The Gestapo Captain Found Hiding In Rural Argentina | Nazi Hunters | Timeline

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. You'll get a special introductory offer. Go and check it out meanwhile enjoy this video. I thought I was seeing a Nazi war criminal. Incredible Priebke had been one of the most important Gestapo officers in Rome during the war, by all accounts he had a certain brutality and efficiency.

This guy is right up there with Mengele and Eichmann. What I felt in front of that man was hatred towards us. We were hoping we could take on a couple of Nazis in a German town in the Andes. I have interviewed many people who have committed crimes and they usually run away when they see someone like me. Argentina for half a century, a refuge for Nazi war criminals. so far in a historic move the government opens its post-war archives to the world one day in early 1994 on our primetime live program someone said why don't we do the history of how Nazi war criminals came to Argentina after the second war global The story will leave one of America's most famous television news teams with the scoop of its life for one of the last high-ranking Nazis still at large.

SS Captain Eric Priebkud, with the further liberalization of the Argentine administration, the old days of the junta were gone. New files were emerging suggesting that many Nazis had fled to South America and Argentina. The stories that were coming out at the time were that the Argentine government had been

hiding

something and I thought, well, can I go there and find the Nazi who is still alive, maybe ABC News producer Harry Phillips was assigned the history. I went to Buenos Aires to review files. I spent hours and hours just going through files and sure enough, I

found

a lot of Nazis who we knew had traveled to Argentina.

Adolf Eichmann joseph mengele the next task was to determine who was still a war criminal whose name did not have who could still be on the file we knew from the simon wiesenthal center that there was a man in

argentina

who called himself juan mauler but we suspected very strongly that he was a

nazi

named reinert cops that we knew he was a

nazi

because there were records of him, all he needed to do was confirm that juan mauler was reiner cops thanks to the simon wiesenthal center we knew that juan mahler was in veriloche living hidden deep in the andes in this small german town the simon bezenthal center is a jewish human rights organization what neither they nor abc know is that the police reinhard alias one mahler will lead them to a much bigger fish the number two man in the

gestapo

of rome eric priepka I worked with a woman in Buenos Aires named Dalila Herbst I hired her as a translator and repairman and to investigate with me and so we started asking questions Harry called me and asked me to go to Bariloche to get in touch with a guy named Juan Maler we knew that the police were in barolote and we also knew that bara loche was a refuge for german immigrants they built this german town in the andes baroloti is essentially a german austrian alpine resort in

argentina

for many germans and austrians barolo she was a real home away from home the lakes were there the mountains were there the germans were there and many of them were nazis reinhard policemen and several other ss men installed in bodies legend for these these austrians and germans felt as if they were in bavaria or somewhere in the alps they lived very openly they went to the opera they went to the cafes they had their restaurants to themselves it was like a home away from home there were probably some covert toasts to hitler's birthday there i don't think it was an out and it was some kind of fourth reich, but I think it was certainly a place where many former Nazis lived in Bariloche.

I was quite afraid to ask who he was. I knew he had a small hotel and I called him there and said if I could. I spoke to Mr. Juan Male and they told me that he rented us this hotel and that they wouldn't give me any information and then I started trying to see where I could get this guy, so I called his house and a German woman told me that I don't know when he's coming back, so I said well, this is going to be hard work. I called Harry and told him that we don't know when he will return after War Captain Reinhard Cox fled to Argentina, but not before helping thousands of his. the fellow Nazis escaped from the allies reinhard police was the spy he was the man who was handing out landing permits in Argentina to his fellow Nazis the rat line became the term used by the Nazis who were, you know, fleeing the ship that was sinking in search of the third rifle security the line of rats went from Germany to Austria or Switzerland from there to Italy where they boarded ships to come to South America from their office in Rome the police took care of thousands of Nazis on the run in a short time he orchestrated her own escape to bereloche argentina so i am in contact with dalilah a lot, she stayed in bara lochi while i had returned to us for a while.

