German Nazi War Criminal Aribert Heim May Be Hiding Out In Chile's Region V
German authorities are searching in Chile for one of the last remaining Nazi war criminals still alive.
The world spotlight focused on Aribert Heim, known also as “Dr. Death,” in late April when Germany's Baden Baden court ordered an international arrest for him. His last confirmed location was Paysandú, Uruguay, but undisclosed sources have informed the German government that he is now in Chile. The reward for his capture stands at $160,000 euros.
The Baden Baden court asked Chilean authorities (especially those in Region V, where he is thought to be) to investigate Heim's possible aliases or properties, as well as any relatives that he may have in the area. Most people in Chile with the last name of Heim are concentrated in Regions V, IX, X, and Santiago.
German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported last year that Heim's daughter Waltraud Heim lives in Chile, although her whereabouts remain unknown. Waltraud came to Chile in the early 1970s to attend university. The La Nación daily reports that it attempted to find Heim and his daughter Waltraud through the National Civil Registry and Interpol sources, but to no avail.
Heim, a doctor, volunteered for military service with the SS (Nazi party), working in Finland, Norway, and the Mauthausen death camp. His last known location was discovered in 1980, when Israel's famed secret service Mossad located him in Paysandú. Heim was working there as a psychiatrist under the name of Heinrich von Heim, but allegedly had the protection of the local authorities and was therefore able to escape before he could be brought to justice.
His family told German authorities that he had died of cancer in Argentina, poverty-stricken, in 1993. Yet when family members attempted to claim a million-dollar inheritance, they could not provide a death certificate.
German authorities believe they caught Heim's scent again last year when his Berlin bank account suddenly began transferring large sums of money to a Spanish bank account in Rosas, on the Costa Brava. The account was owned by an artist couple, but before they could be interrogated, Heim changed locations again and the trail went cold.
He was later believed spotted in Denmark, but no solid evidence could be found. Heim's last confirmed sighting in Germany was 44 years ago, when he fled from a thermal bath in Baden Baden. He had been working in the city as a doctor.
Most of the Nazi war criminals who have hidden in South America assumed false identities, protected by a clandestine network known as “Odessa.” This network is believed to be protecting Heim, as it has done for other Nazis. Josef Mengele, the “Angel of the Death” who carried out horrific science experiments on Jewish prisoners, used Odessa to hide in Brazil.
And Klaus Barbie, “the Butcher of Lyon,” was sheltered by Odessa in Bolivia, where he directed a well-known narco-military group known as “Los Novios de la Muerte.” And again, thanks to Odessa, Adolf Eichmann lived in Argentina under the name of Ricardo Klement, and spent time in Chile as Walther Rauf.
In 2005 the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named after the late Nazi hunter, implemented Operation Last Chance, which saw the tenacious Wiesenthal attempting to catch Heim himself. An engineer who spent most of his adult life pursuing Nazi war criminals, Wiesenthal was imprisoned in the Mauthasen death camp as a youth. He encouraged the German government to aggressively chase Heim until Wiesenthal's death in September 2005.
An official delegation from Germany will soon be arriving in Chile. After paying a visit to Supreme Court officials, the representatives will then visit the public prosecutor's office before a final stop to talk to authorities in Region V.
SOURCE: LA NACIÓN
By Lauren Amundsen ([email protected])
The Santiago Times, 28.04.06 |
