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In September 2018, a Tripadvisor review of the A•B•C restaurant at Lavalle 545, Buenos Aires, Argentina, by Paddy M. described an intriguing experience:
Mengele and Eichmann Tour
“Last year, I visited this small, charming restaurant as part of a Nazi hunt my father had begun in the 1950s. I met a man in his 90s who had personally known many Nazis. One evening, I dined with him in a corner where Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann once sat. While the interior no longer retains furniture from that era, the atmosphere still evokes the kind of discussions that might have taken place back then. Fascinating.”
A Safe Haven for Nazis
I have always been surprised that Argentina and other South American countries were never sanctioned for providing refuge to Nazi war criminals. Argentina, in particular, became a sanctuary for many high-ranking fugitives from the Third Reich.
The A•B•C Restaurant is a prime example of a place where Nazis openly gathered. In 1950, Adolf Eichmann escaped to Argentina with the assistance of the Red Cross, which provided him with false documents. By 1952, his family had joined him. At the time, Eichmann had adopted the alias Ricardo Klement to avoid detection.
Josef Mengele also fled to Argentina in 1949, traveling through Genoa, Italy, under the name Helmut Gregor. Like Eichmann, he was aided by the Red Cross, which secured a passport and visa for him. Given the post-war administrative chaos, this assistance was likely facilitated by loopholes rather than deliberate intent. Soon after arriving, Mengele reverted to using his real name, albeit with a Spanish twist, introducing himself as José Mengele.
In 1953, both men reunited at the German-style A•B•C Restaurant, where they hosted a farewell party for fellow Nazi Johann von Leers. A former propagandist for Joseph Goebbels, von Leers had been working as a propaganda writer for Argentine President Juan Perón. His next destination was Egypt, where he would continue his ideological work.
Argentina’s Nazi Connections
Argentina was home to a significant number of Nazi fugitives, with many settling in the town of Bariloche. This hidden enclave gained international notoriety in 1995 when it was exposed as a refuge for war criminals such as SS Hauptsturmführer Erich Priebke and SS officer Reinhard Kopps (alias Juan Maler). Priebke, notably, served as the director of the German School of Bariloche for many years.
The presence of these men in Argentina underscores the extent to which the country shielded some of history’s most notorious figures, allowing them to live out their days in relative comfort and anonymity.
sources
https://twitter.com/guywalters/status/1351484197802795008?lang=fr
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