Chile Forum

That's the man, Efraim Zuroff. The article's at least as detailled as the report (omitting only some gruesome particulars of Heim's two-month posting to Mauthausen), save in one aspect: that solid leads from Chilean informants likely will result in Heim's capture imminently. Or, that could merely be disinformation.

Osorno. Big German speaking community.

Great, so I suppose we'll be treated to a picture of this intrepid Nazi hunter posed at the grave, handcuffs in hand. Front page of course.
Heim’s family claims he died of cancer in 1993 in Argentina. The SWC, however, is convinced the Nazi is still alive and kicking.

admin wrote:Osorno. Big German speaking community.

I'd guess that the man lives far out into the countryside, perhaps on the edge of a smallish town. But, true, a foreigner would blend better into a city.

MikieO wrote:. . . . The SWC, however, is convinced the Nazi is still alive and kicking.

That (according to one version of this morning's story -- it was altered for the rebroadcast) is because a large bank account still in Dr. Heim's name is yet unclaimed by his putative heirs, who'd need to do little more than show a death certificate in order to receive US$1,400,000 or so. But I'm not certain that the reasoning employed by the SWC is applicable, as those same heirs might believe that claiming the account would simply be to invite a crippling string of lawsuits which, even if beaten back, could wipe out all value (to say nothing of stress, death threats, etc.).

It's interesting to note that this physician, who served but two months in a concentration camp and merely as a medical officer (he otherwise was attached to combat units, I read), is said now to be the most hated Nazi possibly still alive. Clearly, we're getting to the end of that line. Will the world then turn serious attention to, say, Robert Mugabe and his forty thousand or so murders?

Most of the Germans in the south of Chile from this era, and have less then a proud past, work in the wood cutting industry. They buy a license to cut trees down on a property; they pay a set fee, that is like a bid and pay all the expenses on the cutting and transport to the mill....some get into the milling but usually not. They have a certain amount of machinery and the move it form site to site. They contract out the freight. It is all cash. They will have a house someplace, with Chilean family but are seldom there as they live in the field most of the time. Because of the nature of the work, it is very difficult to keep track of them...the business network they have, naturaly functions in a way that they have the least exposure, greatest movement that is un-detected and the least predictability...also its the inherrent nature of the work....nothing suspicios in it at all...its natural.

Of course there have been other german types that were involved in things during the war and came to South America but went the more sedentary way of a proffesssional etc...mostly, they had no fear as they had made deals with governments in exchange for some type of experience they had....there was no need to pull out of the main events of society...some got caught and some didn't.

Is he dead?...who knows but the german community in CHile knows for sure...and I am sure that is how they got the clues about him...but in the same breath, he has heard that they are coming....they cannot just show up and catch him....they will have to have intimate and real info on him to get him...just showing up will not do it...and announcing it?...There is something else in play....

I would guess that someone close has the goods and is going to turn him in but wants the big dog there to hand him over...it puts the blame of capture on the rewards of an investigation and not a rat out...so big dog comes and rattles around in the bushes and finds him, while getting a load of publicity for the swc....most likely 2 or 3 more layers at least to the whole deal.

He could easily still be alive...old yes, but I have known a few that are old and spry...we are getting close to the end though...


P out.


...ps..not to many years ago, these geramn types made good money with the indiginos because they could get into the old growth forests and it was good wood..lots of money..they all got along great...


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RWS, amen to that era, let's move on. Smacks of slavery reparations and the like.

Oh Mikie! A physician who proudly documented his horrific experiments with human beings being sought after, is hardly like slave reparations in my opinion. He is an accused murderer. Your analogy would be like saying Jeffrey Dahmer, having fled to Costa Rica prior to trial and lived to a ripe old age...ah, let the old feller go. If dear old Ari did nothing at all, it's not an excuse to flee prosecution. For some folks I get the sense that it's rather, "I'm tired of hearing about it, it's over!" And that in itself is the hope of people who flee allegations and alleged crimes. Maybe it will all blow over.

On the same subject of Germans and Nazi's in Patagonia...I believe there was a significant number of Germans who immigrated to Patagonia (both in Argentina and Chile) in the mid-to-late 1800's. They established schools, and helped settle towns (Osorno, for example). Tourists who meet German descendants, and Germans in this area and get to know them are often treated to a brief history of how "my family came to Chile/Argentina 18??". Whether they are being truthful or not, a significant community existed long before the 1940's, and it would have been extremely easy for someone to "fit in", have a history created and a life started without suspicion. I appreciate El P's thoughts on Germans in the lumber industry, however I question whether or not someone trained as a physician would adapt to that lifestyle. I would suspect he would more than likely slip into a gentleman farmer life, or with sufficient funds, set up in a little town, in a little house with a little garden and live a quiet life. If he came with some substantial money, it's possible he found a way to move around...Chile, Argentina, and other South American countries with the help of others who had paved the way, not to mention a possible "wink and nod" from various government officials.

Someone knows.

I don't know vicki...he was not probly a doctor for very long and maybe got the hurried credential for the war effort...he might have not graduated and they just called him herr doktor...not all types just set up in the house, I knew a few but they were not on the run...depends as well on their support in Chile...and as well I am thinking of someone that i know that is doing the work I described and i would not be surprised that its him.

p out.

I gotcha, I wasn't debunking you, just basing it on reports that after Germany, he set up shop as a gynecologist (yikes) and practiced for a couple of years in another easter European country. It's awful hard to sort out facts, from rumors and hysteria. So I based my assumptions on "a leopard doesn't change his spots" and the old dogs new tricks thing. It will certainly be interesting to see how things play out. They either find him, or don't.

half a million bucks P.

not my guy then..i didn't know the gyno stuff and that he had been in the east...considering that, i tink you are right, not a lumberjack type guy...my guy was up to something but don't know him well enough to get the nitty/gritty..yet.

p out.

el puelche wrote:. . . . my guy was up to something but don't know him well enough to get the nitty/gritty..yet. . . .

Well, there's not much time left! Pretty much everyone save those who merely marched and shot is now at least eighty years old. The last German officer I know from the period just turned eighty-nine, I think -- and he ended the war as only a major.

Vicki Lansen wrote:. . . . I would suspect he would more than likely slip into a gentleman farmer life, or with sufficient funds, set up in a little town, in a little house with a little garden and live a quiet life. If he came with some substantial money, it's possible he found a way to move around...Chile, Argentina, and other South American countries with the help of others who had paved the way, not to mention a possible "wink and nod" from various government officials.

Someone knows.

My thoughts, exactly -- on all counts.

All this talk reminded me that in the late 60’s I met a man who had supposedly been a member of the Graf Spee crew. He owned a machine shop in Rosario, Argentina. I remember distinctly that he had a terribly bad attitude towards people in general, and apparently he lived openly with his reputation of being a former Nazi and was taken as somewhat of an oddity by his neighbors.