The wooden frame containing Nazi German documents has been rediscovered underground in the Argentina Supreme Court.
An unusual discovery was made because workers had cleared the building’s basement before moving to the newly created museum.
The documents were sent by the German Embassy in Tokyo and arrived in Argentina on June 20, 1941, on a Japanese steamship, inside 83 diplomatic porches, according to information collected by court officials.
They ended up at the Supreme Court the same year, when they were confiscated by an Argentine customs official who randomly opened five pouches and found Nazi propaganda material.
They were rediscovered last week by intrigued workers by many wooden champagne boxes that stumbled while moving archived materials from the Supreme Court basement.
“Opening one of the boxes identified a material intended to integrate and propagate Argentine Adolf Hitler ideology. [World War Two]”The court said about the discovery.
The wooden frame was quickly moved to the building’s safe office, and court officials warned the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum of its presence and sought help in creating an inventory of all the contents.
The court-issued photos show experts sifting through black and white photographs with swastika on their covers and booklets of membership.
Historians hope that the document will provide clues to the Nazi financial network and its international relationships.
In a statement, the Argentina Supreme Court revealed information so far that could be compiled.
Documents arrived in Argentina on a Nan Ammar steamship from Tokyo in June 1941 stated that it had been declared “personal property” by the German embassy in Buenos Aires at the time.
However, Argentine custom staff were suspicious because of the size of the cargo, and feared that it would contain material that could potentially endanger Argentine’s neutral stance in World War II at the time.
Five pouches were randomly opened and found to contain postcards, photographs and Nazi propaganda material.
The German embassy in Buenos Aires requested that the porch be sent back to the Tokyo embassy — they were being sent to the first place — but an Argentine judge ordered all 83 porches to be seized.
The Argentina Supreme Court was tasked with determining what to do with them next, but before 1944, it appears that no decision was made before Argentina broke its relationship with the forces of the axis.
After the end of World War II, Argentina became a refuge for many high-ranking Nazis under the leadership of Juan Peron – including Adolf Eichmann and Joseph Mengele.
In 2000, President Fernando de la Rua officially apologized for his role in Nazi war criminals.
