Research & Studies

Fascist female intelligence networks during and after World War II in Europe and Latin America

Izabella Agárdi, iASK researcher was a co-author of a brand new scientific article which was released in the Brazilien journal Estudos Históricos. Her partner in writing was Andrea Pető.

Abstract

This study examines the largely overlooked operations of fascist female intelligence networks during and after the Second World War, tracing their activities across Europe and Latin America. Drawing on previously undiscovered archival collections in Hungary, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Chile and Canada, this study reconstructs the careers of four women whose trajectories illuminate the gendered dimensions of transnational fascism. At the centre stands the most successful Hungarian female spy of the period, who established an extensive women-led espionage ring on behalf of German military intelligence operating in the United States, Hungary, Sweden, Portugal and France. Beyond 1945, this analysis uncovers the surprising persistence and adaptation of fascist intelligence infrastructures, including remnants of organizations such as the German Bund, which reconstituted themselves in Italy, the United States and Chile. Moving beyond national frameworks, this study offers a new perspective to transnational fascism studies by showing how female operatives, clandestine mobility and postwar ideological continuities shaped the long afterlife of fascist espionage networks.

Keywords: Transatlantic migration, Ethnic Germans in Latin America, Network of war criminals in Latin America, Chile

The full texted article is available HERE.