NAZI lair covered in SWASTIKAS discovered in Argentine jungle
ARCHAEOLOGISTS claim to have stumbled across a Nazi lair hidden deep in the Argentine jungle.
The ruins, close to the border with Paraguay, were reported to have Nazi symbols adorning the walls.
Explorers also found a stash of German coins from the 1930s and fragments of pottery with the words “Made in Germany” inscribed on them.
Experts believe the hideout may have been used by war criminals seeking shelter from prosecutors after Germany’s defeat in 1945.
Locals have long-believed that the vine-covered stone buildings were once home to Adolf Hitler’s private secretary, Martin Bormann, with signs guiding tourists to the site.
A secret Nazi lair has been found deep in Argentine jungle
But despite the astonishing find, the team from the University of Buenos Aires has ruled out any link with Bormann, as DNA tests carried out in 1998 on a skeleton found in Berlin showed he committed suicide in 1945.
Researchers in Argentina now believe the structures may have been built for a much larger group of Nazi fugitives.
In a scene reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, the team said they had to use a machetes to cut their way through dense jungle in order to reach the remote location.
One of the archaeologists, Daniel Schavelzon, described the impenetrable location, with walls of the three houses as thick as 9ft.
This site also has the bonus of allowing the inhabitants to be in Paraguay in less than 10 minutes
“You’d never be able to find them if you didn’t know their exact location,” he said.
The director of the university's Centre for Urban Archaeology told Argentine newspaper Clarin that the buildings were part of an elaborate plot by Hitler to create a hideaway for German leaders in the event that they lost the war.
“Apparently, halfway through the Second World War, 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,” Mr Schavelzon said.
“This site also has the bonus of allowing the inhabitants to be in Paraguay in less than 10 minutes.
"It’s a protected, defendable site where they could live quietly.”
Thousands of Nazis are believed to have travelled to Argentina as World War Two drew to a close, including Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust.
Josef Mengele, the notorious doctor who carried out lethal experiments on babies and young children at Auschwitz, also fled to Argentina before moving to neighbouring Brazil.
