The main conservative newspaper in Chile has been accused of celebrating the life of Nazi high brass Hermann Göring.
El Mercurio published Sunday’s full-page illustrated article that detailed the life of the German war criminal.
The page, which was found in the society section of the paper, marked the 75th anniversary of Göring’s death.
The article was quickly criticized by Chile’s Jewish community, who called it an “apology for Nazism”.
El Mercurio published a Sunday illustrated article that covered the life of the German war criminal. Pictured: El Mercurio newspaper building, Valparaiso (Chile), in 2019.
The German Embassy in Chile also took to Twitter to respond to the article.
The embassy stated in two tweets that it is not normal for the Embassy comment publicly on newspaper articles. We want to be clear: H. Goering committed crimes against humanity, and was one the pillars for the Nazi regime.
“That leaves no room to justify or minimize morally or politically – and even less in legal terms- its nefarious roles during the Nazi regime, and in the Holocaust.
After receiving a letter describing the piece as a ‘direct affront’ to Holocaust victims, El Mercurio yesterday said it ‘deeply regretted’ that the article on Göring had been interpreted in that way.
The page, which was found in the society section of the paper, marked the 75th anniversary of the death of Göring (pictured)
The Chilean German Embassy replied to the article with a tweet that said there was no room to justify morally and politically, and even less legal terms, its role in the Holocaust and during the Nazi regime.
Speaking to the Guardian, Mónica Maureira, a professor at Diego Portales University’s journalism faculty in Santiago, said: ‘El Mercurio has a long history of representing the interests of a select, conservative sector of Chilean society and has pushed their narrative in Chile for generations.’
Hermann Göring was one of the most influential members of the Nazi party, having established the Gestapo secret police, as well as being named as the most senior officer in the German army following the fall of Paris in 1940.
Hitler expelled him from his party towards the end the Second World War. Hitler had asked him to assume overall leadership of Germany because he believed the Red Army was close to securing Berlin.
Hitler saw the request to him as an act of treachery and had him arrested before he was later tried at Nuremberg Trials.
He was convicted and sentenced to death. However, he took a cyanide capsule before he was executed.