Abstract
After defeat in World War I Germans emphasized the significance of Latin America for the recuperation of the Reich. These expectations were fueled by the survival of investments, commercial ties, and by a wave of emigrants to that last free continent. This article asks how German policy towards Latin America worked under the new conditions and which groups influenced it. What were the aims of this policy, and what did it accomplish? The article shows that the official level of foreign policy was relatively insignificant while the influence of nongovernmental organizations or transnational actors increased steadily. In general, German foreign policy towards Latin America had two intentions: it wanted to preserve the cultural ties to the 'Auslandsdeutsche' and to reconstruct capital interests and trade. Both schemes could only be accomplished in part. In all sectors, German interests had to accept United States leadership in the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, conditions in Latin America changed markedly. Hence, the close relations of the 'Auslandsdeutsche' to Latin American governments and functional elites gained in importance. Transnational relations were a flexible and polychrome fabric that withstood the disruptions of war and Depression.
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