I remember asking delela to check names all the time, you know, with the local community and stuff, I was alone there and absolutely bored, so I went down and asked someone at the hotel if they could give me a list of books alone to read and learn about the history of Body Lodge and among those books there was one called The Painter of Argentine Switzerland, perhaps the local history book. may shed light on the Nazi fugitives who have made this area their home. I went to the most important bookstore in Bariloche. I asked the man and he told me that he was missing, so I went to several bookstores at night and it was the exact same answer the next morning.

It was a beautiful day so I walked down and there was a small kiosk and there it was I couldn't believe it and at the beginning I

found

the story about police officers and three pages later there was a story about a man called Eric Pripke It was very shocking for me Priepka had been one One of the most important Gestapo officers in Rome during the war, by all accounts, he was very, very good at hunting enemies of the state in Italy and had a certain brutality and efficiency. contacts with the italian fascist network that you meet in italy with priests of the catholic church when the third reich collapsed in 1945 eric priebke fled, so priepka knew that he had to leave italy there was an active network of priests who were working to help the Nazis escape the system to acquire false documents already existed in 1948 following the same line of rats that police officers reinhard eric priebke and his family escaped to buenos aires for 50 years has eluded justice but now a team of journalists has stumbled upon his trail every day I'm talking on the phone about names, names, names and finally Delilah said to me: I think you might be interested in a guy named Eric Pribke and I said: Is that name on our list?

She said no, that name is not on our list, but I found hers. name in a bookstore and I don't know if it's true, but this thesis talks about him being involved in a massacre in Europe. At first he was a little skeptical, but after the second or third conversation we had about this, I thought, do you know what it is? This sounds really promising, but is the guy alive? She said: I don't know. I told her, well, I looked for a phone book, so I went and I wanted to see if I could get her, her phone number, and I just got her a phone book and sure enough, I brought the phone book home because in the phone book she found it. under his own name it was his name eric bripke his address and his phone number eric pribke except he had made a change in place of the h at the end of eric he was listed as e-r-i-c erico pribke had to be the same guy so I called and a German woman again called me on the phone and said wait a second and when he came to his phone and said hello I got scared and hung up, I couldn't. knew how to react was alive and maybe even a war criminal who lived hidden deep in the Andes in this small German town it really was a heart-stopping moment the ABC News team now hopes to expose not one but two Nazis well, we knew we were going to go to make a big story we had to do a complete investigation on eric pribke just to see if in fact this man was a war criminal argentina had admitted a large number of nazis after world war ii the exact number no one knew know to date producer harry phillips returns to vera loche to stay under the radar his team needs a cover story delilah herbst arrived as a small businesswoman from buenos aires who was interested in perhaps moving to barolote and looking at business prospects i was obviously going to be an American or a Canadian tourist, that's the only thing I could do and accomplish and I came out as a guy who was in town to fly fish, they focus first on tracking down Reinhard's cops, ultimately I want to prove Juan Mahler is a police officer, so I went to his house and just surveyed the area on my own.

I didn't knock on the door. I just wanted to watch it, but I didn't see it. After a few days in Berloche, I realized that I might not see him. juan waller had not left his house if he was there he had not gone to his business he was not sure if he was in town phillips is worried that priepka has also left town he delves into his In the past we had to find out if the accusations against Pribca were true, so we had to do a lot of research into his past in Nazi Germany.

We were shocked by the results, we discovered records that showed he was part of one of the worst atrocities. perhaps the worst atrocity that occurred in the country of italy during the war i thought oh my god this guy is right up there with some of the worst nazi war criminals in 1944 priebke was second in command of the

gestapo

in rome while the war was very much against the Germans there was increasing partisan activity and one day in the spring of 44 33 German soldiers were blown up by a partisan bomb they decided to kill 10 Italians for every Nazi that died, so that's 330 uh compared to 33 of the Nazis who were murdered had 24 hours to find the required number of people the gestapo showed up and took 335 people to be executed they should have had 330 they got 335. they gathered five more than they should some of them were jews some of them They were children, some of them were very old men, some of them were relatives of Julio de Aquino.

