Reuters
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Dozens of boxes of Nazi material confiscated by Argentinean authorities during World War II have recently been rediscovered underground in the Supreme Court, the court said on Sunday.
The 83 boxes were sent to Argentina in June 1941 by the German Embassy in Tokyo on the Japanese steamship “Nan Amal.”
At the time, large cargo attracted the attention of authorities. Authorities feared that its contents could have an impact on Argentine neutrality in the war.
Despite allegations from the German diplomatic representatives at the time, Argentine customs authorities randomly searched five boxes, despite claims that the boxes contained personal items.
They found postcards, photos, propaganda materials, and thousands of notebooks belonging to the Nazi Party. The federal judge confiscated the material and introduced the matter to the Supreme Court.
It was not immediately clear why the item was sent to Argentina, or if there was, why there was action taken by the Supreme Court at the time.
Eighty-four years later, court officials came across a box while preparing for the Supreme Court Museum.
“Opening one of the boxes identified materials intended to integrate and propagate Adolf Hitler’s ideology in Argentina during World War II,” the court said.
The court has now moved the box to a room with additional security measures and invited them to participate in the storage and inventory at the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires.
Experts will also look at clues about yet unknown aspects of the Holocaust, such as the international funding network used by the Nazis.
Argentina remained neutral until 1944, when it broke its relationship with the forces of the axis in World War II. The South American country declared a war between Germany and Japan the following year.
From 1933 to 1954, 40,000 Jews entered Argentina as 40,000 Jews fled Nazi persecution in Europe. Argentina is home to the largest Jews in Latin America.
