This is an article in Life Magazine from 1940 about the Nazi and communist influence in Mexico and their collaborators. One of the most important Nazi collaborators was Jose Vasconcelos, an important Mexican, educator, writer, philosopher and cultural figure. Vasconcelos was the father of the “La Raza” racial theory, which became a basic concept for the Chicano political movement in the United States. The original article is:
A Nazi Fifth Column and Communist Allies are Active in Mexico, Life magazine, June 10, 1940
Rafael Barajas, under the pen name of El Fisgon, wrote a book about the Nazi roots of PAN, the right-wing political party in Mexico. In this video, Barajas talks about the pro-Nazism of Jose Vasconcelos, who was an agent of the Nazis and the leading propagandist for the Nazis in Mexico, as well as all of Latin America. Vasconcelos developed the “La Raza” supremacist concept in the 1920’s and published his book about it “La Raza Cosmica” in 1925. The Nazi-like, mestizo racial theories and Anti-Americanism of Vasconcelos had a major influence on the development of the militant, Chicano political movement in the US of the 1960’s.
After WWII, the Nazis and the extreme right were discredited among most people. For that reason the fascist-like, extreme right-wing, Mexican-American followers of these mestizo racial supremacist theories allied themselves with the far left, revolutionary Marxists, communists and leftist anarchists.
This is a Chicano graffiti with swastikas in the place where Chicano Park is now in San Diego. This Chicano Nazi graffiti was made about a year before the takeover of what is now Chicano Park. There are still a number of swastikas scattered around Chicano Park, a reminder of the pro-Nazisn of radial Chicanos as well as Mexican nationalists just before and during WWII.
Jose Vasconcelos developed a cultural and racial supremacy doctrine for the hispanic mixed race (mestizos), documented in his book “La Raza Cosmica”. This supremacy doctrine has been appropriated by the Chicano political movement in the United States.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a notorious, anti semitic conspiracy pamphlet, which was used by the Nazis to justify their pogroms against Jews. Vasconcelos defends the pamphlet and concludes that the Jews deserved what they were getting.
This article has been translated and posted not to promote hate, but to show the darker side of Jose Vasconcelos, who was a very influential philosopher, politician and educator in Mexico.
In 1940, Vasconcelos was editor of a pro-Nazi magazine, entitled Timon. Itzhak Bar-Lewaw wrote about this magazine in his book, “La Revista Timon y Jose Vasconcelos”, which was written in Spanish, has been out of print for many years and is not readily available to the public. This translation to English is being posted in order to make some of his pro-Nazi sentiments more accessible.
Below is an English translation of the article entitled, “Ese olvidado nazi mexicano de nombre Jose Vasconcelos” by Hector Orestes Aguilar. Jose Vasconcelos was a very prominent Mexican writer, philosopher and politician Mexico. He produced the “La Raza” racialist concept for the mixed-race Hispanic peoples, on which the La Raza and Chicano political movements in the United States are based, formalized in his book, La Raza Cosmica (1925).
In La Raza Cosmica Vasconcelos developed a racial/ethnic supremacy concept, similar to Nazi racial theory but designed for the mestizo (mixed) race. Many Mexicans knew about his Nazi collaboration at the beginning of WWII, but the embarrassing information was being suppressed by Mexican literary and media elites to outsiders.
However, an American Jewish scholar of Latin America, Itzhak Bar-Lewaw, discovered that Vasconcelos was a Nazi agent and top propagandist, publisher of the pro-Nazi magazine, Timon (the Rudder). Bar-Lewaw publicized the information, starting in the early 1970’s in books and articles. Unfortunately, it is only available in Spanish, which relatively few Americans would find and read. This translation of the article by Orestes makes the information more accessible to the American public. Please leave a comment if you cannot access the translation for any reason and I will fix the problem.
Jose Vasconcelos, father of “La Raza” Hispanic racialismJose Vasconcelos was a prominent Mexican writer, philosopher and politician, known throughout Latin America. He produced the “La Raza” racialist concept for mixed-race, Hispanic peoples, on which the Chicano political movement was based.
His ethno-racialist theory is formalized in his book, “La Raza Cosmica,” published in 1925, still available on Amazon and other book dealers. In “La Raza Cosmica” Vasconcelos develops a racial/ethnic supremacy concept for Hispanics, similar to the Nazi racial theory, but designed for the mestizo (mixed) race, published in the same year as Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”, a time when racial supremacy theories were very popular. Vasconcelos apparently thought especially Mexicans and Hispanics, in general, needed their own (mestizo) racial theory.
Many Mexicans knew about his Nazi collaboration at the beginning of WWII, but the information was being ignored, if not actively suppressed after the war. However, an American, Jewish scholar of Latin American Literature, Itzhak Bar-Lewaw, discovered Vasconcelos’ Nazi connections as publisher of the pro-Nazi propaganda magazine, Timon (the Rudder). Bar-Lewaw re-publicized the information, starting in the early 1970’s, but he did it mainly in the Spanish language. It seems Spanish speakers have generally ignored the information and not many English speakers would read it.
Below is an English translation of a 6-page article, linked below, that Bar-Lewaw wrote in Spanish about it.
Bar-Lewaw is too kind to Vasconcelos in places. He was a literary fan of Vasconcelos until he found out about the Nazi collaboration. Vasconcelos was extremely anti-American, anti-Anglo and anti-Semitic long before WWII, blaming Anglo society for preventing Mexico from becoming a great nation. He demonized Anglos and America.
