Werner Naumann - Escape To Argentina

Escape To Argentina

He was appointed Propaganda Minister in the Flensburg government of Karl Dönitz by Hitler's Testament of 29 April 1945. On 1 May 1945, he was the leader of break-out group number 3 from the Führerbunker. The group included Martin Bormann, Hans Baur, Ludwig Stumpfegger and Artur Axmann. Erich Kempka testified at Nuremberg that he had last seen Naumann walking a metre in front of Martin Bormann when the latter was hit by a Soviet rocket while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge under heavy fire in Berlin. However, according to Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann, the group followed a Tiger tank which spearheaded the first attempt to storm across the bridge, but it was destroyed. Bormann, Stumpfegger and himself were "knocked over" when the tank was hit. Axmann crawled to a shellhole where he met up again with Naumann, Bormann, Baur and Stumpfegger and they all made it across the bridge. From that group, only Naumann and Axmann escaped the Soviet Army encirclement of Berlin and made it to western Germany. Then Naumann fled to Argentina.

In Argentina, Naumann became one of the editors of the neo-Nazi magazine "Der Weg" published by the Dürer Verlag, which circulated in the German community in June 1947. This attracted the interest of Israeli agents, who identified Naumann and made his presence known, and he decided to return to South Germany. He was in hiding there until 1949, when he started an apprenticeship as a bricklayer which he passed with excellent grades.

Naumann was the highest ranking member of the Nazi hierarchy known to have gone to Argentina immediately postwar. How he entered is not known. The only Argentine author to have noticed him is Jorge Camarasa, who noted Naumann in his book. Naumann's own book Nau Nau gefährdet das Empire was published by Dürer Haus in 1953.