The Often Omitted Fact of Nazis Who Fled to the Middle East - Alois Brunner, Architect of Jewish Deportations and Adviser to the Syrian Regime🧵
One thing that’s often shockingly omitted when learning about the history of World War II is that many high-ranking Nazis fled to the Middle East.
We’ve all been taught that many escaped to South America, Adolf Eichmann being a prime example of a prominent Nazi figure who was eventually captured by Mossad and put on trial for his crimes. However, for some reason, we rarely hear about those who fled to the Middle East, where they were able to exert significant influence over local governments and even continue their ideological campaign against the Jewish people.
Here's the story of just one of many🧵:
1. Alois Brunner was born in Austria in 1912 and joined the Nazi Party at the age of sixteen. He eventually became a central figure in the Holocaust, directing the deportation of tens of thousands of Jews. His operations led to the removal of approximately 47,000 from Austria, 43,000 from Greece, 24,000 from France, and thousands more from Slovakia.
He worked under Adolf Eichmann, the man behind the logistical planning of the Holocaust. Eichmann described Brunner as his "best man," a grim reflection of Brunner’s ruthless effectiveness in executing mass deportations across Europe, fully aware that they would lead to the deaths of many.
Brunner (left) Eichmann (right)
2. After World War II, Brunner managed to evade capture, hiding in Germany until 1954. He used multiple fake identities and eventually obtained a false Red Cross passport, a type of travel document often issued to displaced persons but sometimes acquired fraudulently by war criminals.
These passports were intended to help refugees, but due to poor oversight, many Nazis used them to escape justice. This was part of what is often referred to as the "ratlines," networks that helped Nazis flee to sympathetic or strategically useful countries such as Argentina, Egypt, and Syria.
An example of a Red Cross passport that was used by Nazis and other criminals to escape Germany:
3. After fleeing to Egypt and eventually settling in Syria under the name Dr. Georg Fischer, Alois Brunner was taken in by the Ba’athist regime and went on to serve as a government advisor. His role in Syria went beyond simply hiding in plain sight.
He is believed to have played a part in shaping the country’s intelligence and security services, passing along harsh interrogation and surveillance methods he had learned during his time with the Gestapo and SS. In Damascus, he trained Hafez al-Assad’s secret police, helping to strengthen the government’s control through fear and repression.
His influence also fed into Syria’s aggressive stance against Israel and contributed to the spread of anti-Jewish propaganda. The shared goals between Brunner and the regime reflected the ideology he had once enforced under Eichmann, now redirected toward the political tensions of the Middle East.
4. Brunner’s Nazi past was no secret in Syria. He lived relatively openly in Damascus, reportedly meeting with other former Nazis and foreign visitors. Despite international awareness of his presence, he remained untouched for decades.
Most notably, Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor and renowned Nazi hunter, dedicated years to tracking Brunner. Wiesenthal, who played a key role in locating Adolf Eichmann, repeatedly called for Brunner’s extradition and brought global attention to his whereabouts. Yet Syria refused to cooperate, even rejecting an official East German extradition request in 1989.
Renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, seen holding a picture of Brunner:
5. Alois Brunner is believed to have died sometime between 2001 and 2010, though the exact date remains uncertain due to the secrecy surrounding his life in Syria. French intelligence concluded he likely died in Damascus around 2001, while other sources, including a former Syrian security official, suggested he may have lived until roughly 2010. His death was never officially confirmed, and no body was recovered.
In 2014, the Simon Wiesenthal Center declared that Brunner had likely died years earlier, acknowledging that the opportunity to bring him to justice had passed.
6. Brunner is infamously known for a chilling statement he reportedly made later in life when asked if he had any regrets. He said:
"All of them (Jews) deserved to die. I have no regrets and would do it again."
While Brunner escaped punishment and lived out his later years in hiding, he saw Israel survive and win every war fought against it. The very state he worked to destroy not only endured but grew stronger. It’s a bitter irony that, despite all his efforts to spread hatred and fear, the world moved in a direction he never expected.
An article where Alois Brunner is pictured later in his life:
7. To find out more about the intricate details of Nazi influence in the Middle East, I highly recommend some of the posts and threads put together by the brilliant @CherylWroteIt. A wordsmith like no other, it’s thanks to her work that I felt inspired to learn more and to write about these subjects myself.
This post discusses many Nazis fleeing to the Middle East and also mentions Alois Brunner:
x.com/CherylWroteIt/…
A 🧵 about the Nazi Islamist alliance, both then and now:
x.com/CherylWroteIt/…
And another thought provoking post:
@CherylWroteIt I truly appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my threads. They take a lot of research and effort to put together. If you’d like to support, you can do so through the link below. Every bit of support means a lot, and I’m very grateful. Thank you!
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