Argentina in World War II Timeline

• Between 1857-1930 Argentina received about 3,500,000 immigrants from southern Europe.  Almost half coming from Italy and the remaining half comprised of Germans, Spaniards and English.  The immigrants coming from Italy, Germany and Spain in the early twentieth century brought a fascist ideology which allowed people like Juan Peron to take power.

• 1869 The Argentine military academy was founded and quickly established close ties with Germany.  This close relationship between the Germany army  and the Argentine army would last for more than 60 years.  These close ties made in 1869 would influence decisions taken by the Argentine army during World War II.

• 1873 Argentina bought its first Krupp cannon from Germany.

        photo taken from http://www.texasescapes.com

• 1900 The Superior war college created, as many as four of the ten professors were German.  This German military influence would plague the weak state of Argentina in the future like in the from of Juan Peron.  Tina Rosenberg interviewed an Argentine Colonel that served in the military during World War II in her book Children of Cain. Colonel Luis Perlinger said " Our rules were almost a direct translation from German.  I never heard of an official openly say he was pro Nazi.  But we all were taught to be antidemocratic, antiworker and antipopulist."

• 1914 Almost 30%  of the population is now foreign born and literacy rates near ninety percent.

• 1930 A coup involving all the military branches of the Argentine Armed Forces removes President Irigoyen from office.  The military wished to return to the oligarchical ways of the past in an attempt to transfer power to the aristocrats of society.

        photo taken from http://www.almargen.com.ar/sitio/seccion/historia/delatorre/yrigoyen.jpg

• November 18, 1936 President Roosevelt starts a month long tour of Latin America.  The trip covered some12,000 miles.  During this trip Roosevelt stopped in Buenos Aires where some two million Argentines lined the streets for just a glimpse of the American President.  President Roosevelt had hoped his presence in Argentina would allow him to achieve certain goals during the Buenos Aires conference.  However Robert Dalleck says in his book Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932-1945  "Roosevelt's hopes, however, of a conference that would perfect "the mechanisms of peace" and make "war in our mist  impossible" were largely disappointed".  These hopes were disappointed by Argentina's Saavedra Lamas, Lamas felt a growing U.S. presence in the hemisphere would undermine the league of nations as well as Argentina's supremacy in the region. In the end the conference produced what Dalleck calls a "watered down resolution".  The conference agreed that each actor would consult the other powers in the region if a threat to the peace in the region was present.  Roosevelt had wanted a permanent committee that would oversee the peace of the region.  The action of Lamas is important because it shows Argentina's indifference to the United States. The Buenos Aires conference was a precursor to the events and actions taken by Argentina during the Second World War.

• 1938 Argentina attended the Evian Conference held in France.  The Evian conference sought to aide oppressed Jews under Hitler's control. Argentina pledged to help but never really followed through with its promises that it made to Roosevelt and others. Despite its pledges of aide Argentina turned back 35 refugee ships to Europe during 1938 and 1942.  Some 39,400 Jews immigrated to Argentina during the war years however most arrived illegally through Paraguay and Bolivia.

• 1939 Argentina proclaims neutrality as World War II breaks out. Argentina continues to sell vital food stuffs to the British in the coming years.  It has been said that Argentina's economic interest lied with the allies but its heart and culture lied with the Axis.  This contradiction with in society is one of the main reasons Argentina remained neutral until March of 1945.

• 1942 After the attacks on Pearl Harbor Chile and Argentina refuse to break ties with Germany and Italy despite United States pressure.

• 1943 A military coup backed by Colonel Juan Peron removes yet another civilian government from power.  The military coup called themselves GOU (Grupo Obra de Unificacion). They claimed that the coup was justified because they had a mandate from the people.

• 1943 Allegations surface in an April 1943 report of Office of Strategic Services that The First National Bank of Boston aided in greasing the wheels of the Axis war machine through its Buenos Aires office.  Reported in the Boston Globe November 19, 2001.  

• 1943 The military dissolves congress

• 1944 Under severe pressure from the United States Argentina breaks relations with Germany and Japan but maintains its neutrality.

• 1944 All political parties are banned from Argentina and all professional politicians are banned from holding cabinet positions.

• March 27, 1945 Argentina declares war on Germany only after realizing that defeat was imminent. 

• 1946 Peron elected as President of the Republic of Argentina.  Juan Domingo Peron

• Late 1940's as many as four thousand Nazi war criminals flee Germany and enter Argentina thanks to the aide of Juan Peron.  Among them Adolf Eichmann the architect of the campaign to kill European Jews. Eichmann was later caught and hung in Israel. Photo taken of Adolf Eichmann during his trial in Israel

• June 6, 1947Argentinas first lady made a trip to Europe in which some such as Georg Hodel of Consortium News and the Associated Press have accused Eva Peron in coordinating the network for helping Nazis relocate in Argentina as well as securing several gold transfers to Argentina from Germany.  However no evidence has been officially presented to prove such claims.

• 1987 Someone breaks into Chacarita Cemetery, bypasses several security devices, cuts a hole in Juan Peron's grave and saws off his hands in an attempted to extort eight million dollars from the government.  The hands were later found soaking in a jar of formaldehyde.

• 1992 Carlos Menem President of Argentina ordered the release of all state archives to investigators investigating German bank transfers during World War II. The Wiesenthal center, a center which hunts down Nazi War criminals has accused Argentina of receiving illegal German funds transferred from banks in Switzerland, and Spain during the war years.  In an attempt to quell these accusations Menem began to release these records in 1992. 

• 1995, The Argentine government approved the extradition of former Holocaust architect Erich Priebke to Italy. Priebke had lived in Buenos Aires for more than half a century running a small sandwich shop under his own name. An Italian court would later find him guilty of killing two boys in Rome in 1944.  An Italian supreme court later released him saying he was only following orders. At the time of his trial Priebke was 83.

          photo taken from http://www.cnn.com

• November 29, 1996 page A6 The New York Times suggests that Nazi submarines carry Nazi War Criminals and booty landed in Patagonia Argentina and unloaded. The New York Times claims a local paper in Argentina has produced a photo taken in the late 1940's  which depicts a submarine in Patagonia Bay about 1,300 miles south of Buenos Aires.  President Menem has since then dispatched several teams of Divers to the region in an attempt to locate the Submarine.  Like the accusations against Eva Peron no evidence has been presented that such a landing actually took place.

         Sources:

       Boston Globe

        Consortium News

(Revised 12-03-02 by Thomas Pace) Return to this Home page