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Specter of a Nazi Threat: United States-Colombian Relations, 1939-1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Max Paul Friedman
Max Paul Friedman*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of California at Berkeley
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Extract

On 11 September 1941, U..S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt took to the airwaves to warn his country that “Hitler's advance guards” were readying “footholds, bridgeheads in the New World, to be used as soon as he has gained control of the oceans.” The most recent sign that the Nazis were coming, the president told his rapt national audience, was the discovery of “secret airlanding fields in Colombia, within easy range of the Panama Canal.”

In Bogotá, the response was pandemonium. U.S. ambassador Spruille Braden, astonished that “the President has gone out on a limb with this statement,” sent his staff scrambling across German-owned farms and rice fields to try to produce evidence for the assertion ex post facto. Colombian President Eduardo Santos scoffed at Roosevelt's claim, telling Braden, “in the final analysis all of Colombia is a great potential airport.” A resentful Colombian Senate voted unanimously that no such airfields existed (that Colombia had fulfilled its responsibility to defend against the Axis menace). In Washington, Secretary of State Cordell Hull was forced to call in Colombia's Ambassador Gabriel Turbay to express “the very deep regret of the President, of myself and of our Government” for the “unintentional reference.”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 56 , Issue 4 , April 2000 , pp. 563 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2000

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References

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35 Hans Ungar, interview with author, Bogotá, 16 March 1998.

36 Nazi Party Membership Records.

37 NSD 8/43 (Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP. Statistik, 30.6.1939, Geheim), Bundesarchiv Berlin-Lichterfelde (hereafter BA-L). I am grateful to Dr. Michael Buddrus of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Aussenstelle Berlin, for sharing his analysis of these figures.

38 Vallejo Sánchez to Director Policía Nacional, 13 January 1942, Actividades Nazis 1940–1942, AMRE.

39 “Das Judentum trifft sich selbst!!” in Karibischer Beobachter, 15 December 1938, pp. 5–6. There are copies of several years of the Karibischer Beobachter at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut at the Neue Staatsbibliothek, Preussischer Kulturbesitz zu Berlin. See also Kießling, , Exil in Lateinamerika, p. 420.Google Scholar

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42 Braden to SecState, 15 December 1941, 862.20221/428, RG59, NA, and Castillo to Jefe de Seguridad Nacional, Erick [sic] Rath, 15 October 1942, in folder “Informes Secretos—Quinta Columna,” Informes Confidenciales Sobre Entidades Nazis Años 1942–1943, AMRE, Bogotá, for Rath as source of chart. See also Kießling, , Exil in Lateinamerika, pp. 430–31.Google Scholar

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46 Dorsz to Alexander, 5 September 1944, in folder “Removal of Enemy Aliens, August-September 1944,” Subject Files, 1939–1954, Special War Problems (SWP), RG59, NA; Whitehead, Donald F. The FBI Story (New York: Random House, 1956), pp. 273–276.Google Scholar

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48 Acheson, , “Action Taken by the United States Government in the Economic Field to Eliminate Axis Influence from the Other American Republics,” 2 June 1942, in folder “711 1942,” Colombia: Bogotá Embassy, Security-Segregated General Records,Google Scholar 1938–1949, Box 23, RG84, NA.

49 Welles, , “Procedures and Policies on Maintenance of the Proclaimed List of Certain Blocked Nationals,” 28 August 1941, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRU.S.) 1941, 6, pp. 271–83.Google Scholar

50 Galvis, and Donadio, , Colombia Nazi, p. 110.Google Scholar

51 Braden, , Diplomats and Demagogues, pp. 205–206.Google Scholar Braden distrusted López de Mesa for other reasons. The foreign minister had told Braden in April 1939 that he expected a world war, and anticipated it would cut off many imports from the United States, so he was making plans for Colombia to develop light industry and a degree of self-sufficiency in motors, drugs, and chemicals. Braden told him that would be uneconomical and unnecessary since the U.S. would continue to supply Colombia’s needs; to the State Department, Braden wrote that such a program would harm U.S.-Colombian relations because it would reduce U.S. exports and because Colombian industrialization would “nurture unsound nationalistic programs in commerce” and induce Colombians to invest their financial resources locally, at the expense of repayment of the national debt to U.S. banks. Braden to SecState, 14 April 1939, 711.21/934, RG59, NA, cited in Rawls, Shirley N. “Spruille Braden: A Political Biography” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of New Mexico, 1976), pp. 106–107.Google Scholar

52 Adolf Berle Diary, 7 May 1942, Berle Papers. Braden also rejected Stagg’s offer to forge documents connecting Nazis to a failed coup attempt in Colombia, as Stagg had done in Bolivia. Adolf Berle Diary, 4 September 1941; Braden to Welles, 9 August 1941, folder 12, Box 67, Welles Papers.