When the Germans arrived at night, a trunk stopped in front of my grandparents' house and we see tonight that there were 18 people and they were putting their clothes on. They took his grandfather his children and his son's children three generations were arrested they were taken to the caves arduitoine eric prebka was the guy who was outside the caves checking the names one by one they were taken to these caves by ss men um with his con The hands were tied behind their backs in groups of five. The massacre began at 3:30 p.m. These victims lined up and the SS officer shot them in the back of the head and the five fell forward.

They asked them to kneel and put their heads down. killed with just one shot, you imagine inside this dark pit, the bodies piling up, you know, the screams of the men, it's horrible, then five more would come right behind them and fall forward. Priebke was there with his list, yet he did more. In addition to that, he was one of the first to set an example by killing two of the individuals who died in that massacre. It was the most savage and vile retaliation. We had been working on this story for a couple of months and now we knew we were going to do it.

By the time we really had to start shooting we were talking about Privka and how we were going to achieve it. We were hoping to confront a couple of Nazis in a German town in the Andes where war criminals had been living for 50 years. We want to see what he's up to today and see what his life was like in

hiding

. Delilah Herbst must trick the former Gestapo man into hiding. to meet her I have to go to my room and call him from my room alone I can't be with other people to call him delela herbst made up a story about herself being interested in opening a delicatessen in berloche coincidence he apparently had had a business like that and I told him that I had a friend who lived in Bariloche and that my friend told me that he was a very intelligent businessman.

He had to think of something nice to say to her, so he agreed to meet her on March 28, 1994. Delilah arrives at a cafe in Berlocchi to meet the man who they believe is a Nazi war criminal and the target of she. It was to check if Pripke was Eric Prepke. We brought a cameraman to Argentina and started monitoring Kick. We wanted to get as much video of this guy as possible today. We had a camera that was a full size video recorded camera and it was something that couldn't be hidden verywe easily had to take a little risk and expose ourselves a little we were afraid that something might happen posing as a business woman an abc news investigator waits for the man she believes is a war criminal We found a location in the center of Veriloche, in front of a restaurant where Delilah Herbs arranged a meeting with Pripka.

I had to have coffee alone with Pripke and I had to verify that Pripke was a bribery pie in which she was presenting herself as a possible investor. A business in Baroloci was not easy because they told me where I had to sit and where he had to sit. Our cameras were on the other side of the street. We were on a kind of staircase and we were one floor above the street. I remember being worried about that, Primpkin. He saw us, he looked very sweet, a cute grandfather with his blue eyes, an innocent look and I started to talk about the war and then I said, you know, my grandfather was born in Berlin and his face changed, Berlin said that I'm from Berlin.

I told him what a coincidence and then he told him. I asked if you had to kill someone in the war and he said no because I was an officer at the German embassy in Rome my cup of coffee, you know, was, you know, just spilling the coffee everywhere. the aguamomento I am an Argentine Jew what I felt in front of that man was hate I wanted to flee the place but you know I had to stay because I was working I thought I was looking at a Nazi war criminal this is incredible this man has been living in hiding like a man free for 50 years after murdering 335 innocent civilians in Rome when I wanted to say goodbye I just wanted to shake his hand and I put my arm like this and he dragged me and he gave me a kiss on the cheek and I said goodbye, it was very shocking for me, very Shocking to me, we found out about his involvement in the local German school where he lived, the precise times he would go places, very important strategic information for us, and in fact he highlighted by saying that I am punctual, I leave school exactly at 12 noon and on my way home for lunch.

I called New York and said, "I guess I don't want to sound too sure of myself right now, but I think, 'I've got a big shot here, Harry Phillips,' the producer kept updating me, of course, about his progress, and there came a time. in which he said: I think we are ready to go to Argentina and he explained to me what he had and at that moment we kicked it. a plan was put into motion to have sam donaldson come from washington to face eric pribka. the abc team hasn't been able to find reinhard's cops and they decide to move forward with the story anyway in the hope that eric preepka doesn't find out about them and disappear too, i thought it was very important to bring bripke to the police. justice and tell the story of this particular Nazi and what he did.

