“Hitler and the highway, a historical lie”, the report that Aníbal Torres should have read before his reprehensible speech

The mention of the genocidal Adolf Hitler in the speech of the Peruvian Prime Minister, Aníbal Torres, during the decentralized council session in Huancayo has led to rejection of the Peruvians, of the international community, but above all of the German and Israel, who expressed that the dictator “is not a suitable reference as an example of any kind” and that he “was responsible for the death of six million Jews. To praise him is an offense to the victims”

“I give you an example: Italy and Germany were just like us. But once, Adolf Hitler visits northern Italy and [Benito] Mussolini shows him a motorway built from Milan to Brescia. Hitler saw that, went to his country and filled it with highways and airports and made Germany the first economic power in the world,” Torres said during Thursday's decentralized council of ministers in the city of Huancayo, which Castillo later joined.

Immediately, on social networks, the mention of the DW report “Hitler and the highway, a historical lie” became a trend, which denies what was said by Aníbal Torres.

“Although the National Socialist regime wanted in 1934 to build '1,000 kilometers of highways annually' to generate '600,000 jobs', the reality was different and there were only 120,000 workers who built those roads at the tip of the pick and shovel. Disease and hunger accompanied them; the strikes they did were their passage to the concentration camp,” the DW explains in detail.

The report also notes that “what really helped reduce unemployment” was that, “in the course of the Nazi regime, more and more workers are entering the buoyant arms industry.”

Regarding the motorways, it is clarified here that “during the war, prisoners and Jews forced into forced labor were responsible for the construction of the roads” and that by 1941 “there are only 3,800 kilometers completed”.

The historian José Ragas lamented and described it as nonsense that two fascist leaders are used “there are so many historical examples of construction and infrastructure. Examples in Peru: the Capac Ñan (Tahuantisuyo road network), the railway network, the Marginal de la Selva, the Pan-American Highway, the telegraph network, etc.”

“The Peruvian rail network in the years prior to the Pacific War. With all its limitations, it articulated railways, iron roads, for pack animals and routes for walkers. The idea of “Hitler builder” is the result of Nazi Party propaganda: roads would bring work and connectivity, but they provided only 20% of projected jobs and barely half of the roads that were intended to be built could be completed,” he said.

The Deutsche Welle report by Dick, W., Lichtenberg, A. and Mirra Banchón mentions that Adolf Hitler devised this propaganda of the “Reich Highway” with the aim of “reaching the consciousness of the and for this, the inauguration of each section was always an event to be celebrated.”

“In 1943, since car traffic is so limited, motorways opened up to bicycle traffic,” he says.

He adds that “however, the propaganda apparatus continued to feed the lie. And it succeeded. In the films and photos he disseminated, large contingents of workers were shown working on highways where the works had long been stopped. These images marked the memory of an entire generation. The Nazis had succeeded in imposing their myth.”

In this regard, art historian Alejandra Bernedo argued on her social networks that “mentioning Hitler as a reference point because it is a “historical fact” that Germany grows economically under its authority implies denying that racism and fascism were its guides to “improve” her country. How do they call themselves anti-Fujimorists if they praise Hitler? Nefarious about Aníbal Torres.”

Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman of Peru strongly rejected the statements of Aníbal Torres. “These expressions reflect deep ignorance of history and show contempt for the millions of victims that Nazism gave rise to. Hitler's atrocities forced humanity to understand the universality of the #DerechosHumanos and the obligation of the State to respect and protect them.”

“In our view, an official who does not know the historical origin of the #DerechosHumanos and shows contempt for them cannot remain in office. #LasPersonasPrimero”, said the institution.

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