53 Galvis, and Donadio, , Colombia Nazi, p. 128.Google Scholar

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55 Randall, , Colombia and the United States, p. 165;Google Scholar Enrique Biermann, Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, written communication to the author, 20 March 1998.

56 Braden, (Bogotá) to Secretary of State, 14 November 1941, FRU.S. 1941, 6, pp. 305–307.Google Scholar

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58 December 1941-January 1942, folder 15 & 16, Map Room files (MR) 36, FDR Library.

59 AmLegQuito to Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, 10 March 1942, in Serie B, Embajada de Estados Unidos,_MRE, Archivo Histórico de Quito (AHQ), Ecuador; Walter Held, interview with author, Bogotá, 9 March 1998.

60 Stimson to Hull, 29 December 1941, 740.00115EW1939/1646, RG59, NA; Braden to Secretary of State, 31 December 1941, 740.00115EW1939/1661, RG59, NA; Hull to AmEmbBogota, 30 December 1941, 740.00115EW1939/1661A, RG59, NA; Braden to Secretary of State, 15 January 1942, 740.00115EW1939/1718, RG59, NA; Walmsley to Duggan, 15 January 1942, 740.00115EW1939/1838, RG59, NA.

61 Restrepo, Carlos Lleras Crónica de mi propia vida, vol. 6 (Bogotá: Starnato Editores, 1983), p. 170.Google Scholar

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64 Bendetson to Warren, 24 January 1942, 740.00115EW1939/1967 3/7, RG59, NA.

65 Fletcher Warren to Gordon, 6 April 1942, 740.00115EW1939/2634, RG59, NA

66 Howard, George C. “Development, Status and Evaluation of the Colombian Government’s Freezing Controls of Axis Assets with Special Reference to the Proclaimed List,” July 1942, in folder “711 1942,” Colombia: Bogota Embassy, Security-Segregated General Records,Google Scholar 1938–49, Box 23, RG84, NA.

67 Skowronski to Auswartiges Amt (AA), 29 May 1942, R41557, Zivilgefangenen-Austausch-Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Rechtsabteilung, Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes (hereafter PAAA), Bonn, Germany; MRE, Lista de los alemanes a quienes el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores autorizó para dirigirse a la Policía Nacional afin de que otorgaran las garantías necesarias para permanecer en el país., in folder “Actividades Nazis 1941,” Actividades Nazis—1940–1942, AMRE.

68 Hill, J.C. Memorandum, 26 August 1942,Google Scholar 701.0010/555 1/2, RG59, NA.

69 Keith to SecState, 22 April 1942, 740.00115EW1939/2920, RG59, NA; Gardiner, C. Harvey Pawns in a Triangle of Hate: The Peruvian Japanese and the United States (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981), pp. 25 Google Scholar and 29.

70 Gardiner, , Pawns, p. 29.Google Scholar See also Welles to AmLegManagua, 2 April 1942, 740.00115EW1939/2482, RG59, NA, for similar order not to visa deportees.

71 Skowronski to AA, 29 May 1942, R41557, Zivilgefangenen-Austausch-Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Rechtsabteilung, PAAA; Hermann Egner to Swiss Legation Washington, Alien Detention Camp Kenedy—Texas, 27 June 1942, R41562, Zivilgefangenen-Austausch-Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Rechtsabteilung, PAAA; Karl-Albrecht Engel, Zusammenfassender Bericht über die Zeit von 1942–1945 (Guatemala—Internierung U.S.A), 18 June 1945, R 64 III/6, Heimkehrerberichte über Südamerika, Lateinamerikanischer Verein, Bundesarchiv Koblenz (hereafter BA-K), Germany; Max Habicht to Swiss Foreign Ministry, Report on the Visit to Detention Stations for Civilian Internes in the United States of America, 18 August 1942, Band 1, E2200 Washington/15, Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv (hereafter SB A), Bern, Switzerland; Swiss Legation Washington to DoS, 14 January 1944, Band 10, Noten an Staatsdepartement, January. Junei 1944, E2200 Washington/15, SBA; author interview, Hugo Droege, 22 May 1996, Guatemala City; author interview, Gunter Lisken, 17 February 1998, Guayaquil; Gufler, and Herrick, , “Report on Civilian Detention Station, Camp Kenedy,” 22 May 1942,Google Scholar 740.00115EW1939/4715, RG59, NA; Gardiner, , Pawns, p. 30.Google Scholar

72 See Kaul, , Karl, Friedrich Krueger, , Wilhelm, Emil and Kill, , Adolph, Gustav in “Name Files of Enemy Aliens,” Boxes 31–50, SWP, RG59, NA;Google Scholar “Fragebogen für Auslandsdeutsche Fltichtlinge” and accompanying documents, in Colombia files, Rückwandereramt der AO, BA-L. Kaul is described (as “Dr. Kahl”) by Lothes, Wilhelm “Statement to Gestapo,” 30 October 1942, p. 3,Google Scholar 3601000203, in this collection.

