Hidden trove of suspected Nazi artifacts found in Argentina

[Hammock Parties]

Amazing. The Nazis really did flee to Argentina.



http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ntina-48145123

In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country's history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas and even a macabre medical device used to measure head size.

Some 75 objects were found in a collector's home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II.

"Our first investigations indicate that these are original pieces," Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told The Associated Press on Monday, saying that some pieces were accompanied by old photographs. "This is a way to commercialize them, showing that they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects."

Among the disturbing items were toys that Bullrich said would have been used to indoctrinate children, a large statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika, a Nazi hourglass and a box of harmonicas.

Police say one of the most-compelling pieces of evidence of the historical importance of the find is a photo negative of Hitler holding a magnifying glass similar to those found in the boxes.

"We have turned to historians and they've told us it is the original magnifying glass" that Hitler was using, said Nestor Roncaglia, head of Argentina's federal police. "We are reaching out to international experts to deepen" the investigation.

The photograph was not released to the public, but was shown to The Associated Press on the condition that it not be published.

The investigation that culminated in the discovery of the collection began when authorities found artworks of illicit origin in a gallery in north Buenos Aires.

Agents with the international police force Interpol began following the collector and with a judicial order raided the house on June 8. A large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.

Authorities did not identify the collector who remains free but under investigation by a federal judge.

"There are no precedents for a find like this. Pieces are stolen or are imitations. But this is original and we have to get to the bottom of it," said Roncaglia.

Police are trying to determine how the artifacts entered Argentina.

The main hypothesis among investigators and member of Argentina's Jewish community is that they were brought to Argentina by a high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals, including some of the best known.

As leading members of Hitler's Third Reich were put on trial for war crimes, Josef Mengele fled to Argentina and lived in Buenos Aires for a decade. He moved to Paraguay after Israeli Mossad agents captured Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, who was also living in Buenos Aires. Mengele later died in Brazil in 1979 while swimming in a beach in the town of Bertioga.

While police in Argentina did not name any high-ranking Nazis to whom the objects might have originally belonged, Bullrich noted there were medical devices.

"There are objects to measure heads that was the logic of the Aryan race," she said.

Ariel Cohen Sabban, president of the DAIA, a political umbrella for Argentina's Jewish institutes, called the find "unheard of" in Argentina.

"Finding 75 original pieces is historic and could offer irrefutable proof of the presence of top leaders who escaped from Nazi Germany," Cohen told the AP

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[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

He looked like the stereotypical white biker.

He was also wearing suspenders to keep his shorts from falling. Superior genetics my ass.

Have you seen the movie "Get Out"?

For some reason your post reminded me of that movie.

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

Originally Posted by Kiimosabi

The SS bolts are typically used as a symbol of white supremacy but there is one context in which this is not necessarily always so. Decades ago, some outlaw biker gangs appropriated several Nazi-related symbols, including the SS bolts, essentially as shock symbols or symbols of rebellion or non-conformity. Thus SS bolts in the context of the outlaw biker subculture does not necessarily denote actual adherence to white supremacy. However, because there are a number of racists and full-blown white supremacists within the outlaw biker subculture, sometimes it actually is used as a symbol of white supremacy. Often the intended use and meaning of the SS bolts in this context is quite ambiguous and difficult to determine.

Yeah, I know some former operators that have them tattooed on that aren't skinheads. Some spec forces cultural thing. Virus's dude just sounds like an idiot, though.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

Yeah I dont know if I believe the story of Hitler escaping to south america or something. I feel like if youre Hitler you have too much pride to run with your tail between your legs. You go out in style and commit suicide. right?

He was completely suffering from neurological disorders and heavily drugged. He even had a doctor with him full time to manage his drugs. I doubt at the end that there were many rational decisions being made. I mean they armed their children and gave them guns to fight Allied adults and Russians. That should tell you all you need to know at the end.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Have you seen the movie "Get Out"?

For some reason your post reminded me of that movie.

Yeah, I saw that one in theaters. Awesome movie and probably the best audience reactions I've ever experienced.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by ShiftyEyedWaterboy

Yeah, I know some former operators that have them tattooed on that aren't skinheads. Some spec forces cultural thing. Virus's dude just sounds like an idiot, though.

Yeah, apparently the swastika was some kind of Indian cultural symbol before it was repurposed by the Nazis.

If you're going to adopt some type of coat-of-arms, why not just make your own?

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by JakeF

Destroy it all, don't keep and let it become some kind of display.

Candy ass.

[ShortRoundChief]

Originally Posted by JakeF

Destroy it all, don't keep and let it become some kind of display.

It happened. We study history so that we do not repeat it, so that we can learn from it. To destroy it is just a way of stuffing the uncomfortable things under the rug and pretending that they did not happen.

[Cornstock]

When I was a sophomore in high school the social studies teacher had a WWII vet come and talk to the seniors, and knowing I had an interest in such things he let me sit in. He had an amazing 3 table collection of Nazi artifacts that he had on display. He was part of the forces that came in towards the end od the European theater that basically just had all of the Nazis surrender to them without much of a fight. When they would surrender they would be on their knees in formation amd he would walk through the ranks with a knife and cut off the medals he thought looked cool and mailed them all back home. As part of the liberation force in Denmark, he climbed the flag pole on the national capitol building in Copenhagen and cut down the Nazi flag, which he kept in his jacket for 2 weeks before he was able to mail it home. He had it there too, and it was huge.
The guy put the fear of God into us. At one point, the seniors got a little restless and started talking over him. He got a little upset, and being a draftee, I'll never forget what he told us.

"I don't know what you all are laughing about. At some point in your lifetime there will be a draft, and you had better pray you're too old to go. War is hell."

That shut them up.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by Cornstock

"I don't know what you all are laughing about. At some point in your lifetime there will be a draft, and you had better pray you're too old to go. War is hell."

The green beans broke him

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by Cornstock

"I don't know what you all are laughing about. At some point in your lifetime there will be a draft, and you had better pray you're too old to go. War is hell."

That shut them up.

That makes me think of this exchange from Stripes.

Cruiser: I joined the army 'cause my father and my brother were in the army. I thought I'd better join before I got drafted.

Sergeant Hulka: Son, there ain't no draft no more.

Cruiser: There was one?

[Rain Man]

If not for the meddling of Indiana Jones, Argentina would now possess the Ark of the Covenant.

[MIAdragon]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Speaking of, I went to Siesta Key beach for the weekend. I saw a white guy with the Nazi SS lightning bolts tatted on the back of his neck.

I couldn't get over how dumb that is..

Dude, it was a drunken Vegas weekend, don't judge. Seriously though we go to Siesta all the time love that place.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by MIAdragon

Dude, it was a drunken Vegas weekend, don't judge. Seriously though we go to Siesta all the time love that place.

It's ****ing amazing.

No see ums ate me the hell up though. I'm still itching.

[OmahaChief]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

Bullshit. Use it to teach and learn.

They are just following our lead...you know tearing down confederate monuments and all. If you destroy history it never happened to some people.

[ChiefsHooligan]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

He looked like the stereotypical white biker.

He was also wearing suspenders to keep his shorts from falling. Superior genetics my ass.

What color of "suspenders" Nazi skinheads wear red typically. Sometimes white. Although traditional no racist skinheads wear white as well. Their also called braces.
Typically bolts are a sign someone committed and aft of violence to gain them.