Indigenous people and the Second World War: from racial law to code talkers

Abstract

The article traces a path from the treatment given to indigenous peoples by the USA to the participation of these peoples – notably the Navajo – in World War II. With this, we seek to deconstruct the idea that the racial legislation proposed by the Third Reich, and even its so-called "final solution", were something unprecedented in human history - the USA and its policy towards the indigenous peoples of its territory were its source. of inspiration -, in addition to exposing, from the Navajo case, how even going through the entire process of destruction and captivity in reservations, many of these people ended up collaborating, often decisively, with the allied front during the conflict against the forces Nazis.