The world’s top Nazi hunters demand the truth about a wrecked ‘submarine’ that allegedly helped Hitler escape to Argentina.
The 80-metre-long wreck was found near Quequén, a port in central Argentina, by the research group Eslabón Perdido (Missing Link).
And their leader, Abel Basti, believes it was a Nazi submarine that may have taken Hitler to a new life in South America, despite the generally held view of most historians that he committed suicide in his Berlin bunker in April 1945.
Government divers have examined the wreck after the discovery was confirmed last year, but their findings remain shrouded in mystery.
Now the Simon Wiesenthal Center — named after the famous Nazi hunter whose work it continues — is calling on Buenos Aires to end its “suspicious” silence.
German U-boat U-530 at Mar del Plata after its 1945 surrender at Queque, Buenos Aires. It is a different ship than the one discovered last year
Group leader Abel Basti believes it was a Nazi submarine that Hitler (pictured in painting) could have smuggled to South America
Ariel Gelblung, director of the center’s Latin American office, said: “I think the government has a duty to let us know – whether it’s real or not.
“They have to give an opinion, because the silence is suspicious.
“It’s very important to know if it’s a Nazi submarine or not, because if it is, everything we know changes.
‘We know about the ratlines and that the others came by plane, and many people talked about U-boats – but no one found them.
“This is the only chance we have to find out if it’s a U-boat or some other kind of wreck.”
Argentina’s coalition government is currently led by the Justicialist Party, whose founder, Juan Perón, welcomed fleeing Nazis to his country after the war.
For Dr. Gelblung, that makes transparency all the more important.
He said: “The government currently in power is from the same lineage as Perón.
Photo shows a potential periscope on the shipwreck in photos taken by divers
Fabio Bisciotti, who leads the Italian Naval League’s underwater study group, analyzed photos of the wreck and found several possible clues. One such clue was a yellow plate marked with two S-like characters in a familiar font (pictured)
“So they have to give some answers and they have to compromise with this investigation.
“They should say ‘okay, we’ll look at what we found and our experts will say this or that’, but no silence – silence is not good.”
Dr. Gelblung added that he did not believe Hitler settled in Argentina after the war.
“But what is really true is that in the 1940s and 1950s the government helped the Nazis come to Argentina,” he said.
For now, the Simon Wiesenthal Center reserves a verdict on whether the wreck was a Nazi submarine.
“I don’t know, maybe, maybe not,” Dr. Gelblung said.
“I need to see the results of the investigation.”
Fabio Bisciotti, a diver who leads the Italian Naval League’s underwater study group, analyzed photos of the wreck and found several clues that could point to German origins.
He offered to dive to the wreckage and correctly identify it, but said he had no response from the Argentine government.
In emails in May, Basti said Buenos Aires killed his probe of the wreckage.
Basti said: “The Argentine government has informed me that it will not continue the investigation.
“It’s a political decision — by law, they must identify the shipwreck and verify whether it has potential hazards, explosives, hazardous materials, fuel, etc.”
Last year, Argentina’s naval prefecture — which led the expedition to the wreck — declined to comment on questions about their dive.
The photo shows part of the wreckage, described as a ‘gear or block section’
Now shipwreck experts say the wreck could be a German U-boat after all, after analyzing new photos taken by Argentine divers
The Argentine government has been contacted for comment.
A local legend, told in 2021 by the Argentine newspaper La Arena, says that police officer Luis Mariotti even went to investigate reports of submarines that landed in 1945.
He reportedly followed truck tracks from the beach to Moromar, where men with machine guns stopped him from entering.
When he asked his superiors for further instructions, Mariotti was told to forget about the whole thing – or so the story goes.
Declassified FBI documents also include a 1945 account of Hitler reaching Argentina by U-boat, but that was on the Valdes Peninsula – some 400 miles south of the newly found wreck.
In any case, Mr. Basti’s theory remains controversial.
Even some members of his group, Missing Link, have reportedly distanced themselves from his claims.
Steven Woodbridge, a senior lecturer in history at London’s Kingston University, urged skepticism when the wreckage was found earlier this year.
“Until it can be fully verified by the Argentine authorities, one must proceed with great caution,” he said.