Sam Donaldson hosted a weekend show in Washington. We really only had a couple of days during the week where we could have him in Baraloche or Argentina at all so we had to fly him to Baroloci on a private jet it was one of those rarefied moments where I'm leaving an American Express card to spend ten grand dollars on a private jet to fly deep into the Andes we were very excited about this story, we felt that we were really about to achieve something possibly very big, so one night we came to Verilochi, we stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of the city , we ordered the plane's pilots to go undercover.

I said you guys disappear now for 24 hours come back and meet us here at 3 pm tomorrow we should be done by then and we have to get sam donaldson out of here gary phillips had arranged a van to take us to this hotel on a lake we stayed there until the next morning, when we started looking for the two Germans, we were going to have two camera crews, at least two translators, Sam Donaldson and I descending on this quiet little town, all at once, people were going to do questions. Who are these people? Why are they here?

The cameras were in cases, so it wasn't like we got off a plane with our cameramen holding their cameras on their shoulders when we checked into the hotel. I ordered the crew to tell everyone that we were rich tourists, I had just been there fishing, now I was going to bring my friends back, we were going out on the town, we didn't say, let's go out on the town and meet a group of German citizens here in Argentina and let's have a beer with them. We wanted to be sure because we were going to do something very provocative but we also wanted to be successful in what we were doing and that's why we had to talk very carefully about what our schedule was going to be, we knew that he would leave at noon. from his school and we knew we had a few hours before we had to be there, so we spent the first few hours guarding and keeping an eye on Juan Mauler's house, even though we hadn't seen him at all, we thought it would be best to spend at least three or four hours with sam just in case he arrives and the next morning we went out first to look for juan mahler it was a remote possibility at 7:00 am we were on the street in front of juan mauler's house we couldn't put a camera directly in front of the house without being too obvious, so we had cameras in vans.

My eyes are watery because I've been awake most of the night. Delilah is exhausted. Sam Dalton, fortunately, is fresh and our camera crew is ready. For something to happen I'm about to say that maybe we won't get anything when suddenly the door opens in front of his house and leaves Juan Mauler behind. This is the first time anyone from the EBC team has seen the former SS officer and we found him where we thought we could find him. I knew it was him immediately the first time I saw him and I yelled at everyone. There he was, he was standing on the street, suddenly a taxi came, he got in and a taxi took off before we could do anything, so I yelled through the walkie-talkie: "Sam, it's coming towards you" and we went after your taxi.

He was terrified because he had lost sight of him. He was too far behind and we were going to panic and luckily Sam. I was right behind him when they stopped at a pharmacy and Donald said, when I say everyone jump, jump out into the street, Sam and his team jumped out of a vehicle and approached Juan Mauler, who was leaving the pharmacy. I was waiting on the sidewalk. Hello. I'm Sam Donaldson from ABC News. I introduced myself. He saw the cameras. He knew I was from American television. And I knew they were recording it. He looked like a rat that had been caught on cameras everywhere, but what does he do. you know what you want well it's your name reinhard police officers excuse me but I don't have time for that sam was asking him are you too raynard copps and juan mahler said no, I'm not that harry phillips took a photo where you could see police officers dressed declaring themselves a nazi this not a footer statistic of his membership in the Nazi party no he had never been a member I kept pressing him about this and he had his photo and other identifying marks of him as police officers Reinhard who look like the same guy you are Reinhardt, policemen, no, no, no, I was, I was in 52.

The German embassy here gave me the name, Mahler's name, what was your name before Mahler, policemen, policemen? Your name was cops, yeah, no, it's not divorce, we got it. admit that he is a police officer reiner the second thing was Sam, now I had to ask him if you helped the Nazis get out of Rome. I pressed him about what he had done. Have you ever heard of the rat line? Something called the rat line. No, no, and after a little. After some questioning, he admitted that too. Now I know it was something like that, but at the time I didn't know it.

