Department 50

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An apprehended Nazi collaborator unearths a radio used to relay messages to Germany (1944). Chilean Nazi radio underground.jpg
An apprehended Nazi collaborator unearths a radio used to relay messages to Germany (1944).

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 (where a number of Nazis escaped), including Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Contents

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

Overview

As early as 1937, Nazi spy networks operated in Chile, which the Chilean Navy discovered via radio (perhaps in 1939). [2] [3] In 1941, the director general of the Investigations Police of Chile established Departamento 50 (a reference to the annex's telephone extension), also called the International Confidential Section, to investigate pro-Nazi activity in the area during World War II. [4] The department had the support of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation's wartime Special Intelligence Service. [5]

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. [5] [6] About 100 spies were arrested in the 1944 raid, [7] including coordinator Bernardo Timmermann. [5] They reportedly received their orders from German High Command and the Axis espionage operations center, the latter jointly located at the German embassies in Chile's capital, Santiago, and Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. [7]

Nazi influence in Latin America c. World War II Operation BOLIVAR World War II Latin America.png
Nazi influence in Latin America c. World War II

Expansion into Latin America

Due to the counterespionage effort, the center of Axis espionage operations shifted fully to Buenos Aires, where a diplomatic pouch was used; [a] some captured spies disclosed details of agents operating in that city. [7] 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. [5]

In its final outing, Chile was joined by other governments in probing Nazi activity throughout Latin America, which it also detected in the coastal cities of Montevideo (Uruguay), São Paulo (Brazil), and Lima (Peru). [5] [11] [3] Nazi espionage networks were dismantled in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. [5] The department's final activity was reportedly carried out in 1947. [2]

Some counterespionage photos were taken, with most subjects demonstrating no awareness of a camera—possibly implying that hidden devices were utilized. [12]

Legacy

An assembly flanked by a flag of a shielded eagle or phoenixlike bird, with segments near the beak Nazi order of the phoenix.jpg
An assembly flanked by a flag of a shielded eagle or phoenixlike bird, with segments near the beak

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover hailed the department's work as "an important contribution to the security of the hemisphere". [5]

On 22 June 2017, the police declassified 80 folders of records from the investigation and turned them over to the National Archives of Chile. [4] [5] [16] Chilean politician Gabriel Silber stated that previously "this was a state secret," and that "unfortunately some political and business figures in Chile supported the Nazis." [6] The digitized collection includes 26 files containing thousands of pages and over 200 photographs (mostly in one file). [4]

In 2018, History's investigative documentary series Hunting Hitler (which alleges the dictator's secret escape from Berlin) visited the archives, were shown the counterespionage photos, and learned of an alleged network of over 750 outposts resembling Chile's Nazi-tied Colonia Dignidad. [17] [18] The show's hosts implied the activity to evidence a Fourth Reich. [17]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In 1943, SS functionary Walter Schellenberg agreed to use such a pouch to pay the Argentine military to shield escaped Nazis. [8] [9] $200 million in gold was allegedly used to bribe Juan Perón's government. [10]
  2. ↑ The building resembles some Buenos Aires sites, namely an addendum to the Plaza Hotel. [14]

Citations

  1. ↑ Office of the Historian (25 March 1944). "The Ambassador in Chile (Bowers) to the Secretary of State". United States Department of State . Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  2. 1 2 Documentos Dpto.50 (II parte) (in Spanish). Archivo Nacional de Chile. 11 January 2018. Event occurs at :30. Retrieved 8 April 2024– via YouTube.
  3. 1 2 "Los documentos del Departamento 50: Descifrando el espionaje nazi en Chile". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 "Transferencia de Archivos del Departamento 50 de la Dirección General de Investigaciones". Archivo Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "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.
  6. 1 2 "Chile police declassify files on Nazi plots". Deutsche Welle . 23 June 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 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.
  8. ↑ Goñi 2002, pp. 1, 16.
  9. ↑ Bardach, Ann Louise (22 March 1997). "Opinion | Argentina Evades Its Nazi Past". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  10. ↑ Hermosilla, Macarena (23 May 2025). "Nazi criminals allegedly paid $200M in bribes to Perón government". UPI. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
  11. ↑ "Nazi Networks in Chile: Declassified Documents". Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  12. ↑ "Intriguing Vintage Spy Cameras: Covert Wonders of Espionage's Golden Age". Rare Historical Photos. 14 April 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  13. 1 2 Goñi 2002, pp. xiv–xv, xxi, 128–29, 153–54.
  14. ↑ "Plaza Hotel. Martín Zanotti, el interiorista al frente de la renovación: 'La austeridad es el nuevo lujo'". La Nación (in Spanish). Postcard. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  15. ↑ "The Failed Coup That Led To Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'". Connecticut Public. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  16. ↑ "Chile publishes details of Nazi spy rings in World War Two". Reuters. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  17. 1 2 "Hitler's Last Will". Hunting Hitler. Season 3. Episode 8. 2018. 7–10 minutes in. History.
  18. ↑ 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 .

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