Boxes of documents from Nazi Germany were found in the basement of Argentina's Supreme Court, the BBC reported, BTA reported.
The unusual find was discovered while workers were clearing out the building's basement before the archives were moved to a newly created museum.
According to information gathered by court officials, the documents were sent by the German embassy in Tokyo and arrived in Argentina on June 20, 1941 in 83 diplomatic packages aboard a Japanese steamship. They ended up at the Supreme Court that same year, after being confiscated by Argentine customs officials who randomly opened five bags and found Nazi propaganda materials inside.
All of this was rediscovered last week by workers who were intrigued by several wooden champagne crates they came across while moving archival materials from the Supreme Court's basement. “When opening one of the crates, we discovered materials intended to consolidate and spread Adolf Hitler's ideology in Argentina during World War II,“ the court said of the find. The documents were quickly put away in a safe place, and court officials notified the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires of their existence and asked for help in making an inventory of their entire contents.
Historians hope the documents will shed light on the Nazis' financial networks and their international connections.
In a statement, Argentina's Supreme Court revealed the information it has been able to gather so far. It said the documents, which arrived in Argentina aboard the steamship Nan-a-Maru from Tokyo in June 1941, were declared "personal effects" from the German embassy in Buenos Aires at the time.
However, Argentine customs officials became suspicious of the size of the shipment and alerted the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs, fearing that it might contain materials that would threaten Argentina's neutral position in World War II at the time.
Five of the packages were opened at random and were found to contain postcards, photographs, and Nazi propaganda materials.