The Cambridge Dictionary defines the verb “to reconcile” as “to find a way in which two situations or beliefs that are opposed to each other can agree and exist together.”[1] For decades, the fact that Paraguay was a country that welcomed both victims and perpetrators has been publicly known. However, even though there was and there is acknowledgement of this situation, there has been no attempt to reconcile these two contradictory stances. We might ask ourselves then, can we actually reconcile an immigration policy that aided the people who caused and executed the Holocaust, as well as the people who were targeted by that same genocide?

In the process of reconciliation, there are factors to be considered for both sides. In the case of Jewish immigrants, welcoming them into the country in the 1930s was a matter of strategic planning to rebuild the country. During and after the war, it turned into helping them escape Nazism and into reuniting them with their families who had successfully emigrated in the past. However, throughout all these processes, there were many obstacles to overcome, mainly economic challenges, that did not always allow the process of emigrating to go very smoothly. Thus, what facilitated and promoted Jewish migrations to Paraguay was the country´s own economic and demographic agenda, the international conflict that specifically targeted Jews, the existence of diplomats in Europe who were willing to risk their own safety to help, and ultimately, the desire to reconnect with family.

The other side of the coin tells a different story. In the case of Nazi officials who ran away to Paraguay, there were also a few factors that enabled this migration. First and foremost, the defeat of Nazism urged prominent Nazi officials who were responsible for countless of lives lost to run away to safer places. With well-known fascist and Nazi organizations, as well as tendencies, South America became one of these safe havens where Nazi criminals could hide from the trials that took place in Europe after the war. In close connection to the international context, the domestic spheres of these countries also enabled this specific type of migration. Regionally, in the second half of the 20^th century, Latin American countries found themselves in a web of authoritarian regimes with ruthless dictators. In the Paraguayan case, Stroessner and his dictatorship were one of the determining factors in the welcoming of Nazi officials. His close relationship to the former Nazi pilot Hans Rudel, and his own affinities towards Nazi Germany, made him a key ally to the Nazi criminals who found in Paraguay a safe haven. Ultimately, an important element to consider and that allowed this Nazi migration to Paraguay is fear. Not only fear of the Nazis themselves, but also fear of the dictator´s despicable methods with whomever challenged him. Therefore, the factor that enabled both antagonistic groups to live in Paraguay at the same time was fear. However, this does not mean that the Jewish Paraguayan community stayed silent. As mentioned before, Sonia Tauber bravely called out Mengele´s name, and Emilio Wolff publicly identified Rochsmann as the man who died in the public hospital, later suffering the consequences for doing so.

Thus, in Paraguay, victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust were coexisting in the same space. Nevertheless, the act of reconciliation takes more than just recognizing that both groups were existing in the same geographic place. For Paraguay, reconciling the fact that it became a safe haven for both Nazis and Jews requires an acknowledgment of the factors that enabled these processes. It requires us to identify the uncomfortable elements that people want to forget, such as the voided visas of the passengers of the SS Conte Grande and the prevalent fear during the dictatorship. In other words, reconciliation as acknowledging the missteps, as well as the good achievements and deeds in Paraguayan immigration policy. At the same time, while acknowledging constitutes a process of looking at the past, to fully reconcile this dichotomy of being a safe haven for both victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust, there must be a process that involves memory and awareness. As such, the Jewish Paraguayan community has kept the memory of their ancestors alive. Through the Jewish Museum of Paraguay Dr. Walter Kochmann, the Jewish Paraguayan community works to maintain the memory of Jewish immigration and the Holocaust alive, while at the same time educating through testimonies and panels about the risks of forgetting what is considered to be one of the worst atrocities in history.

All those actors who have been actively working to keep memory alive, such as survivor´s relatives, authors, activists, and museum educators, are in the process of reconciling this dichotomy in their roles as social actors. Ultimately, only by acknowledging the past, with all the factors that influenced how the decisions were made, while also looking at the future and keeping memory alive, will we be able to reconcile Paraguay´s position as a safe haven for victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust.