecuador and other pieces) was Ambrosion O'Higgins, an Irish Marquess. His son, Bernardo drove the Spanish out of Chile at the same time Bolivar was driving them out of the northern parts of SA.

Visit El Morro fortress overlooking the entrance to San Juan harbor and you will find that it was built by Alejandro O'reilly (First Count of O'Reilly) Later Spanish Governor of Louisiana and Spanish Chief of Engineers Tomas O'Daly.

Lots and lots of other famous examples.

Lots and lots of irish in South America. A good book on the topic is "Paisanos: The Irish and the Liberation of Latin America" by Tim Fanning, available via the portal.

John Henry; 3/31/25, 3:22 PM
Darkisland said...: My study buddy in grad school was an Irish expat. I learned more about the Irish in South America than I ever really wanted to know!

John Henry; 3/31/25, 3:25 PM
Darkisland said...: Per Grok 1-2% of the population of Chile is Croatian

But we call them "Hispanics" or "Latinos"

The President of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, was born in mexico to a lithuanian born father and Bulgarian born mother.

I got into a rather vigorous argument on BlueSky about whether she was a "POC" (person of color) due to her Mexican birth. Blueskyers were adamant that she is a POC AND Hispanic/Latino.

I disagreed energetically on all counts. Got called racist until I pointed out that I am a person of color myself (Puerto Rican) even though fair skinned, blue eyed, formerly blonde, with Irish/English/Scottish/German/non-Spanish ancestry.

That seemed to confuse some people. Some blocked me and the convo petered out.

John Henry; 3/31/25, 3:35 PM
Rocco said...: Darkisland said...
“The President of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, was born in mexico to a lithuanian born father and Bulgarian born mother. I got into a rather vigorous argument on BlueSky about whether she was a "POC" (person of color) due to her Mexican birth. Blueskyers were adamant that she is a POC AND Hispanic/Latino.”

Are they saying she’s a Hispanic and POC because of her Mexican residency? Or because they think Jews and other people of Near and Middle Eastern descent aren’t white?; 3/31/25, 4:27 PM