Nazi meeting in Chile, from the country's 1940s investigationNazi assembly of men, women, and children (including Hitler Youth),[1] from the 1939–1947 investigation[2]
Some German Chileans supported Nazism prior to Adolf Hitler's taking control of Germany in 1933, including the National Socialist Movement of Chile (1932–1938). Germany also pursued the Nazification of the German Chilean community. Nazi spy networks operated in the country between 1937 and 1944, and were investigated by the Chilean government (with the aid of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation) until 1947. Other movements related to Nazism continued to operate in the country until the latter half of the 20th century, and former Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Walter Rauff spent his later life there.
Background
Chilean physician Nicolás Palacios, a proponent of the scientific racism ideology, considered the "Chilean race" to be a mix of two bellicose master races: the Visigoths of Spain and the Mapuche (Araucanians) of Chile.[3] Palacios traces the origins of the Spanish component of the "Chilean race" to the coast of the Baltic Sea, specifically to Götaland in Sweden,[3] one of the supposed homelands of the Goths. Palacios claimed that both the blonde-haired and the bronze-coloured Chilean Mestizo share a "moral physonomy" and a masculine psychology.[4] He opposed immigration from Southern Europe, and argued that Mestizos who are derived from Southern Europeans lack "cerebral control" and are a social load.[5]
History
There was a German Chilean youth organization with strong Nazi influence prior to 1933 (when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party gained control of Germany). Germany pursued a policy of Nazification of the German Chilean community,[6] as it did elsewhere.[7] The German Chilean communities and their organizations were considered a cornerstone to extend the Nazi ideology across the world, and they mostly supported Nazi Germany (at least passively), with a widespread presence in the country's German Lutheran Church.[6] The Chilean German community, however, did not act as an official extension of the German state.[8] A local chapter of the Nazi Party was started in Chile.[6][page needed]
The National Socialist Movement of Chile (MNSCH) was founded in 1932. After it was dissolved in 1938, some of its notable former members migrated into the Agrarian Labor Party, obtaining high charges.[9] Other former MNSCH members formed new parties of that kind until 1952.[9]
Between 1937 and 1944, Nazi spy networks operated in Chile. After the Navy discovered their presence via radio, in 1941 the Chilean General Directorate of Investigations established the International Confidential Section (or "Department 50"), which investigated local Nazi activities until 1947.[10][2] The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's Special Intelligence Service assisted Chilean officials in their efforts. Related records were subsequently maintained by the National Archives of Chile,[11] which were declassified in the 21st century. In 2018, History's investigative documentary series Hunting Hitler visited the archives and asserted the existence of a network of over 700 outposts resembling Chile's secretive Colonia Dignidad (which housed some Nazis),[12] as well as a concentration camp run by former Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Walter Rauff,[13] who supported Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.[14] Senior SS officer Richard Glücks, believed to have died in 1945, was speculated to have escaped Germany, allegedly to Chile.[15][16]
A new Nazi Party was formed in 1964 by school teacher Franz Pfeiffer;[9] it organized a "Miss Nazi" beauty contest and formed a Chilean branch of the Ku Klux Klan[9] before disbanding in 1970. Pfeiffer attempted to reboot the party in 1983 amid a wave of protests against Pinochet's military dictatorship.[9]
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