Uki Goñi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Uki Goñi | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1953 Washington DC, United States |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Argentine |
Writer Uki Goñi is known principally 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 organising 'ratline' escape routes for fugitive criminals and collaborators.
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 1862075816), published originally in London in 2002 and since then translated into Spanish, Italian, Slovenian, Portuguese and German.
The book has had wide repercussion in those countries through which Nazi criminals and their collaborators passed in their escape, especially in Italy, Holland and Argentina.
Following publication of the book in Italy ("Operazione Odessa" ISBN 88-11-69405-1) , a group of parliamentarians In Rome demanded Prime Minister Berlusconi to open an investigation into the passage of Nazis through that country.
In Milan, SS criminal Erich Priebke, sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the Ardeatine Caves massacre of 1944 in which 335 Italian civilians were slaughtered by SS troops, sought a court injuction against the Italian translation demanding 50,000 euros in damages. He was turned down on both counts, a first in Italy where Priebke had won a series of judicial rounds against media stories about him.
In Genoa, archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, distributed 50,000 copies of a "Special Edition" of "Settimanale Catolico" ("Catholic Weekly") announcing the creation of a special commission of inquiry to investigate its revelations regarding the role of the Genoese curia in aiding the flight of Nazi war criminals through the port city.
In Holland, 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 Nestor 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 offciial admission by the Argentine government of the anti-Semitism that marked the country's immigration policies during and after World War II. Because of Goñi's book also, previously secret files relating to the entry of Croatian and other war criminals to Argentina were released.
Goñi has written for a number of British and American media, including Time magazine, The Guardian, and The Observer, as well as for various publications in Argentina.
He is the author also 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.
Goñi was born in Washington, D.C. in 1953 and was raised in the United States, Argentina, Mexico, and Ireland. Since 1975, he has lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
