Archeologists have discovered ruins in a remote jungle region of Argentina that are believed to be Nazi hideouts intended to act as safe havens if Germany lost World War II.
Inside three run-down buildings in the Teyú Cuaré park, near the border with Paraguay, researchers found five German coins minted during the Nazi regime and a porcelain plate marked “Made in Germany,” the Clarín newspaper reports.
“Apparently, halfway through World War II, the Nazis had a secret project of building shelters for top leaders in the event of defeat — inaccessible sites, in the middle of deserts, in the mountains, on a cliff or in the middle of the jungle like this,” team leader Daniel Schávelzon told Clarín.
In fact, the hideouts would prove unnecessary because after the war then Argentine President Juan Perón allowed thousands of Nazis, and other European fascists, to resettle in the South American nation. Most notorious among them was arguably Adolf Eichmann, a leading architect of the Holocaust, who in 1960 was found in Argentina by an Israeli intelligence group. He was abducted and eventually executed in Israel for his crimes.
Battle of the Bulge: Rare Photos From Hitler's Last Gamble
American troops in a snow-filled trench during the Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican GIs chop a foxhole in the frozen ground by a haystack during the Battle of the Bulge. The machine gun was set up in preparation for a German counterattack, expected at any moment.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAn American artilleryman shaves in frigid cold, using a helmet for a shaving bowl, during the Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican troops man trenches along a snowy hedgerow in the northern Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAllied troops around a fire in the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesShell craters left by an Allied barrage laid down to clean German infantry out of the woods and fields during the Battle of the Bulge, Belgium, 1944.William Vandivert—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican trucks and half-tracks in a snow-covered Ardennes field, Battle of the Bulge.William Vandivert—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesScene during the Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGerman POWs on grave-digging duty during the Battle of the Bulge. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCorpse beside a road during the Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGerman military wreckage, Battle of the Bulge.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFrozen corpse of a German soldier killed during the Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAllied troops and German dead, Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesSome of the 115 Americans who, LIFE reported, were "massacred at point-blank range" in a field after being captured by Germans in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge, 1944. The soldiers were herded into a field and machine-gunned; when found, many of the frozen bodies still had their hands above their heads. John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesBelgian civilians are evacuated by American troops, 1944.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAn American tank moves past another gun carriage which slid off an icy road in the Ardennes Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 20, 1944.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesBelgian residents of a northern Ardennes hamlet flee the fighting during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican GI, Battle of the Bulge.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPreviously unpublished portraits of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican troops with Belgian children, Battle of the Bulge.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA wounded German soldier rests on makeshift bedding after being taken prisoner during an attack on an American fuel depot on Dec. 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGermans surrender during the Battle of the Bulge.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGerman POWs, Battle of the Bulge, January 1945.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGerman prisoners, some of them wearing coveralls for camouflage in the snow, are herded by Allied troops. (In close fighting, U.S. troops also used snow-camouflage suits.)John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPhotographed on Dec. 23, 1944, but not published in LIFE until June 1945. Behind a cell block, German prisoners are bound to stakes by MPs. Tried and convicted as spies, they are about to be executed.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA blindfolded prisoner is securely bound, hand and foot, to a stake in front of a concrete wall. A large white paper target is pinned over his heart. American MPs stand at attention until the firing squad's commanding officer inspects the final arrangements. Belgium, 1944.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. The volley is fired and three white puffs of smoke appear against the wall of the concrete block. The initial burst killed all three almost instantaneously. The firing squad, all military police, consisted of three groups of eight men, each with one additional marksman along as a spare.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. After execution, spies lurch and sag forward from the posts. The cement wall is pocked with bullet holes. The prisoners refused the ministrations of a U.S. chaplain. They kept their nerve by singing patriotic German songs. After they were officially pronounced dead, the spies were cut down by MP's, carried away and buried.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA German shot as a spy in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge, 1944.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesA German shot as a spy in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge, 1944.John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican troops in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
