Some of the 75 objects found in the collector’s home include a bust of Adolf Hitler, boxes with swastikas and a macabre medical device, the AP reports.
Police in Buenos Aires believe they have uncovered the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in Argentina’s history hidden in a secret room in a house near the capital.
Some of the 75 objects found in the collector’s home include a bust of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses in elegant boxes with swastikas and a macabre medical device used to measure head size, the Associated Press reports .
Authorities believe the relics are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II.
Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told the AP that some pieces were accompanied by old photos.
« This is a way to commercialize them, showing that they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer, » she said. « There are photos of him with the objects. »
According to the AP, other disturbing items include toys used to indoctrinate children, a statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika, a Nazi hourglass and a box of harmonicas.
The investigation that eventually led to this unbelievable find began when authorities found artworks of « illicit origin » in a gallery in Buenos Aires, the AP reports.
Interpol agents followed the collector and raided the house on June 8. They found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi artifacts behind a large bookshelf.
The collector, who has not been identified, is 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, » Roncaglia said, according to the AP.
Police are not sure how the artifacts got into Argentina, but they have a theory — some experts think they were smuggled by a high-ranking Nazi after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals
Ariel Cohen Sabban, president of the DAIA, which is the umbrella organization of Argentina’s Jewish community, 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.
