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Department 50

The investigation captured this photograph of a large Nazi assembly including Hitler Youth[1]

Department 50 was an investigation conducted by the Chilean government between 1941 and 1947 with the help of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. The officials investigated local Nazi activity, later expanded to other parts of Latin America.

Numerous photographs and other documents were declassified in 2017 and subsequently suggested by History's investigative documentary series Hunting Hitler to align with the premise that the dictator escaped Berlin.

Overview

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See also: Ratlines (World War II)
Bernardo Timmermann (left) interrogated by Department 50
Nazi associates in Latin America (evidently including Argentina's Juan Perón),[2] from the official probe

As early as 1937, Nazi spy networks operated in Chile, which the Chilean Navy discovered via radio (perhaps in 1939).[3][4] In 1941, the director general of the Investigations Police of Chile established the International Confidential Section (also known as Departamento 50), which investigated local pro-Nazi activity through 1947.[5][3] The department had the support of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's wartime Special Intelligence Service.[6]

The investigators broke up one spy ring in 1942 and another in 1944. Initially some agents attempted to flee to other countries, but due to Argentina severing ties with the Axis, many opted to remain in Chile. The Nazis captured intelligence regarding the routes of Allied merchant ships and planned to attack mines in northern Chile.[6][7] About 100 spies were arrested in the 1944 raid,[8] including coordinator Bernardo Timmermann.[6] They reportedly received their orders from German High Command and operated out of Chile's capital, Santiago, as well as Buenos Aires, Argentina. Due to the counterespionage effort, the center of Nazi operations shifted to Buenos Aires, where a diplomatic pouch was used;[a] some captured spies disclosed details of agents operating in that city.[8] Subsequently, merchant marine captain Albert von Appen was arrested. Based in Chile, he headed Latin America's Nazi espionage network and had planned strategic sabotages, including of the Panama Canal.[6]

In its final outing, Chile was joined by other governments in probing Nazi activity throughout Latin America, detecting it in Buenos Aires as well as the coastal cities of Montevideo (Uruguay), São Paulo (Brazil), and Lima (Peru).[6][12][4] Nazi espionage networks were dismantled in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.[6]

In 2017, 80 folders of records from the investigation were declassified and turned over to the National Archives of Chile.[5][6][13] In 2018, History's investigative documentary series Hunting Hitler, which asserts the dictator's secret escape from Berlin, visited the archives and learned of an alleged network of over 750 outposts resembling Chile's Nazi-tied Colonia Dignidad.[14][15] The show's hosts implied the activity to evidence a Fourth Reich.[14]

Nazi activity in Latin America (c. 1945–c. 1947)
  • Pro-Nazi activity in Latin America
    Pro-Nazi activity in Latin America
  • Nazi collaborators meet
    Nazi collaborators meet
  • An assembly flanked by a flag of a shielded, phoenixlike bird
    An assembly flanked by a flag of a shielded, phoenixlike bird
  • A man in a Nazi uniform indicating rank
    A man in a Nazi uniform indicating rank
  • Decorated man (centre) with a toothbrush moustache
    Decorated man (centre) with a toothbrush moustache[b][c]

See also

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References

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Footnotes

  1. ^ In 1943, SS functionary Walter Schellenberg agreed to use such a pouch to pay the Argentine military to shield escaped Nazis.[9][10] $200 million in gold was allegedly used to bribe Juan Perón's government.[11]
  2. ^ According to a 1945 FBI report, the escaped Hitler shaved his toothbrush, his upper mouth looking like buttocks, then headed from Argentina towards the southern Andes.[16] Ear shape is an identifier,[17] in addition to a Hitleresque Nazi salute.[18]
  3. ^ Except for a thin moustache, the ranking man on the right resembles Argentine president Juan Perón, who secured Nazi ratlines in his country.[19]

Citations

  1. ^ "Hitler Youth Hiking". Facing History & Ourselves. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. ^ Goñi 2002, pp. xiv–xv, xxi, 128–29, 153–54.
  3. ^ a b Documentos Dpto.50 (II parte) (in Spanish). Archivo Nacional de Chile. 11 January 2018. Event occurs at :30. Retrieved 8 April 2024 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ a b "Los documentos del Departamento 50: Descifrando el espionaje nazi en Chile". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Transferencia de Archivos del Departamento 50 de la Dirección General de Investigaciones". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Descifrando las redes de espionaje nazi: historia del Departamento 50 (1)". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Chile police declassify files on Nazi plots". Deutsche Welle. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  8. ^ a b Hulen, Bertram D. (25 February 1944). "Chile Crushes Vast Axis Spy Ring; Arrests 100 Agents, Seizes Radio; VAST AXIS SPY RING SMASHED IN CHILE (Published 1944)". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  9. ^ Goñi 2002, pp. 1, 16.
  10. ^ Bardach, Ann Louise (22 March 1997). "Opinion | Argentina Evades Its Nazi Past". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  11. ^ Hermosilla, Macarena (23 May 2025). "Nazi criminals allegedly paid $200M in bribes to Perón government". UPI. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  12. ^ "Nazi Networks in Chile: Declassified Documents". Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  13. ^ "Chile publishes details of Nazi spy rings in World War Two". Reuters. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Hitler's Last Will". Hunting Hitler. Season 3. Episode 8. 2018. 7–10 minutes in. History.
  15. ^ Cassigoli, Rossana (May 2013). "Sobre la presencia nazi en Chile". Acta Sociológica (in Spanish). 61: 157–177. doi:10.1016/S0186-6028(13)70994-0.
  16. ^ "Adolf Hitler Part 01". FBI.gov. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
  17. ^ "Ears as effective as DNA in identifying people - new study". RNZ. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2025. Ears are very unique for each person.
  18. ^ "The Failed Coup That Led To Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'". Connecticut Public. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  19. ^ "Juan Peron, President of Argentina, is shown receiving honors as he came aboard the USS HUNTINGTON on a good will cruise. Buenos Aires, Argentina". Alamy. 6 November 1948. Retrieved 30 June 2025.

Sources

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