I guess he must have thought that he had to divert this interest in me. It was a real shock what he said next. I was not in Albania as a slave in the SS ambushed in the street by ABC News former SS officer Reinhard Kopps is getting desperate there are a lot of people here I still don't see much I tell you who I am they dragged me up the street as if to whisper to me but still He had a microphone I thought wow I don't know what he's going to say but it's going to be very interesting and he whispered his name in Sam's ear he's nervous he wanted to get out of there he wanted to divert attention and so he decided to give up Eric Pribke was priceless we were dizzy is the best word to describe it it would be hours before they could confront prieca at the german school how quickly the word spread you know you have to realize this nazi community in argentina was full of rivalries and hatred it had already happened of Adolf Eichmann who was kidnapped in 1960.

There were also many rumors that circulated through the Nazi community in Argentina that Eichmann had been betrayed by one of these one of his fellow Nazis. I also saw a community where everyone was very distrustful of each other and everyone lived with the fear of being arrested or kidnapped who knows if these individuals are vengeful or if they want to stop us or if they feel that you know that we have I just received something that could cause reinerted police officers to be arrested and jailed, but we had only done half of our job and now we were planning the home run Eric Pribke, he was our next person to go to the Argentine cave massacre, he is incredibly important element in this Italian cultural historical landscape to hide their crimes the Nazis used explosives to seal the caves and bury to its victims it was only after the liberation of Rome that the true horror of the massacre came to light the caves were opened later that year and There are many very gruesome photographs taken and many testimonies from the archaeologists and scientists who were there and helped to dig them out.

It is totally emblematic of Nazi brutality in June 1944. The Allies entered Rome and fled north to the Italian Alps. One day there is a knock on the door and the Americans have come to arrest him they are rounding up people Pripke openly admitted his involvement in the artichokes he felt it was a legitimate act of war since following orders it was retaliation Priebke has spent 18 months in a number of the prisoner of war camps, he decides after a period of time, well, I'm going to escape, so one night he decides that the way out of this camp is the cable, and he manages to cut the cable.

With two accomplices, Priebke knows he can't stay on the run all the time. The best way to ensure a happy future for him and his family is to emigrate, but Priebke's future is no longer secure four hours after confronting Reinhardt's police officers. ABC News The team watches over the school run by former Gestapo

captain

Dalila had done a great job telling us about her daily movements. His schedule was so set that you could set the clock. We knew where he was. He was at school. At the Primo Caprara school. Eric was supposed to be there that morning helping with the school kids helping in the classroom.

Delilah insisted that he would leave that building at exactly 12:01. It will be punctual in two corners. We had a truck with a camera. We had four. walkie-talkies we were all in communication, but for some reason his car was parked outside the school, so now we knew that maybe he would get in his car and drive somewhere, which meant we would have a very slim chance of catching him. . Ready for the fact that his car was parked outside the school, attention increases and then at exactly 12:01 he leaves the school, all the doors open and we join him afraid that he will get into his car and leave.

I approached him again, I identified myself on American television, Sam Donaldson from American television, Sam is running across the street screaming, send your medical attention and I'm having a heart attack because I'm thinking about speaking English, please don't , don't invite him to talk. a foreign language sam donaldson said eric bripke and turned around and smiled yes yes can we talk to you about what you did during world war ii? I had no idea what ABC news anchor Sam Donaldson would finally say, he is face to face with a fugitive Nazi War criminal Eric, I have interviewed many people who have committed crimes and usually run away when they see someone like I.

He clearly he is not intimidated by us in any way. He doesn't make sense. Here is a man who has committed terrible crimes. Why does he want to do it? talk to a journalist you were in the gestapo in 1944 weren't you in rome yes in rome yes yes I'm eric pribke yes I was in Rome do you know that the communists exploded against a group of our German Australians yes for every German I'm sorry 10 10 The Italian had than die, he admitted almost everything he did, but why did you shoot them? They hadn't done anything. You know, that was our order.

