Quick Facts
LibraBiography
Uki Goñi (born 1953) is an Argentine author who is principally known for his work documenting the escape of Nazi war criminals from Europe.
Goñi's research studies the role of the Vatican, Swiss authorities and the government of Argentina in organizing 'ratline', escape routes for fugitive criminals and collaborators.
History
Goñi was born in Washington, D.C., United States in 1953 and was raised in the US, Argentina, Mexico, and Ireland. Since 1975 he has lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Investigations
Drawing on investigations in Argentine, Swiss, American, British, and Belgian government archives, as well as numerous interviews and other sources, Goñi's conclusions are detailed extensively in his book The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina (Granta Books, 2002, ISBN 1-86207-581-6), published originally in London in 2002 and since then translated into Spanish, Italian, Slovenian, Portuguese and German.
Goñi is also well known for his reporting on the crimes of Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship while he worked at The Buenos Aires Herald newspaper during those years, and as a witness in two of the trials against former officers of the dictatorship.
Repercussions
The book has had wide repercussions in those countries through which Nazi criminals and their collaborators passed in their escape, especially in Italy, the Netherlands and Argentina.
Following publication of the book in Italy, a group of parliamentarians in Rome demanded that Prime Minister Berlusconi open an investigation into the passage of Nazis through their country.
In Milan, SS criminal Erich Priebke, sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the Ardeatine Caves Massacre of 1944, sought a court injunction against the Italian translation of Goñi's book, demanding 50,000 euros in damages. He was turned down on both counts, although he had already won a series of judicial cases against media stories about him.
In Genoa, archbishop Tarcisio Bertone distributed 50,000 copies of a "Special Edition" of "Settimanale Cattolico" ("Catholic Weekly") announcing the creation of a special commission of inquiry to investigate Goñi's revelations regarding the role of the Genoese curia in aiding the flight of Nazi war criminals through the port city.
In the Netherlands, KLM opened an internal investigation following the book's unearthing of documents regarding the use of the airline by Nazi officers after the war.
In Argentina, President Néstor Kirchner ordered the repeal of a secret directive of 1938 prohibiting Argentine diplomats from granting visas to Jews fleeing from the Holocaust in Europe. This was the first official admission by the Argentine government of the anti-Semitism that marked the country's immigration policies during and after World War II. Goñi's book also caused previously secret files relating to the entry of Croatian and other war criminals to Argentina to be released.
Other works
Goñi writes for The New York Times, The Guardian, and TIME. He has also written for various publications in Argentina.
He is also the author of two previous books in Spanish, El infiltrado, la verdadera historia de Alfredo Astiz (Sudamericana, Buenos Aires 1996), regarding crimes committed by Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship, and Perón y los alemanes (Sudamericana, Buenos Aires 1998), on wartime links between Berlin and Buenos Aires.
Music
Uki Goñi is also a musician. He formed his first band (Space Age Serenity) while growing up in Dublin, Ireland. In Argentina he has played and recorded with major artists such as folk musician Peteco Carabajal, the rock band Mancha de Rolando, blues guitarist Claudio Gabis, pop singer Adrián Dárgelos as well as with his own long-time band Los Helicópteros.
Books
The Real Odessa
- The Real Odessa, Granta Books, London-New York, 2002
- La auténtica Odessa, Paidós, Barcelona-Buenos Aires, 2002
- Operazione Odessa, Garzanti Libri, Milano, 2003
- A verdadeira Odessa, Editorial Record, Rio de Janeiro, 2004
- Odessa: Die Wahre Geschichte, Assoziation-A, Hamburg & Berlin, 2006
- Resnicna Odessa, Ciceron, Eslovenia, 2006
- La auténtica Odessa: Edición 2008, Area Paidós, Buenos Aires, 2008
Other
- El Infiltrado. La verdadera historia de Alfredo Astiz, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1996
- Perón y los Alemanes, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1998