The international police agency Interpol discovered one of the largest and most disturbing sets of Nazi artifacts this month in a northern suburb of Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital.

Agents became aware of a collector of historical artifacts who they say had procured some of his items illegally. This month, with the power of a judicial order, they raided the collector’s house. Behind a secret passageway hidden behind a bookshelf, they found the biggest trove of original World War II-era artifacts ever found in Argentina.

They were put on display at the Delegation of Argentine Israeli Associations in Buenos Aires on Monday. Many Nazi higher-ups fled to Argentina in the waning days of the war, and investigators believe that officials close to Adolf Hitler brought the artifacts with them. Many were accompanied by photos, some with Hitler holding them.

The objects include a device used to measure heads. Nazis believed that one could distinguish a Jew from someone belonging to the supposed Aryan race by head measurements.

The trove also includes a bust relief of Hitler, magnifying glasses embossed with swastikas (as well as a photo of Hitler holding the same or a similar instrument), and a large statue of an eagle above a swastika.

Washington Post