Nazi Expedition Dumped Antarctic Swastikas

In December 1938, Nazi Germany sent the ship Schwabenland and an 82-member expedition led by a German naval commander named Alfred Ritscher to survey and claim part of Queen Maud Land before World War II. Germany wanted an Antarctic base for its whaling fleet because it relied on imported whale oil for margarine and other fat-based products. Two Dornier flying boats photographed the territory and carried boxes of small metal swastikas that the crews planned to scatter as territorial markers. When one aircraft ran low on fuel, its crew dumped the boxes to reduce weight, and nobody ever recovered them.

Previous Fact Next Fact