Eduard Roschmann - Escape To Argentina

Escape To Argentina

In 1945, Roschmann was arrested in Graz but later released. Roschmann concealed himself as an ordinary prisoner of war, and in so doing obtained a release from custody in 1947. After that however he became imprudent and visited his wife in Graz. He was recognized with the assistance of former concentration camp inmates and arrested by the British military police. Roschmann was sent to Dachau concentration camp which had been converted to an imprisonment camp for accused war criminals. Roschmann succeeded in escaping from this custody. In 1948 Roschmann was able to flee Germany. He travelled first to Genoa in Italy, and from there to Argentina by ship, on a pass supplied by the International Red Cross. Roschmann was assisted in this effort by Alois Hudal, a strongly pro-Nazi bishop of the Catholic church. Roschmann arrived in Argentina either on 10 February 1948 or 2 October 1948 (2/10/1948 or 10/2/1948, depending on date notation used). He founded a wood import-export firm in Buenos Aires. In 1955 Argentina Roschmann married, although he was not divorced from his first wife. His second wife left him in 1958; the marriage was later declared null and void. In 1968, under the name "Frederico Wagner" (sometimes seen as "Federico") he became a citizen of Argentina.