Chile lifts the lid on wartime spy probe

CHILE: Chilean police made public yesterday archive documents relating to their investigation during World War II that uncovered how Nazi supporters in the country aided the Third Reich, including supplying information and plans to sabotage mines in Chile.

Young members of families of German descent in southern Chile underwent paramilitary training, while Nazi supporters in the country routinely sent Germany information about the routes of Allied merchant vessels, the documents showed.

The discovery comes the same week that a cache of Nazi artefacts was found hidden behind a bookcase in Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital. The artefacts are thought to have belonged to fugitive Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

There was significant support in Chile and Argentina for the Axis powers during World War II. After the war, many leading Nazi officials fled justice in Europe to hide out in South America.

Chilean police arrested around 40 people as a result of their wartime investigation, the documents showed, and found code books, radios and weapons, as well as plans to bomb mines in northern Chile.

The 80 files of documents were officially handed over to the country’s national archives office yesterday and will be available for public viewing.

‘‘Until yesterday, this was a state secret,’’ centre-left lawmaker Gabriel Silber said after a ceremony to hand over the files.

‘‘Maybe, from today, we are going to recognise an uncomfortable truth – that, unfortunately, some political and business figures in Chile supported the Nazis.’’

– Reuters