Chapter 28: Michael Kast

120      was born in 1924 in Thalkirchdorf See Michael Kast’s Nazi Party membership card, dated September 1, 1942, in Frank Jordans and Joshua Goodman, “Father’s Nazi Past Haunts Chilean Presidential Frontrunner,” Associated Press (AP) News, December 8, 2021, apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

120      dismissed claims his father was a Nazi During an appearance on TVN’s Llegó tu hora in June 2018, journalist Ignacio Franzani asked Kast, “Is it true that the patriarch of your family was a Nazi officer who arrived in Chile around the 1950s and you come from that family branch?” Kast asked Franzani why he was using the adjective “Nazi” to describe Kast’s father. Franzani replied, “He fought in World War II.” “Are all those who fought in World War II for Germany Nazis?” Kast shot back. “He fought in World War II for Germany, he was a German soldier, but he was not a Nazi. Learn history.” Kast later posted a clip of the exchange on Twitter, writing, “My father was not a Nazi . . . I am proud of my parents and my roots.” Cristian Neira, “‘Learn About History’: The Day Kast Denied on TV that His Father Was a Nazi officer,” El Desconcierto, December 2, 2021, eldesconcierto.cl/2021/12/02/video-aprende-de-historia-el-dia-que-kast-nego-en-tv-que-su-padre-fue-oficial-nazi, via Google Translate; and José Antonio Kast Rist, Twitter, June 24, 2018, 10:10 p.m., x.com/joseantoniokast/status/1011069120740253696, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026, capture, archive.ph/UohAc.

120      father had no choice but to join the Nazi army In 2015, after Chilean publication The Clinic alleged that Michael Kast had arrived in Chile after the war as a “fugitive,” José Antonio Kast published a defense of his father: “I want to clarify that, like millions of Germans, my father had to fulfill his compulsory military service in the German army during World War II, which he joined in 1942 (three years after the war began), at the age of 18, and left in 1945, at the age of 21, with the sole idea of never having to be part of a war again.” José Antonio Kast, “Column: Miguel Kast Schindele, An Exemplary Man,” The Clinic, August 28, 2015, www.theclinic.cl/2015/08/28/columna-miguel-kast-schindele-un-hombre-ejemplar/, via Google Translate.

120      required to serve in the military Nazi Germany banned Jewish men from military service. “Conscription Law Decreed by Hitler,” New York Times, May 22, 1935, www.nytimes.com/1935/05/22/archives/conscription-law-decreed-by-hitler-gives-almost-unlimited-power-to.html. See also “Timeline of the German Military and the Nazi Regime,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, last edited December 16, 2019, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/timeline-of-the-german-military-and-the-nazi-regime; and Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi past haunts Chilean presidential frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

120      not required to join the Nazi Party  German historian   Armin Nolzen, an expert on Nazi Party membership, stated, “We don’t have a single example of anyone who was forced to enter the party.” Armin Nolzen quoted in Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi past haunts Chilean presidential frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

120      five months after turning eighteen . . . Kast joined the Nazi Party Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi past haunts Chilean presidential frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

120      10 percent of Germans . . . members of the Nazi Party  “In all, the party had 7.1 million members [in 1942] — about one-tenth of the population.” Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi Past Haunts Chilean Presidential Frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

120      recommended . . . after he served in the Hitler Youth  Kast “likely was a member of the Hitler Youth for at least four years before joining the party and would have been recommended by the district leader, Nolzen said.” Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi Past Haunts Chilean Presidential Frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

120      intensified at around the age of fourteen The Hitler Youth was the eponymous branch for boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen in the larger Hitler Youth organization. Girls of the same age belonged to the equivalent branch of the Hitler Youth, the League of German Girls. “The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization. It was designed to train boys as future fighters and soldiers for the Nazi cause . . . The League of German Girls was intended to prepare girls to be future wives and mothers.” In addition to the Hitler Youth group and the League of German Girls, the Hitler Youth also included the German Youngsters, for boys between ten and fourteen, and the Young Girls’ League, for girls of the same age. Membership in the Hitler Youth became compulsory in March 1939. “Hitler Youth,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, November 5, 2024, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-youth-2.

