Argentina seizes trove of Nazi memorabilia as part of international arms investigation

Police in Argentina have seized a trove of Nazi weapons and memorabilia, including dozens of guns, uniforms and busts of Hitler, in their latest discovery of Nazi relics in a country that gave refuge to Nazi leaders.

The federal police’s anti-mafia division uncovered the items during a raid Friday in Quilmes, a city near Buenos Aires. They seized over 60 firearms from a home, including 43 rifles with Nazi eagle markings, pistols, bayonets and machine guns, and arrested a man. The name of the detained was not disclosed and an investigation is ongoing.

According to the ministry of security the investigation was made together with the police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as part of an investigation into international weapons trafficking. Argentina’s national security minister, Patricia Bullrich, said the country had seized “weapons and parts from a dark and tragic era of humanity.”

Argentina has had an anti-discrimination law on the books since 1988 that criminalizes trafficking in such objects. Professionals from the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires participated in the raid and confirmed that the objects violated the law, according to local reports.

Argentina was a refuge for Nazis after World War II. Adolf Eichmann was captured in the northern area of Buenos Aires in 1960. Nazi war criminals Joseph Mengele and Erich Priebke also made their way to Argentina.

In October 2018 Argentina’s Jewish political umbrella organization revealed excerpts from tens of thousands of documents about World War II that shed light on the Nazi influence on the country and the Nazi war criminals who hid here.

Meanwhile, Nazi relics — and items forged by their admirers — have continued to circulate. In June 2016, a collector from Argentina paid $680,000 for Nazi underpants and other memorabilia. The following year, investigators announced the seizure of 75 items, including those seemingly used in medical experiments; most were later revealed to be forgeries. Last year, police raided and closed a publisher that was distributing Nazi literature.