Archaeologists in northern Argentina have started a probe into an area of dilapidated buildings believed to have been a 20th century hideout for Nazi officials, including Adolf Hitler's right-hand man, the BBC reported.
The pile of buildings located in the Teyu Cuare nature preserve in Misiones province has long been rumored to be a secret hideout where Nazi officials fled after losing World War II. Artifacts previously found at the site, along with the hideout's unique construction, suggested a link to wartime Germany.
With that in mind, archaeologists from the University of Buenos Aires decided to investigate why the three buildings, which are covered in Nazi symbols, were placed in the middle of a secluded nature preserve.
"There seems to be no other explanation, other than that these structures were meant to serve as a hide out for Nazis, because it would have been expensive to build them in such an inaccessible place," lead researcher Daniel Schavelzon said according to the Daily Mail.
According to Schavelzon, the ruins are crawling with coins minted in Germany in the 1940s as well as Meissen porcelain and plates that were made in Germany. Hitler's right-hand man and private secretary, Martin Bormann is rumored to have taken refuge inside the stone fortress.
"Apparently, halfway through the Second World War, the Nazis had a secret project of building shelters for top leaders in the event of defeat [in] inaccessible sites, in the middle of deserts, in the mountains, on a cliff or in the middle of the jungle like this," Schavelzon.
Though oceans away, Argentina and other South American countries served as home to thousands of war criminals who escaped Europe in the wake of defeat. Among them was an SS officer named Adolf Eichmann, who helped oversee the transportation of millions of Jews to death camps in occupied Poland.
But despite the promising evidence, experts concluded the stone fortress in the middle of nowhere was probably never used by any Nazi officers. Once in Argentina, they were able to live freely and comfortably under assumed names in urban areas.
But for many their refuge did not last long. Eichmann was eventually tracked down and captured by Israel. He was tried and sentenced to death by hanging in 1962.
