The image of Argentina as a paradise for fascists is widely shared across the globe. To be sure, many Nazis escaped to Argentina and, thanks to the Peronists’ warm reception of them, international justice was not served. But other countries in the Western hemisphere received German fascists without much fanfare or historical research. The myth of a postwar Argentina overflowing with Nazis and fascists is problematic, yet it contains important grains of truth.
Nazi activities in Argentina are well researched. Ronald Newton’s Nazi Menace in Argentina, 1931 – 1947 (Stanford University Press, 1992) remains an essential book for Argentine historians. Less known are the Argentine activities of defeated fascists from Croatia, Belgium, and other European countries. The most influential fascism in the Southern Cone was Italian fascism, but until the publication of this timely book by the Italian scholar Federica Bertagna, historians lacked extensive contextual studies of postwar Italian fascist...
