More than 80 boxes filled with Nazi German documents were found in the basement of the Argentina Supreme Court, decades after the crates were hiding in 1941.
"Discovery of global significance" emerged when workers cleaned up the area in preparation for transfer of archives to the newly established museum, the court said in a statement Monday.
The court statement said that in June 1941, the German Embassy sent 83 boxes in Tokyo, the Japanese capital, to board the Japanese ship "Nan-a-Maru".
At the time, German diplomats in Argentina claimed they contained personal influence, but the shipment was held by customs and became the subject of investigation by the Special Committee on “Anti-Rhizosine Activities”. The judge later ordered the seizure of the materials, and the matter was eventually taken away from the Supreme Court, which owned the crate.
About 84 years later, after opening one of the boxes, the court determined the material “to consolidate and spread Adolf Hitler’s ideology in Argentina during World War II.”
The rest of the box was opened in front of officials from the Common Association of Israelis (AMIA) and the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum last Friday.
"In view of the historical relevance of the discovery and the clarification of potentially vital information about the incidents related to the Holocaust, the court said, "in light of the historical relevance of the discovery and the clarification of the potentially vital information of the incidents related to the Holocaust, he ordered an exhaustive investigation of all the material found."
It added: "The main purpose is to... determine whether the material contains critical information about the Holocaust and whether any clues can elucidate aspects that are still unknown, such as the Nazi currency routes worldwide."
Argentina's Holocaust Museum joins the investigation
The court has transferred the box to a room equipped with additional security measures and invited the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires to participate in its preservation and inventory.
Experts will check if they have any clues about aspects of the Holocaust that remain unknown, such as the international financing network used by the Nazis.
Until 1944, Argentina remained neutral during World War II. South American countries declare war against Germany and Japan. According to the Holocaust Museum, from 1933 to 1954, 40,000 Jews entered Argentina while fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe.
But after World War II, Argentina, led by President Juan Peron, became a safe haven for several senior Nazi officials.
Among them is Adolf Eichmann, who is considered the main architect of Hitler's plan to exterminate Jews in Europe. He was arrested in Buenos Aires in 1960 and taken to Israel, where he was judged and executed.
Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, who also hid in Argentina and fled to Paraguay and later Brazil, died.