Crates full of Nazi documents found in the basement of the Argentinian court

Crates with documents from Nazi Germany have been rediscovered in the basement of the Supreme Court of Argentina.

The unusual find was made when employees cleaned up the basement of the building before the archive was moved to a newly created museum.

The documents were sent by the German embassy in Tokyo and arrived in Argentina on 20 June 1941 in 83 diplomatic bags on board a Japanese steamship, collected by judicial officials.

They came to the Supreme Court in the same year after they had seized by Argentinian customs officers who had randomly opened five bags and found Nazi -propaganda material inside.

They were rediscovered last week by employees who were intrigued by a number of wooden champagne crates that they encountered while moving archive material from the basement of the Supreme Court.

“When opening one of the boxes, we identified material that was intended to consolidate and propagate the ideology of Adolf Hitler in Argentina during (Second World War),” the court said about the find.

The crates were quickly moved to a secure office in the building and court officials warned the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum of their existence and asked for his help in creating an inventory of all their content.

Photos published by the court show the experts who search by black and white photos and membership books with swastikas on their covers.

Historians hope that the documents will produce instructions for the financial networks of the Nazis and their international ties.

In a statement, the Supreme Court of Argentina revealed the information that it could have merge so far.

It said that the documents, which arrived on board the NAN-A-Maru steamship from Tokyo in June 1941 in Argentina, had been declared “personal effects” by the German embassy in Buenos Aires at the time.

Argentinian adjusted officials, however, were suspicious because of the size of the shipment and warned the Argentinian Foreign Minister, for fear that the material could contain that the neutral attitude of Argentina in the Second World War could endanger at the time.

Five of the bags were opened randomly and appeared to contain postcards, photos and Nazi propaganda material.

The German embassy in Buenos Aires asked to send the bags back to the embassy in Tokyo – from which they were sent first – but an Argentinian judge ordered in September 1941 that all 83 bags were taken up.

The Supreme Court of Argentina was instructed to make the decision about what they had to do with them, but it seems that no decision was made before 1944 – when Argentina broke the relations with the Axis powers – in which it was explained how the crates have ultimately collected dust in the cellar of the court for decades.

After the end of the Second World War, Argentina – led by Juan Perón – became a refuge for a number of high -ranking Nazis, including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele.

In 2000, President Fernando de la Rúa officially apologized for the role of his country in the hostel of the Nazi war criminals.