73 Morgan to Ladd, “The German Diplomatic Corps,” 10 April 1942, “Germans in Custody,” Greenbrier Hotel Internal Security Reports, Box 9, MSS 93–4, Morgan Papers, University of Virginia Law Library.

74 Albrecht to Theiss, 28 May 1942, R41557, Zivilgefangenen-Austausch-Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Rechtsabteilung, PAAA; Emil Prüfert to AA, 1 June 1942, and Emil Prüfert to Thomsen, 1 June 1942, R41559, Zivilgefangenen-Austausch-Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Rechtsabteilung, PAAA. True to his racist ideology, Prüfert grumbled that the exchange ships would soon deliver unworthy human capital to Germany. “Our border officials will have the pleasure of seeing a nice Völkerschau from the jungles of Ecuador!” he wrote in disgust. “Among them can be found pure Indian women, each with her own bastards, who here in the hotel have from the beginning comported themselves as if they were still in the jungle, and certainly have not done credit to the appearance of Germandom.”

75 Hull to AmEmbBogotá, 30 January 1942, 740.00115EW1939/1765, RG59, NA; Hull to AmEmbBogotá, 11 February 1942, 740.00115EW1939/1766, RG59, NA.

76 Joseph C. Green, 22 July 1942, 701.0010/523 1/2, RG59, NA.

77 Dr. Gerardo López, interview with author, Bogotá, 6 March 1998. See also Galvis, and Donadio, , Colombia Nazi, pp. 216–226;Google Scholar Bushnell, , Eduardo Santos, p. 105.Google Scholar

78 Lyon to Welles et.al., 29 June 1942, 740.0011PW/2729, reel 235 M982, RG59, NA; Hoover to Lyon, 17 July 1946, 862.20210/17–1746, RG59, NA; Galvis, and Donadio, , Colombia Nazi, pp. 216–217;Google Scholar Bushnell, , Eduardo Santos, p. 105.Google Scholar

79 Hoover to Lyon, 17 July 1946, 862.20210/17–1746, RG59, NA.

80 Ibid.

81 Walter Held, interview with author, Bogotá, 9 March 1998; Götz Pfeil-Schneider, interview with author, Bogotá, 15 March 1998.

82 For a dramatized account from a writer who sympathized with the German immigrants (and later became president of Colombia), nonetheless closely reflecting actual events during this period, see Michelsen, Alfonso López Los Elegidos (Bogotá: Tercer Mundo, 1967).Google Scholar

83 Ernst Blumenthal to Harrick at Swiss Legation Washington, 26 November 1942, Band 4, Noten von und an Staatsdepartement, November.-Dez. 1942, E2200 Washington/15, SBA.

84 Swiss Legation Washington to Gufler at DoS, 2 October 1942, Band 4, Noten von und an Staats-departement, September-October 1942, E2200 Washington/15, SBA; Confidential: Ernst Blumenthal, 3 January 1946, in folder “Blumenthal, Ernst, Nicaragua,” Name Files of Interned Enemy Aliens from Latin America, 1942–48, Box 36, SWP, RG59, NA.

85 Acheson, , “Action Taken,” and Galvis, and Donadio, , Colombia Nazi, p. 114.Google Scholar See also documents on Laboratorios Román in folder “Listas Negras 1943,” Informes Confidenciales Sobre Actividades Nazis 1942—1943—1943, AMRE, and Bustillo Franco to MRE, 2 October 1941, in Listas Negras 1941, AMRE, Bogotá. The possibility that U.S. drug companies benefited from Laboratorios Román's troubles is suggested by an incident in Brazil, which also demonstrates the mutuality of security and economic interests in the U.S. anti-German campaign. In November 1941, James Hill of the Sterling Products Corporation called at the State Department to report that a Brazilian firm was importing 20,000 kilos of aspirin powder, and to say that only two companies in Brazil make aspirin tablets; his own and the German company Chimica Bayer Limitada. Sterling had not ordered any of the 20,000 kilos, so they must all have been destined for Bayer. Hill offered his opinion that “the only effective means of preventing aspirin powder from getting into the hands of the German firm (which is one of the most important German units in Brazil) would be to make all of the ingredients subject to export license.” Aspirin powder was placed on the export control list the following month. The U.S. government struck a blow against German economic potency in Latin America, and Sterling's only serious competition in Brazil was eliminated. Adams to Acheson, “Recommendation that Aspirin Powder and its Ingredients Be Made Subject to Export License,” 3 November 1941, in folder “General Memoranda October-November 1941,” Memoranda Relating to General Latin American Affairs, Box 6, ARA, RG59, NA.

