Deportation of Germans from Latin America during World War II
During World War II, 4,058 ethnic Germans along with several hundred other Axis-nationals living in Latin America were deported to the United States and their home countries, often at the behest of the US government. Although the arrest, internment and/or deportation of belligerent country nationals was common practice in both Axis and Allied countries (and their colonies) during both World War I and World War II, subsequent US Congressional investigations and reparations during the 1980s and 1990s, especially for Japanese Americans interned, have raised awareness of the injustice of such practices. Unlike Allied civilians held in Nazi concentration camps or those interned by the Japanese, Axis nationals interned in Allied countries did not suffer from systematic starvation and widespread mistreatment by their captors. Although conducted ostensibly to curb Axis subterfuge, like the Internment of Japanese Canadians, the Internment of Japanese Americans, and the Internment of German Americans, many of the deportees were not supporters of the Nazi regime. Persons deported even included Jewish refugees who had fled Nazi Germany prior to the German declaration of war against the United States. Of the 4,656 deportees sent to the US in 1942, 2,242 were exchanged with Axis powers for citizens of Allied countries arrested and interned by the Axis powers and 2,414 remained in the US until the end of the war. The deportation of Germans was preceded by the immigration of tens of thousands of German immigrants to Latin America during the 19th and early 20th centuries. While the vast majority of these immigrants integrated into Latin American societies, some still held German citizenship at the time of Germany's declaration of war in 1941. Prior to World War II both the German and U.S. governments were actively competing for political and economic influence across Latin America and with the outbreak of war the U.S. government was fearful that nationals of the belligerent countries could pose a threat. Subsequently several thousand German, Japanese and Italian nationals were arrested by Latin American governments and many were deported to internment camps in the U.S. for the duration of the conflict. A minority were even deported to Nazi Germany. Following the war most were repatriated to their home countries. Background German Influence in Latin America Germany's involvement in the region had existed since the 19th century. Waves of German immigrants had been generally welcomed into the region, partially as a result of the popularity of racist ideologies among Latin America's political and economic elites who often believed in the myth of the Protestant work ethic and the superiority of Northern European Protestants immigrants over Southern European Catholics. The Nazi German Government primarily viewed Latin America as a source of raw materials and attempted to deepen commercial relations with the region during the inter-war period. Germany offered military training and sold weapons to several Latin American governments in an attempt to undermine U.S. influence in the region. During the 1930s sympathetic far-right and fascist political movements, most notably Brazil's Integralism movement and Argentina's Nacionalismo movement attempted