NAZISM IN SOUTH AMERICA

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23080, 24 July 1940, Page 8

NAZISM IN SOUTH AMERICA

Activities of Germans and Italians

BLOW AT DEMOCRACY FEARED

[By JOHN W. WHITE, in the “New York Times.”]

The Pan-American* conference meeting at Havana to consider regional defence has been warned by several speakers of the danger of # fifth column activity. The following article reviews the strength of Nazism and Fascism in South America.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, June 8.

This has been a jittery week in South America. Uruguay’s investigation of Nazi activities has revealed that plans for an invasion of South America are part of Germany’s dreams. Investigation has revealed also that efficient Nazi organisations in several South American countries are plotting to help local “outs” to overthrow existing governments and set up regimes favourably disposed toward totalitarian ideology. It has come as a real shock to South Americans to find that the Nazis are organised throughout this continent. There have long been indications of such organisations in several republics, particularly Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, but the people were inclined to look upon these as , purely local, threatening—if there was any threat at all—only the countries in which they existed. Now that it has been revealed, according to many South Americans, that Nazis from Panama to Tierra del Fuego, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are dreaming of planning for “der Tag” in South America, governments, newspapers, and people are revising their opinions of German penetration and turning their attention to activities of German residents in their midst. There is also a new interest in the organisation and activities of Italian residents.

most invariably become naturalised and marry citizens of the country in which they settle. And because of the similarity of the Italian and Spanish languages and because they share the same religion and the same Latin psychology, their children are more South American than Italian.

The Germans also intermarry with South Americans, but not to the extent the Italians do. They tend to keep themselves always German rather than to become assimilated. They also take out South American citizenship papers, but usually with their tongues in their cheeks. Under German law they do not lose German citizenship by becoming naturalised.'

• While the sons of Italians are more South American than Italian, the grandsons of Germans remain more German than South American. Attack Faith in Democracy

Both the Italians and the Germans have been busily engaged for several years in undermining the South Amer'icans’ faith in democracy and converting them to totalitarian ideology. But there is a striking difference in their objectives. The Italians have sought to persuade South Americans to set up Fascist States favourably inclined toward Premier Mussojini’s regime. But at no time has there ever been the remotest suggestion that Signor Mussolini had any dream of extending his Italian Empire to the South American Continent. The Germans, on the other hand, have boasted since pre-Hitler days that when they won the next war they intended to occupy South American territory. The Italians have concentrated their efforts on planting Fascist-minded teachers in schools, colleges, and universities and on teaching South American .youth that democracy has failed and Fascism offers them a brighter, fuller life.

Vagueness a Handicap

One of the first surprises in any examination of the situation is that no South American government has more than a vague idea of the number of Germans and Italians in its domain. No South American government keeps population statistics on the basis of a census. Their figures are merely estimates, which means guesses. 0 - Even those few republics, such as Peru and Brazil, that attempt to register the foreign-born population do not register their children.

About two years ago this teaching, especially in Argentina, became more Nazi than Fascist. There are thousands of college-trained young men in Argentina who say they would rather see the Nazi form of dictatorship in Argentina than see the late President Hipolito Irigoyen’s Radical Party win the next elections.

All South American republics base the nationality of their citizens on the principle of jus soli, which determines citizenship by the place of birth rather than by parentage. Here are unofficial estimates of the Germans and Italians in the South American countries. In some cases the estimates are for all persons of the stock up to three generations; in others, for the first generation only. Country. • Germans. Italians.

In the last analysis, the Italian objective of setting up Fascist govern- . ments in South America is probably more "dangerous than the Nazi scheme • to occupy the- countries. The Italian if plan is much more subtle, and there . are several countries where it seems likely to succeed, unless the present scare of a Nazi invasion should cause a revival of democracy. , Victories Strengthen Cause

•Argentina .. 250,000 3,000,000 Bolivia 10,000 50,000 •Brazil .. 2,000,000 3,000,000 tChile .. 16,000 11,000 tColombia .. 4,000 1,600 {Ecuador .. 4,000 1,500 {Paraguay .. 15,000 2,000 tPeru .. 3,000 7,000 tUruguay .. 8,000 100,000 {Venezuela .. 3,000 1,500 •Estimates for three generations. tEstimates for first generation only. In all countries other than Argentina and Brazil, the number of Germans belonging to Nazi organisations is far greater than here shown, because these organisations include locally born sons and grandsons of German parents.

There is one striking difference between the Germans and the Italians in South America; that is, that while there are hundreds of thousands of Italians who are not Fascist!, there are very few Germans who' are not Nazis. Those Germans who originally opposed the Nazi regime have been forced into the organisation by threats of reprisals against their relatives in Germany. Furthermore, the Italians have been much more readily assimilated into South American populations. They al-

The Nazi cause in South America has been tremendously strengthened recently by the success of Chancellor , Hitler’s armies in Europe. Nowhere more than in Latin America is it true that nothing succeeds like success. Had ;■ the Nazis been content with Italian ; tactics, boring from within for the overthrow of existing governments, it *■. would have had a strong chance of sueceeding in several republics. But the scheme for occupying South American territory was bound to create angry reaction against the whole Nazi ideology v; as soon as it was discovered. n In Argentina, as in other South American republics,. the fifth column; * seems to constitute an even greater,.;' danger than the Nazi party organise- t* tion. The Buenos Aires afternoon news-. 3 paper, “Noticias Graficas” on May 21, x published an editorial in which it said- $ it was not necessary to go into the * streets to find the fifth column; it could be seen in every government office in the country. ■ , ~ s.' This is also true in several other ■ countries where Germans or German -v. sympathisers occupy important posttions in the government. *