86 Legation, British Suspected Germans, etc., Addendum No. 4, October 1940, in folder “Informes Confidenciales—Listas,”Google Scholar Informes Confidenciales—Nazis—1939–1940, AMRE.

87 Hans Ungar, interview with author, Bogotá, 16 March 1998.

88 José Marchia Barrios to MRE, 9 January 1943, in folder “Listas Negras 1943,” Informes Confidenciales Sobre Actividades Nazis—1942–1943–1944, AMRE.

89 Collado to Board of Economic Operations, “Report by the Proclaimed List Clearance Committee,” 9 December 1941, in folder “Board of Economic Operations—October.-December. 1941,” Box 56, Berle Papers.

90 Welles, , “Procedures and Policies on Maintenance of the Proclaimed List of Certain Blocked Nationals,” 28 August 1941, FRU.S. ¡941, 6, pp. 271–83.Google Scholar

91 Lane to SecState, 1 January 1943, 740.00112A EW39/23188, RG59, NA; Lane to Welles, 17 March 1943, Box 67, Lane Papers.

92 Lane to Welles, forwarding Derby memo, 31 March 1943, Box 67, Lane Papers.

93 Comité de Consulta, 5 June 1943, in folder “Listas Negras—Varios,” Informes Confidenciales Sobre Actividades Nazis—1942–1943–1944, AMRE.

94 SecState to AmEmbBogota, 31 March 1943, 740.00112AEW1939/23233, RG59, NA.

95 A copy of this so-called “Standard Undertaking” is in U.S.EmbBogotá, n.d., in folder “Listas Negras—Varios,” Informes Confidenciales Sobre Actividades Nazis—1942–1943–1944, AMRE.

96 Acheson, , “United States Financial Assistance to Eliminate Undesirable Ownership and Control from Proclaimed List Firms,” 18 June 1943, in folder “711.2,” Costa Rica: San José Embassy Confidential File,Google Scholar Box 25, RG84, NA.

97 Elliott Bowles to Rubin, 11 December 1943, 740.00112RP/4, RG59, NA.

98 Humberto Rodríguez, Gustavo “Segunda administración de López Pumarejo,” in Tirado Mejía, Alvaro ed., Nueva Historia de Colombia, v.1 (Bogotá: Planeta Colombiana Editorial, 1989), pp. 373–396;Google Scholar Restrepo, Carlos Lleras Crónica de mi propia vida, vol. 5, p. 333;Google Scholar Tirado Mejía, Alvaro “Colombia: Siglo y medio de bipartidismo,” in Arrubla, Marchio ed., Colombia Hoy (Bogotá: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 1978), p. 167;Google Scholar Whitaker, , The United States and South America, p. 86.Google Scholar

99 FBI, “Colombia Today,” p. 18.

100 Draft to HM Represenaüve, Washington, D.C., copy all Latin American posts, May 44, /38164, cited in Newton, Ronald C. The ‘Nazi Menace’ in Argentina, 1931–1947 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992), p. 349.Google Scholar

101 Wells, 10 May 1945, 740.2112RP/5–1045, RG59, NA; Wiley, John C. 8 November 1945, in folder “Diplomatic Files: Colombia, 1944–1947,” Box 5, John C. Wiley Papers,Google Scholar FDR Library.

102 Author analysis of 600 Alien Enemy Control Section reports in Name Files of Interned Enemy Aliens from Latin America, SWP, RG59, NA.

103 Hoover to Neal, 14 October 1946, 862.20210/10–1446, RG59, NA. For details, see FBI, German Espionage in Latin America.

104 Hanley to Coleman, 12 October 1943, 862.20210 Rath Erich/23 1/2, RG59, NA; Davis to Spaeth, “Confidential: Eric Rath,” 9 November 1945, in folder “Rath, Eric, Ecuador,” Name Files of Interned Enemy Aliens from Latin America, 1942–48, Box 45, SWP, RG59, NA.