Kast’s father, Michael Kast, joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1942 at age 17 and later served in the Wehrmacht, fighting in France, Italy, and Ukraine.
Captured by U.S. forces near the end of the war, he escaped and assumed a false identity as a Red Cross worker before fleeing to Chile in 1950.
There, he ran a sausage business and was active in local community affairs, later receiving Chilean citizenship.
Despite claims by José Antonio Kast that his father was conscripted and not a committed Nazi, documents from German archives confirm Michael Kast’s party membership. The president-elect and his politically active family supported the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 1980s.
German analysts have described Kast’s political views as extremist, ultraconservative, and even neofascist. His election marks another shift to the far right in Latin America, following recent conservative gains in the region.
Chile was one of several South American destinations used by former Nazis escaping justice via so-called “ratlines.” High-profile fugitives who found refuge in the region included Klaus Barbie, Josef Mengele, and Adolf Eichmann.
Barbie, known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” was protected by U.S. intelligence before fleeing to Bolivia, where he aided military regimes and engaged in drug trafficking. Eichmann lived quietly in Argentina until captured by Israeli agents and executed in 1962. Mengele lived in Argentina and Brazil, evading justice until his death in 1979.
Numerous other Nazi war criminals, including SS officers and collaborators, also escaped to South America, where many avoided prosecution for decades.
(jh)
Source: Polskie Radio 24, IAR, Onet