‘Gott in Himmel’ – the first German words learned by many a young lad growing up in the 60s in the UK. Along with ‘schweinhund’, ‘tommy’ and the infamous ‘achtung spitfire’ we were a lot more language aware than the youth of today. Education through ‘Commando’ comic was better back in the good old days.

Why are we talking German? Well today Frau Susan and Herr Clif are in San Carlos de Bariloche. Oh, that’s a nice alpine setting.

And here’s Frau Susan with Herr Bike.

And we checked into a nice apartment with a ‘balkon mit aussicht’ – that’s a ‘balcony with a view’ if you’re not a German speaker like me.

Susan was so happy she went down to Lago Nuhiel Huapi and washed her feet. She calls it paddling but I say it for what it is.

She’s actually quite brazenly brave standing there because this lake has a monster! Records of witnesses back to the 1800’s talk of a huge snake type monster in the lake. It even has a name – Nuhuelito. Does this monster sound like another you know?

‘Och’ you’re kidding me!

Do you see how easily I slipped into Scots language? I’m the language melting pot that keeps on giving.

Anyway that’s just a cropped photo of the ‘Bariloche’ town sign. There were tourists at the other end and they would clutter up my nice photo.

So before we get back to our German theme, let’s not forget that this land belonged to the indigenous Mapuche people. The Mapuche lived in this land, fought the Incas and the Spanish for this land and today comprise 80% of the indiginous people of Argentina and 9% of the total population.

Oh I know, I know – you don’t want to read politically correct acknowledgements to indiginous people. You’re sitting there thinking ‘yeah, yeah that’s good to know but let’s move onto the Nazis. Tell me about the ‘Nasty Nazis’

Okay, but be patient and let’s set the scene with a bit more history.

In the 19th century there was a great wave of European migration to South America. Amongst those immigrants were the Welsh. No, no they’re not Nazis – I’m just diversifying and trying to make this a multilingual multicultural conversation.

Anyway, the Welsh (well about 500) came to Patagonia in 1875 and today about 70,000 residents of Argentina have Welsh surnames and 5,000 speak Patagonian Welsh as their first language. Towns such as Trevelin and Trelew were established and even today local cafes and restaurants proudly serve cakes, scones and breads made to ‘grandmother’s recipes’.

Oh I know, I know – who really wants to talk about the Mapuche and the Welsh? All you’re interested in is the ‘Nasty Nazis’.

I’m just setting the scene of the waves of European migration to South America including the Germans! Yes, now it’s the turn of the Germans. Happy now?

In 1895 a Chilian German named Carlos Weidehold established a shop called Le Aleman (The German) in what is now known as San Carlos de Bariloche. Since that time Germans have immigrated to this area and the town now resembles an alpine resort with gingerbread houses, chocolate and fondue shops which has led many people to compare it to Bavaria. I can personally testify that the Bavarian cheese selection in the shops is particularly nice.

So when WW2 ended it is common knowledge that Argentina was a safe haven for many ‘Nasty Nazis’. President Juan Peron, yup that’s the guy married to Eva, was a sympathiser and he helped arrange passage for many high ranking officials to come to South America. Eva Peron herself allegedly received Nazi gold and art in return for facilitating the smuggling of 15,000 Nazis out of Europe. Of course, she’s now been whitewashed as the tragic heroin in the musical Evita but the truth is far darker.

So that’s dasterdly Juan, Eva and the Nasty Nazis. But let’s not hold off there – wait until you hear who else was involved.

It’s well evidenced that the Pope, the Vatican and the Red Cross were complicit in the ‘ratlines’ giving false papers to fleeing Nazis. This network became known in common culture as ‘Odessa’ (remember ‘Odessa Files’ by Frederick Forsyth) though there’s no actual proof that it formally existed. Instead, it was probably a network of who you knew, what contacts could you establish and how much could you put into the right dasterdly hands.

After WW2 Bariloche became the most prominent enclave of ‘Nasty Nazis’ in South America. They lived here peacefully for years, untouched by justice, because soon after the war the focus quickly turned from Nasty Nazies to Nasty Communists.

So who settled in San Carlos de Bariloche? Well Joseph Mengele, the ‘Nasty Nazi’ who committed human experiments took his driving test outside the town hall. He moved on to Argentina and in 1956 he even returned to Germany for a holiday, travelling under his own name.

Another infamous Nasty Nazi was former SS Captain Eric Priebeck. He was a prominent local Bariloche businessman living under his own name (there was a long held code of silence in the town).

In 1944, this Nasty Nazi was in command of a unit responsible for the execution of 355 civilians. In 1995 he even felt comfortable enough to talk about the massacre on ABC TV. This was a step too far and outrage led to his extradition to Italy to face trial. He was found not guilty for reason of ‘acting under orders’ even though this was not accepted as a defence at the Nuremberg trials. Then there was outrage at the verdict, an appeal, retrial and conviction and a sentence of ‘house arrest’. Even that wasn’t enforced properly and ‘Nasty Nazi’ Eric died in Rome of natural causes at the age of 100.

Lots of other Nasty Nazis settled in Bariloche and the most outrageous allegation was that Hitler settled in a Bavarian mansion with Eva Brauna and died in November 1962. These accounts are disputed by most historians. Okay the allegation that Hitler fled to Bariloche may be far fetched but there’s still talk of annual Hitler parties in Bariloche on his birthday, April 20.

So that’s enough of Bariloche and the ‘Nasty Nazis’. Unfortunately I didn’t see any evidence of them even though Susan and I sampled quite a few ‘German style’ bars in town doing our research.

I will finish with a couple of photos of Frau Susan and Herr Clif. Firstly, here is Herr Susan sitting on her throne giving me orders.

And here’s me with the only two pals I have down here in South America.

Yup you recognise them – it’s my good buddy Mr Beer and his partner Mr Bourbon.

Okay, okay, I hear you, I hear you – ‘forget the photo of three woodentop men. After all this talk of ‘Nasty Nazis’ we like to finish on a nice calming sunset photo from your Bariloche ‘balkon mit aussicht’.

Well here it is. I’m just a wish filling pleasuremonger.

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