File this story under "News of the Weird."Russian researchers have discovered a hidden Nazi base in the Arctic. Yep, you read that right, and no this isn't one of those weird conspiracy stories that you'll find elsewhere on the Internet. Apparently the base, which is named “Schatzgraber” or “Treasure Hunter,” was built back in 1942 under order from Adolf Hitler himself. It is believed to have been in operation until June of 1944, when it was abandoned following a series of mishaps.
Located on the remote island of Alexander Land, the base was believed to have been a weather station. After it was constructed, teams of Nazi soldiers lived there throughout 1943, a year after the Germans invaded Russia during World War II. But, running low on supplies the men that lived there were later forced to eat raw polar bear meat, which caused some of the soldier to become ill and even die. The remaining staff members departed the station just as the tide was beginning to turn against Hitler back home.
After that, the base became a forgotten structure from a bygone era. There were rumors of its existence, but no one was able to confirm that the Nazi's had indeed constructed the weather station above the Arctic Circle, although others had previously searched for it in vain. But the Russian team that discovered Schatgraber say they found more than 500 relics from the WWII era that were left behind by the previous tenants. They found a number of German bunkers, fuel barrels, and even old paperwork that was left behind when the soldiers left. Most of it is well preserved in the harsh, cold conditions, which should make for some interesting historical discoveries amongst the remains of the base.
Up until now, the base had only been mentioned in old Nazi reference material and German supply records, but since it had never been found, Schatgraber was believed to be a myth. There are many such stories of hidden Nazi bases – including some in the Antarctic too. Most of those probably are just legends, but this discovery will certainly add fuel to the fire.
The researchers the discovered the station say they'll take all of the artifacts that they've found back to Russia with them for examination. Perhaps they'll find even more interesting things about what the Nazi's were doing there in the Arctic from the paperwork they discovered.
Check out some images from the base in the news video below. The dialog is in Russian, but you'll at least get a sense of what the site looks like now.
