It is ironic that Germany is playing Argentina in the World Cup Final. The two countries have a dark history that links them. For example, Heinrich Müller
was a notorious Nazi Gestapo chief. His last confirmed sighting was in the
Führerbunker on the evening of May 1, 1945. It is uncertain however what
happened to him. According to the CIA, his record indicates that his fate is
inconclusive but that it is most likely that he died in Berlin in early May of
1945. Yet, they are not certain. Just how many of these Nazi’s actually died or
did escape to points elsewhere? It is believed that over 9000 of them ventured
to South America, with Argentina being the prime destination. Some of the more
infamous ones were:
Adolf Eichmann
who hid under the alias of Ricardo Klement in Argentina as early as 1952. He
raised a family and worked in a car plant. During the war, Eichmann was the
chief associate to SS chief Heinrich Himmler in the Third Reich. Himmler was
responsible for the trains that carried millions to their deaths at extermination
camps in Nazi occupied Poland. Eichmann was captured and hanged in Israel in
1962.
Josef Mengele
was known for his horrific genetic experiments in concentration camps including
the dissection of live babies and injecting dye into the eyes of prisoners. He
successfully hid out in Argentina until his death in 1979.
Several others
escaped to Chile. Walter Rauff a high-ranking SS officer who invented the
'Death Trucks' - with which 500,000 prisoners were murdered with lethal gas at
Auschwitz - arrived in South America in 1950. He spent a short amount of time
in jail and died in Santiago in 1984.
Paul Schaeffer
began his career in the Hitler Youth before rising up through the ranks. He
made his way to Chile in 1960. He was not locked up by Chilean authorities
until 1996. He died in 2010.