120      the same age neo-Nazis in the twenty-first century start . . .  Caitlin Gibson, “‘Do You Have White Teenage Sons? Listen Up’: How White Supremacists Are Recruiting Boys Online,” Washington Post, September 17, 2019, wapo.st/40l33qJ; and Ibram X. Kendi, How to Raise an Antiracist (New York: One World, 2022), 148–151. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1311591831.

120–121 an image of Michael Kast’s Nazi Party ID card  Mauricio Weibel Barahona, Twitter, December 1, 2021, 10:41 a.m., x.com/mauricio_weibel/status/1466070059114119170.

121       “the German-born father of Chilean presidential . . .”  Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi Past Haunts Chilean Presidential Frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

121       the German army in France, and possibly participated in . . . A biography of Michael Kast’s daughter (and José Antonio Kast’s sister), Barbara, which includes content from author interviews with Michael, states that Michael “served for three years in a mountain regiment. In 1942, he was sent to France and the following year to the Russian front, to the Crimea (the battles of Kherson and Cherkasy), and then to Italy in 1944/45.” However, a book written by Michael’s wife, Olga, recounted Michael’s participation in “the invasion of Russia, his escape from Crimea due to the upsurge of the Soviet militia, his rise to corporal in Austria and then to second lieutenant, before leaving for northern Italy, where he was detained by the American army.” Esteban J. Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle: Barbara Kast, 1950–1968, trans. Tímea Horváth (Óbudavár, Hungary: Family Academy-Óbudavár Association, 2014), csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 10, via Google Translate; and Rodrigo Alvarado, “The Hidden History of the Kast Family,” The Clinic, August 28, 2018, www.theclinic.cl/2018/08/28/la-historia-oculta-de-la-familia-kast/, via Google Translate.

121       largest and bloodiest military operation  “The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, December 16, 2022, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-soviet-union-and-the-eastern-front; “Operation Barbarossa and Germany’s Failure in the Soviet Union,” Imperial War Museum, accessed January 17, 2025, www.iwm.org.uk/history/operation-barbarossa-and-germanys-failure-in-the-soviet-union; and Jonathan Dimbleby, Operation Barbarossa: The History of a Cataclysm (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2021), xxxvii. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1198017551.

121       As many as eight million White soldiers . . . “By December 1941, the Red Army had suffered four million casualties, three million of whom were starving in German POW camps.” “[A]bout four million of the five million German soldiers killed in World War II” died during Operation Barbarossa. Robert Citino, “Operation Barbarossa: The Biggest of All Time,” National WWII Museum, June 18, 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-barbarossa.

121       earned a promotion to lieutenant Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf,10.

121       deployed to Italy in 1944 and 1945  Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 10.

121       captured twice by Allied soldiers Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi Past Haunts Chilean Presidential Frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

121       surrendered in northern Italy Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11.

121       the surrender of all German and Italian fascist forces on April 29, 1945  “Instrument of Local Surrender of German and Other Forces Under the Command or Control of the German Commander-In-Chief Southwest; April 29, 1945,” The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, accessed January 17, 2025, avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/gs9.asp.

121       about 250 kilometers from his home Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11.

121       leaped out of a second-floor window during a guard change  Uriburu, God's Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11.

121–122 crossed the snow-covered Alps  Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11.

122      “I covered thirty km per night . . .”  Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11.

122      “I walked across glaciers and snowfields . . .” Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11.

122      met his wife, Olga “On his way home to Oberstaufen in south-east Germany, he stopped by the home of a comrade who had died in the war. There he met Olga Rist Hagspiel.”   Manuel Salazar Salvo, “The Origin of the Kast Clan in Chile,” Interferencia, June 15, 2019, interferencia.cl/articulos/el-origen-del-clan-de-los-kast-en-chile, via Google Translate.

