“Miraculous things happen here. I’m thrilled about the pact with Russia. Now there’s nothing to worry about. The Führer is leading us to the best.” The phrase was written by a young Mexican man of German descent who joined Adolf Hitler’s army. The letter never reached its destination in Chiapas. Like him, other Mexicans enlisted in the armed forces of Nazi Germany, and from Europe they sent letters, photographs, and postcards recounting their experiences on the Eastern Front. Years later, several of these letters were confiscated by the Mexican government and are now kept in the General Archive of the Nation, housed in the former Lecumberri Palace.
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was president of Mexico. In early 1938, according to repatriation requests, Mexicans who had recently come of age—sons or grandsons of wealthy or middle-class migrant families—were captivated by Hitler’s masterful oratory. They listened to the Führer on shortwave radios in their homes, which were part of vast coffee plantations in Chiapas and Veracruz, as well as in luxurious residences in Mexico City, Monterrey, and other states.
So the call to defend Germany against the “Bolshevism of subhumans” stirred them, and they set off for Europe—rejecting their Mexican passports—some even accompanied by their mothers because they were not yet 18. Upon arriving in Berlin, they enlisted and fought on various fronts, primarily in Eastern Europe against the Soviet Union.
At the dawn of World War II, the propaganda and the lightning-fast military coups with which Germany conquered Europe transformed the Führer into a demigod, and thanks to this, the German people allowed themselves to be led into a madness unprecedented in history. A nation distinguished by having produced some of the philosophers, scientists, and musicians who made transcendent contributions to humanity.
Most of the Mexicans who fought for Nazi Germany were buried in the frozen Russian steppes and the soil of Europe. Those who survived, detained in military camps by the Allies, attempted to return to Mexico. A good number succeeded, but along with them came some Nazi war criminals, clandestinely and with false documents, who committed the extermination of the Roma and Jewish populations. In addition to these atrocities against thousands of their own citizens who opposed or criticized the Nazis in power, they evaded being tried at the Nuremberg Trials.
Authorities at Lecumberri Prison attempted to silence the political prisoners of the 1968 movement, who had direct contact with the international press.
At the end of World War II, in September 1946, these criminals who committed the Holocaust fled Europe. It is estimated that at least 9,000 escaped to Latin America. Their escape to Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and other countries on the continent has been documented, but to this day, it is unknown how many hid in Mexico and how.
Mexico has not been included in investigations into the escape of Nazis. However, over more than twenty years of research into the presence of agents of the Third Reich and members of the Nazi party in this country, I have managed to gather evidence confirming that they also took refuge here.
The Role of Diplomats in the Return of Soldiers to Mexico
Throughout these long years of research, we have been in contact with journalists from Germany, France, Spain, and some Latin American countries who are investigating the presence of Nazis in the region. Some French colleagues have already located at least a couple who arrived in Mexico.
German National Socialist Workers’ Party, some of its collaborators who helped in genocides in countries of Eastern Europe and the then Soviet Union also came to hide, such as the Ustasha of Croatia, the Iron Guard of Romania, the Arrow Cross of Hungary or the Ypatingasis būrys squadron, of Lithuania, among others.
There are too many urban legends in various states of the country about the presence of Nazis after World War II. In what was then the Federal District, two novels point to an apartment in the Río de Janeiro building—known as the House of the Witches—in the Roma neighborhood, as a meeting place for Nazi refugees. In Chiapas, a small migration of German citizens to Tuxtla and the Soconusco region was recorded in the postwar period.
How many criminals managed to hide in Mexico? How did they get there? What institutions, governments, or individuals helped them escape? What were their escape routes? These are questions that a small group of international journalists is currently investigating.
Attorney General Jens Rommel, former head of the Central Office of the Judicial Authorities for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes, based in Ludwigsburg, Germany, launched the “Last Chance” campaign years ago to locate Nazi criminals who might still be alive. By the second decade of this century, no perpetrators of the Holocaust will remain alive; however, the information and outcomes regarding how they escaped are relevant to history. They are also relevant to denouncing those who helped them avoid paying for their crimes against humanity.
By May 1945, after the German surrender, Europe was devastated. The young Mexicans who survived the battles in which they participated were imprisoned for being on the enemy side in various concentration camps. Some of them had attained military ranks, such as sergeants, lieutenants, or captains. Thus, they ended up detained after the defeat.
Documents from the archives of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) reveal that Mexicans attempted to regain the citizenship they had previously renounced in order to return to Mexico. They completed the necessary procedures at the Mexican consulate in Frankfurt. First, they had to prove they had not been members of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The Certificate of Denazification was a crucial document for obtaining their freedom and being able to leave Europe.
Source: milenio
