Eduard Roschmann, the “Butcher of Riga,” died in Paraguay in 1977. It’s secretive nature means little is known for certain about ODESSA. Adopting the name Ricardo Klement, he settled in the Argentine capital with his family. During the American Revolution, there were many German states loosely unified under the Holy Roman Empire. Germany lost all its overseas colonies after World War I, and therefore had none after WWII. Muller was director of Germany’s secret police, a close confidant of Hitler, and a notorious figure ominously known as “Gestapo Muller”. Soon after, the German Moravians founded the town of Salem in 1766 (now a historical section in the center of Winston-Salem) and Salem College (an early female college) in 1772. It’s actually a tourist attraction. But most importantly, many South American governments were sympathetic to the Nazi cause and proved willing to help. However, by far the largest number—as many as 5,000—relocated to Argentina. Togoland was conquered by British forces from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and by French forces from Dahomey (now Benin) in the first month of the war. Wituland (1885–1890) - si… These are colonies settled by and controlled by the German Empire from 1884 to 1919. He fled to Argentina in 1949 before moving to Paraguay in 1959 and Brazil a year later. In 1922 became a League of Nations mandate under the United Kingdom. (Credit: STAFF/AFP/Getty Images). The story of Colonia Dignidad is just one of many in the long sting of Nazi escaped to South America. It turns out they had been planning on doing so for quite some time. But even after they and their children and their grandchildren are gone, they will have a legacy in South America. Paraguay: A Quaint Inn with a Dark Nazi Past - TIME; Why did so many Germans choose to move to Argentina after. But it’s thought Mengele and other Nazis house there, used their experience with torture to interrogate political dissidents. Gustav Wagner, an SS officer known as the “Beast,” died in Brazil in 1980 after the country’s supreme federal court refused to extradite him to Germany because of inaccuracies in the paperwork. It was claimed by the CIA that the infamous concentration camp Doctor Joseph Mengele was among them. Similarly to those in Latin America, the Germans in Africa tended to isolate themselves and were more self-sufficient than other Europeans. But this was just a way of luring new members to the colony. (Credit: Keystone/Getty Images). Steinberger formed part of the Ferguson Collection which was received in 1970. Mengele was known as the angel of death in Auschwitz, where he regularly performed human experimentation on prisoners. New members were then forced to work and never allowed to leave. Even before it looked like they would lose the war, the Nazis had big plans for South America. As many as 5,000 Nazis went to Argentina; Between 1,500 and 2,000 ended up in Brazil It was German traveller Baron Cosme Damián Schütz von Holzhausen, who, after visiting German colonies in Texas, USA had the idea of creating other colonies across South America. Schafer was in effect king of this secret place cut off from the outside world. They set up everything a community would need – even a hospital, from which they offered free care for locals. The street signs are in German. Little is known of their activity in those early years but the colony grew steadily. King George III came from an ethnic German line, and was the first of the House of Hanover to speak E… In those days South America seemed like a different world to Europe. It was in this year Germany lost the deadliest conflict in human history. Of all the towns, neighborhoods, and colonies built by them after the war, it’s inconceivable that none will survive. But after the war he escaped, heading to Italy where a sympathetic monk helped him flee to Argentina. It’s fair to say they weren’t happy about it. It’s called Colonia Dignidad and it was founded by Nazi official turned cult leader Paul Schafer. The escape routes themselves came to be known as ratlines. The hunt was on to find the renowned scientists of Germany. A fact that the Argentine tourism board prefers not to promote is the large scale migration of Nazis into Argentina after the end of the Second World War. 1945 was an especially bad year. Another haven for Nazis was the Argentine city of Bariloche, where in the 90s it was revealed many SS officers were hiding. For years the world’s most wanted Nazi was a man called Adolf Eichmann. In 1962, the Chilean town of Colonia Dignidad was found to be home to 300 families who’d fled Germany after World War II, finding a welcome – and no questions asked – among their compatriots in South America.”. Knowing the war could genuinely be lost, some within the SS realized they might need to flee for their lives. Of all the towns, neighborhoods, and colonies built by them after the war, it’s inconceivable that none will survive. All Rights Reserved. When there the team abducted Eichmann and smuggled him out of the country. In the 1970s and 1980s Chile was ruled by authoritarian dictator Augusto Pinochet. For ten years they lived a quiet life in Buenos Aires, Eichmann working at a nearby Mercedes factory. Ruanda-Urundi (1885–1917) - became a League of Nations mandate under Belgium, attached to its Congo colony - present-day Rwanda and Burundi 1.3. One hundred thousand either died or escaped. As the years turned to decades, rumor spread that high ranking Nazis were being shielded in the colony. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! SS colonel Walter Rauff, who created mobile gas chambers that killed at least 100,000 people, died in Chile in 1984. But he could just have easily slipped away – and in the chaos of that time, escaped. Germany was not as involved in colonizing Africa as other major European powers of the 20th century, and lost its overseas colonies, including German East Africa and German South West Africa, after World War I. And while some Nazi colonies, like Colonia Dignidad and figures like Eichmann are well known – there could well be all kinds of people and places still hidden, waiting to be found. Following the war, the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps recruited Klaus Barbie—the Gestapo chief in Lyon, France, who played a role in the deaths of thousands of French Jews and members of the French Resistance—as an agent to assist with anti-Communist efforts. Allowing them to fall into Soviet hands would have been disastrous for the west. But only one third of those named were ever brought to justice. It was the only death sentence ever given by an Israeli court. In 1946 allied forces published a list of 150 thousand war criminals. These were colonies unsuccessfully settled by Brandenburg-Prussia (part of the Holy Roman Empire realm), after 1701 Kingdom of Prussia, before the foundation of the German Empire in 1871.. Africa. Everyone involved in the abduction was playing a high-stakes game of deception. So many made it to Argentina that the FBI began to investigate if Hitler himself could have. It was a former Nazi’s wet dream. As with numerous other fascist-leaning South American leaders, Peron had been drawn to the ideologies of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler while serving as a military attaché in Italy during the early years of World War II. Are there any like this in your state? Such a man could easily have died in the bombing of Berlin. It’s surprising to learn that South America was a bit of a hotbed for anti-Semitism from the late 19th century – and indeed that one of its most famous German immigrants, Bernhard Förster, was a key influence on Hitler’s political thinking.