A Nazi meeting in Buenos Aires, 1938

Just after the close of WWII, a group of Nazi scientists began construction on a top-secret project on a remote island in Argentina.

The goal of “Project Huemul” was to produce limitless nuclear fusion energy – and along with it, enough power and nuclear weapons to rule the world.

Director Rodrigo H. Vila recently unearthed evidence on the project and made a documentary, Project Huemul: The Fourth Reich in Argentina, which recently won best non-European documentary at the European Independent Film Festival. Vila will be coming to Beijing next week to screen the film. the Beijinger asked him a few questions about how history might have turned out very differently.

Why did you want to make a film about Project Huemul?
 
Let us imagine for an instant that Argentina, a remote country in Latin America, might have been able to make one of the most important scientific discoveries in human history. Let us imagine as well that this discovery might have made it possible for this country to have become one of the leading nations in the world, and that this could have paved the way for the Fourth Reich to be established in (Argentina). Project Huemul is a paradigm. It could have changed the map of the cold war. It´s a terrific story, full of intrigue, international espionage and incredible situations.

                         Oslo Airport 1951 - Nazis transport to Buenos Aires

 
How did you research this project? 
I heard about the “Project Huemul” ten years ago. At that moment the island had been recently re -opened after 40 years of closure to public access. I looked through an old fashioned archive without any database computer, searching over thousands of documents. Then I contacted one of the most prestigious physicists in Argentina, who had been President of the Argentine Atomic Commission for several years. He had written the only bibliography in existence on this secret issue and he shared his knowledge with us.

What obstacles did you encounter in the making of this film?
 
The first obstacle was the absence of archives and public documents. Most of the material was destroyed, and there was very few pictures or films about it. We did an enormous amount of research in Argentina, Germany and the United States.
                         Heumul Island has recently been re -opened after 40 years of closure to public access

What was “The 4th reich”? How closely tied was it to the "3rd reich" in Germany?
 
The re–organization of the Germans of the Third Reich in Argentina after their defeat in World War II was not a coincidence. There was a long story of permanent mutual support that shaped this fate. The New Reich was not going to be molded in a similar way to that of Adolf Hitler's, it was going to be different, adapted to the Argentine model and to the new times. But the Fascist ideology and the ideals of the “cause” would be the same.

The historical antagonism between Argentina and the U.S.A. for the hegemony in the American continent and the rise to power of charismatic General Perón, who was great admirer of Benito Mussolini, gave shape to a real possibility for Argentina to challenge the New World Order with the ideological, scientific and technological support left behind by the Third Reich. And the main factor was The Atomic Bomb. Project Huemul was the key to opening Pandora’s box; the Fourth Reich in Argentina.
 
Did the 4th Reich have plans for genocide?

A lot of former Nazis worked in Perón´s government in different areas like intelligence, air force, even one of his personal secretaries. Perón’s idea was to make a South American “block”. He wanted to join other Latin American countries to “the cause” to compete with the US. Also, he firmly believed in a “Third Position” in the cold war, aligned with neither the Soviet Union nor the United States. There weren’t plans for ethnic genocide. He has the intelligence not to include the ethnic issue in the “new cause”.

                               President Peron "firmly believed in a 'Third Position' in the cold war, aligned with neither the Soviet Union nor the United States"

Does the legacy of Project Huemul lie in its politics, or in its science? How does your film deal with the connection between the two?
 
After Project Huemul was closed the Argentine government began the development of the National Atomic Commission. They used equipment and other machines bought by Perón for the Ph. Dr. Ronald Richter, the Austrian physicist in charge of the project. The Atomic Commission is still working with very good scientists. This was a good legacy.

But in the political side, it was different. Millions of dollars were used in a secret project developed only by Perón. In our film we did show very clear the crazy personality of the German-Austrian physicist Ronald Richter and the unconditional, even irrational, support of the president of Argentina. There were events and situations more incredible than a Hollywood feature script.

What was Ronald Richter like? What was his involvement in Nazi Germany?

Dr. Ronald Richter was an incredible and polemic character. He was extroverted, eccentric. Perón admired him since the first interview they had in the President´s office. During the Third Reich, Richter worked in Germany in a laboratory financed by his father, but he destroyed it with his entire work when the Russians took Berlin.

                                  Dr. Ronald Richter, President Peron, and Evita visit the reactor construction site on Huemul Island in 1951

How close did the project come to succeeding? Was its only goal to develop nuclear energy, or was it also trying to develop nuclear weapons?

Even today nobody has achieved (what Dr. Richter was trying to do). His nuclear fusion project would not only have provided Argentina with a new source of unlimited energy, but also the possibility of assembling the H–Bomb. On February 16th, 1951 Dr Richter told President Perón that the experiments in his secret laboratory on Huemul Island have been a success. One year later, the project was cancelled in secret. Until the day of his death, Richter claimed to have made the great discovery, which was sabotaged and subjected to a great boycott.
 
What did this project reveal about Argentina's government in Peron's time compared to today?
 
It´s a very good question, in those days Argentina was a rich country, with enormous Federal Reserves in gold and money. Europe was in ruins and countries like Great Britain, Spain and Italy were debtors of the Argentina. Nowadays the situation is completely different, we are in a serious economic crisis, but despite of this the different Governments are still squandering money without a serious project for the country.

                               "Until the day of his death, Richter claimed to have made the great discovery"

What do you think it says about human nature?
Through this story I discovered the way in which the fate of a country, its success or its failure, are subjected to manifold variables. Our film does not portray good or bad characters. Its protagonists are real people and as such, they are capable of great deeds and low actions.
 
 
What was the most rewarding part of creating this film? 
Discover an incredible part of history very little known. Found forgotten and lost archive, the process was really amazing, like making a puzzle. Interviewed prestigious historians around the world and worked with an incredible team filming the re-enactments exactly alike those days, in the '50´s.


                                         "Our film does not portray good or bad characters. Its protagonists are real people."

Project Huemul: The 4th Reciht in Argentina will be showing at CNEX Saloon Café on April 24 and at The Boat on April 25 at 8pm (Free). Director Rodrigo H. Vila will be present for a post screening Q& A.