Argentina's biggest haul of Nazi artefacts found in secret room

In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artefacts in the country's history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas and even a macabre medical device used to measure head size.

The Nazis were proponents of the theory of eugenics and used the concept of genetic differences between people to advance their theories of Aryan racial superiority. Cranial measurements was one way in which the Nazis believed they could distinguish between races and prove that Jews were inferior.

Some 75 objects were found in a collector's home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities said they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking members of the Third Reich during World War II.

"Our first investigations indicate that these are original pieces," Argentine security minister Patricia Bullrich told The Associated Press on Monday, saying that some pieces were accompanied by old photographs. "This is a way to commercialise them, showing that they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects."

Among the items were toys that Bullrich said would have been used to indoctrinate children, a large statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika, a Nazi hourglass and a box of harmonicas.

The investigation that culminated in the discovery of the collection began when authorities found artworks of illicit origin in a gallery in north Buenos Aires.

Agents with the international police force Interpol began following the collector and with a judicial order raided the house on 8 June. A large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.

Authorities did not identify the collector who remains free but under investigation by a federal judge.

"There are no precedents for a find like this. Pieces are stolen or are imitations. But this is original and we have to get to the bottom of it," Roncaglia said.

The main hypothesis among investigators and member of Argentina's Jewish community of how the items entered Argentina is that they were brought to Argentina by a high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals.