The Museum of the Holocaust in Argentina’s capital on Wednesday took custody of the largest collection of Nazi artifacts discovered in the country’s history.
Federal police and Interpol agents found the more than 70 Nazi objects hidden behind a bookcase in a collector’s home north of Buenos Aires in 2017 as part of an investigation into artworks of illicit origins. The Nazi items include busts of Adolf Hitler, an instrument to measure people’s heads to supposedly determine their racial purity and statues of the Nazi eagle with a swastika under its talons.
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A police officer stands in front of a cache of Nazi artifacts discovered in 2017, during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache in a secret room behind a bookcase and had uncovered the collection in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A statue of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler discovered by police in 2017 is displayed during a press conference at the Holocaust museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. The museum took custody of the largest collection of Nazi artifacts discovered in the country’s history on Wednesday, after federal police and Interpol agents found a trove of more than 70 Nazi objects hidden behind a bookcase in a collector’s home north of Buenos Aires in June 2017. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Busts of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler discovered by police in 2017 are displayed during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache of Nazi artifacts in a secret room behind a bookcase and said that they had uncovered the collection in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Nazi artifacts discovered by police in 2017 are displayed during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache of Nazi artifacts in a secret room behind a bookcase and said that they had uncovered the collection in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A photo of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler holding a magnifying glass is displayed during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. According to Argentine authorities, they believe that one of the magnifying glasses in the case displayed above the photo is the same one seen in the photo. Both objects are part of a cache of Nazi artifacts seized by the police in 2017. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Owning Nazi objects in Argentina can be illegal if it is determined that the items incite racial or religious hate in public, although they can be allowed in private. It has not been determined if the collector violated the anti-discrimination law, although he has been charged with owning pieces of illegal origin.
A police officer stands in front of a cache of Nazi artifacts discovered in 2017, during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache in a secret room behind a bookcase and had uncovered the collection in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Agents with Interpol began following the collector and with a judicial order raided the house on June 8, 2017. A large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.
Argentine and German experts say most of the objects are original. They also include toys that authorities have said would have been used to indoctrinate children, a Nazi hourglass and a box of swastika-emblazoned harmonicas. The collection also includes a photo negative of Hitler holding a magnifying glass similar to those found in the boxes.
The main hypothesis among investigators and members of Argentina’s Jewish community is that the items were brought in by Nazis after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for some of the most infamous war criminals.
A statue of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler discovered by police in 2017 is displayed during a press conference at the Holocaust museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. The museum took custody of the largest collection of Nazi artifacts discovered in the country’s history on Wednesday, after federal police and Interpol agents found a trove of more than 70 Nazi objects hidden behind a bookcase in a collector’s home north of Buenos Aires in June 2017. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
The objects will remain in custody at the Museum of the Holocaust while the investigation continues.
The museum’s president, Marcelo Mindlin, said Wednesday that the items encouraged “hate, death and destruction.” He said they will become part of an exhibit “in the service of transmitting democratic values, education and the fight for memory so tragedies like the Holocaust are not repeated.”
Busts of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler discovered by police in 2017 are displayed during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache of Nazi artifacts in a secret room behind a bookcase and said that they had uncovered the collection in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
Nazi artifacts discovered by police in 2017 are displayed during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Argentine authorities found the cache of Nazi artifacts in a secret room behind a bookcase and said that they had uncovered the collection in the course of a wider investigation into artwork of suspicious origin found at a gallery in Buenos Aires. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)
A photo of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler holding a magnifying glass is displayed during a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. According to Argentine authorities, they believe that one of the magnifying glasses in the case displayed above the photo is the same one seen in the photo. Both objects are part of a cache of Nazi artifacts seized by the police in 2017. (AP PhotoNatacha Pisarenko)