122      arrived home as the war ended in Europe  Michael Kast recalled that he “arrived in two weeks” after his escape from Allied custody, which likely happened at the end of April. Germany formally surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II in Europe, on May 7. Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, 11; and “Surrender of Germany (1945),” Milestone Documents, National Archives, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/surrender-of-germany.

122      wed in 1946  Uriburu God’s Tabernacle, 11, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf.

122      burned the army paperwork . . . a new identity in 1947 Michael’s wife, Olga Rist Hagspiel, wrote in a biography, “A friend convinced him to destroy his army officer’s card and keep a new one as a Red Cross officer. Pressured by the uncertainty and fear of that moment, Michael burned his papers and accepted the new ones.” Alvarado, “The Hidden History of the Kast Family,” www.theclinic.cl/2018/08/28/la-historia-oculta-de-la-familia-kast/,; and Ryan Grim and Maia Hibbett, “Marco Rubio Met with Far-Right Chilean Candidate Tied to Military Dictatorship,” The Intercept, December 1, 2021, accessed via Wayback Machine, December 1, 2021 capture, web.archive.org/web/20211201170903/https://theintercept.com/2021/12/01/marco-rubio-chile-pinochet-jose-antonio-kast/.

122      German officials were skeptical  Grim and Hibbett, “Marco Rubio Met with Far-Right Chilean Candidate Tied to Military Dictatorship,” web.archive.org/web/20211201170903/https://theintercept.com/2021/12/01/marco-rubio-chile-pinochet-jose-antonio-kast/.

122      found his official file  Grim and Hibbett, “Marco Rubio Met with Far-Right Chilean Candidate Tied to Military Dictatorship,” web.archive.org/web/20211201170903/https://theintercept.com/2021/12/01/marco-rubio-chile-pinochet-jose-antonio-kast/.

122      burned his file  Grim and Hibbett, “Marco Rubio Met with Far-Right Chilean Candidate Tied to Military Dictatorship,” web.archive.org/web/20211201170903/https://theintercept.com/2021/12/01/marco-rubio-chile-pinochet-jose-antonio-kast/.

122      first to Argentina  Salvo, “The Origin of the Kast Clan in Chile,” interferencia.cl/articulos/el-origen-del-clan-de-los-kast-en-chile.

122      settling in 1950 in Linderos, Chile  Barbara Kast’s biographer writes, “With the help of some German friends, he bought a small piece of land in Linderos and a small house with 300 peach trees. He then informed his wife.” Uriburu, God's Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 14.

122      His wife and two children, Miguel and Barbara, joined  Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 12, 14, 15; and Jordans and Goodman, “Father’s Nazi Past Haunts Chilean Presidential Frontrunner,” apnews.com/article/europe-media-caribbean-social-media-chile-44564195379055c3ca0bcb04e7589216.

122      lucrative sausage business and restaurant chain  “Kast Vindicates Pinochet and Wants to Restore Order to Chile,” France 24, November 18, 2021, www.france24.com/es/minuto-a-minuto/20211118-kast-reinvindica-a-pinochet-y-quiere-devolver-el-orden-a-chile, via Google Translate; and Felipe Reyes, “Kast Family Declares US$86 Million Abroad After Restructuring Its Businesses,” Radio Bío-Bío, September 8, 2022, www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/economia/negocios-y-empresas/2022/09/08/familia-kast-declara-us86-millones-en-el-extranjero-tras-reestructuracion-de-sus-negocios.shtml, via Google Translate.

122      champion one of Latin America’s most murderous dictators John Bartlett, “Chilean Election Offers Stark Choice: A Leftist or an Admirer of Pinochet,” The Guardian, December 19, 2011, www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/19/gabriel-boric-jose-antonio-kast-chilean-election.

122      had eight more children with Olga Salvo, “The Origin of the Kast Clan in Chile,” interferencia.cl/articulos/el-origen-del-clan-de-los-kast-en-chile.

122      Their youngest child, José Antonio  Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle, csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 15.