Uki Goñi
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Uki Goñi is an Argentine journalist, author and historian known for his work exposing the role of Argentine, Swiss and Vatican authorities in the escape of Nazi war criminals. His research places particular emphasis on the part played by the government of Argentine President Juan Perón in organising 'ratline' escape routes for ex-Nazi war criminals after Germany's defeat in World War II.
Goñi's research, drawing on investigation in Argentine, Swiss, American, British and Belgian government archives, as well as numerous interviews and other sources, has been published in his book The Real Odessa: Smuggling the Nazis to Perón's Argentina. (Granta Books, 2002. ISBN 1862075816).
In 2005, responding to revelations in Goñi's book, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner ordered the repeal of a secret directive issued in 1938 prohibiting Argentine diplomats from granting visas to Jews fleeing from the Holocaust in Europe. This marked the first admission by the Argentine government of the anti-Semitism that marked the country's immigration policies during and after the Second World War. Goñi's book resulted also in the release of hitherto secret files relating to the entry of Croatian and other war criminals to Argentina.
In Genoa, the release of the Italian translation of the book ("Operazione Odessa" ISBN 88-11-69405-1) led the archbishop of that city, Tarcisio Bertone, to name a commission of inquiry to investigate its revelations regarding the role of the Genoese curia in the flight of Nazi war criminals through the port of Genoa on their way to Argentina.
Goñi has written for a number of British and American media, including The New York Times, The Miami Herald, Time magazine, The Guardian and The Observer, as well as for various media in Argentina.
He was born in Washington DC in 1953, growing up in the United States, Argentina, Mexico and Ireland. Since 1975 he lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