Donaldson is a man who wouldn't leave you for a second without asking things and he keeps asking and asking. and asking, but orders are no excuse, oh well, this time the aura was an order, man, and he was getting more and more agitated, he said we didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it, but I had to do it. We were just following orders, yes, of course we were, but I didn't shut anyone up. He actually denied shooting anyone personally, but we had documents from a POW camp.British where he admitted to having shot two people.

We had your confession that you were there when the civilians were shot I had some uh yeah the first ones yeah I saw them yeah and you carried it out maybe I had to carry it yeah and the civilians died yeah when Sam brought up the idea that maybe He was a war criminal who was outraged you live in this era but we who live in 1933 and I sent him that I asked him if old people should pay for the crimes they commit when they are young, you know that was not a crime, it was shooting civilians in times of war.

It is against all international people today, but not at this time. I'm sure Delilah was furious. I felt proud because I said at least one. I have one. Journalists aren't supposed to get excited about the story. We're trying to get the facts and everything. Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, but you did it. Many young people do things when they are old. Men like me are now very sorry and I finally told him that many people think you should be executed for your crimes and at that moment you could see a bell ringing in his head, you know?

Is it a good idea to talk about this? Idiot, you came straight to me because I agreed, you're not a good man, are you? You are not a gentleman and he closes the door and leaves. It was a euphoria like you only experienced once in your career. We talk on the phone and New York's reaction is "Oh my gosh, this sounds amazing, so I said to Harry, I think we better get out of town as quickly as possible." The worry I had was that someone would notice. that it would be advantageous to get that videotape and not let him leave Beraluchi, that was my concern.

ABC News has captured Nazi war criminals Reinhard Cops and Eric Priebke on tape. It's a huge story. They can't take any chances. We knew we had to get Sam out of the city, so within two hours of the confrontation with Pribco we called the pilots who were hiding in Barolocy when Sam got there, they were almost ready to leave and he left very quickly. It's safe to say that within six hours of that encounter those tapes were in the air for the United States. He says it was better than the best luck I could ever imagine.

This is one of those moments where you just say everything It turned out well. Absolutely true, we knew we had a great story, that's all we knew initially. Good evening, tonight we are going to tell the story of how thousands of alleged Nazi war criminals escape justice when we put this story on the air. What could happen to Eric Pripke? is going to be the next story the broadcast is broadcast six weeks after the 50th anniversary of the arteotina cave massacre the reaction in argentina was a media explosion in italy the same thing happened because the italians really believed that all the perpetrators of that massacre in rome in 1944 they were dead or had been convicted within a few days of the broadcast he was arrested, the police were persecuted to the point where he disappeared and fled the country apparently he went to chile and with pripka in custody the media went crazy with photos and stories and full page headlines is perhaps the story I am most proud of from the point of view of making a difference that I think it tells Italy demands that Preeta be sent back to Rome there was a year and a half of fighting in the Argentine courts but finally he was extradited to italy julius pizaquino will be tried who campaigned for his extradition attends the trial he never looked at me because i was always the first person to talk about him priebus taken to rome where he faces a military tribunal the court declares him guilty of do what he did, but they have to release him because he was acting under orders.

That old excuse is a huge outrage over being released, I mean it's almost a riot outside the courtroom, so they arrested him again right away. He appealed the verdict twice and was finally sentenced to life in prison when you are over a certain age in Italy, you can't actually be sent to prison. He is currently serving his sentence in an apartment in the center of Rome. He made me very happy and that was it. I know it's difficult, but for me it's impossible to forgive forgive him forget it was validation of the highest level, you know, to think that governments were taking steps to prosecute this man based on our work.

Human nature has not yet reached the point, it seems to me, where we all can. just say: forget it, these types of atrocities will not happen again, but one way to try to prevent them is to tell the story of how people who started out as ordinary human beings became murderers.