Post-WWII History Walking Tour with a Historian Buenos Aires

Juana Azurduy Monument and the Palacio Libertad

The walk begins beside the monument to Juana Azurduy, the heroine of the wars of independence, on the plaza that faces the Palacio Libertad. This colossal Beaux-Arts building was the central post office of Argentina, begun in 1908 and finished in 1928, and since 2015 it has been the largest cultural centre in the country, with concert halls and galleries behind its columns and dome. The benches in front of it are the meeting point.

Here the historian sets the scene: Argentina stayed neutral for most of the war, had strong German, Italian and Jewish communities, and only declared war on Germany in March 1945. Understanding that starting point makes the rest of the route, and the question of whether the country became a refuge for war criminals, far easier to follow. Expect about twenty minutes at this first stop.

Luna Park arena

A short walk along Bouchard street brings you to Luna Park, the Art Deco arena at the corner of Corrientes Avenue that opened in 1932 and still hosts concerts and boxing today. In April 1938 it filled with around 15,000 people celebrating the annexation of Austria by Germany, with banners and uniformed groups inside, while a counter-demonstration gathered outside. The event remains one of the most debated images of pre-war Buenos Aires.

The guide uses the building to explain the size and organisation of the German community in the 1930s, the schools, clubs and newspapers it ran, and how the Argentine state reacted. Entry to Luna Park is not included; the stop takes place outside the curved façade and lasts about twenty minutes, with time for questions about this Buenos Aires history walking tour's central theme.

A historic German restaurant in the Microcentro

On Lavalle street, in the heart of the Microcentro, stands a German restaurant that has served the same wood-panelled dining room since the 1920s. After 1945 it became one of the meeting places of German immigrants, and among its regulars was Adolf Eichmann, who lived in the city under a false name until Israeli agents identified him in 1960 and took him to trial in Jerusalem. The guide stops here to tell that story step by step.

The stop is on the pavement outside, about twenty minutes, and it is one of the most memorable of the route because it turns an abstract debate into a concrete address. The historian explains how the identification happened, how the operation was planned, and what the episode revealed about the networks that helped fugitives reach South America after the war.

National Arms Museum and Plaza San Martín

Walking north you reach Plaza San Martín, the green hilltop square of the Retiro district surrounded by the grandest palaces of the belle époque. In the Palacio Paz, a vast French-style mansion completed in 1914, the National Arms Museum keeps thousands of weapons from the 16th century to the 20th, including arms from both world wars. The tour does not go inside; the historian uses the façade and the square for a twenty-minute stop.

The theme here is the long relationship between the Argentine army and German military tradition, from the Prussian instructors of the late 19th century to the officers who admired Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. It helps explain why some politicians and soldiers were sympathetic to the new arrivals after 1945, which is the key to the debate at the heart of this historical tour of Buenos Aires.

Palacio San Martín

Across the square stands Palacio San Martín, built between 1905 and 1909 as the residence of the Anchorena family and since 1936 the ceremonial seat of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its three wings, mansard roofs, wrought-iron gates and marble halls make it one of the finest examples of French academic architecture in Buenos Aires. Official receptions and treaty signings still take place behind its courtyard.

For this tour the palace represents the diplomacy of the period: Argentina's neutrality, its late declaration of war, the immigration policies of the post-war governments and the documents that allowed thousands of Europeans, including some war criminals, to enter the country. The historian discusses what the archives show and what remains disputed. The stop lasts about twenty minutes, outside the gates.

Circolo Italiano and Plaza Embajada de Israel

The route continues to the Circolo Italiano on Libertad street, the club of the Italian community housed in a belle-époque palace, where the guide explains how fascism found supporters and opponents among the city's enormous Italian population and how that divided world shaped the post-war years. It is a twenty-minute stop outside the building.

The walk ends at Plaza Embajada de Israel, at the corner of Arroyo and Suipacha. The embassy that stood here was destroyed by a bomb attack on 17 March 1992 that killed dozens of people; today the outline of the building is traced on the neighbouring wall and a row of trees stands for the victims. The historian closes the tour here, linking the attacks of the 1990s with the earlier history of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires.