Topline
Police serving an arrest warrant for a wealthy man accused of child abuse in Rio de Janeiro say they stumbled upon his extensive collection of Nazi memorabilia estimated to be worth $3.2 million.
Key Facts
The 58-year-old, who has not been named by authorities, was allegedly approaching children in the condominium complex where he lived in western Rio de Janeiro and tried to take them into his home, police said.
But when authorities arrived to arrest the man, they also found a vast collection of more than 1,000 items related to Nazism that included uniforms, insignia, medals, paintings and photographs of Adolf Hitler, according to Reuters.
The suspect was charged with discrimination upon the discovery of the haul, police said, and World War II-era guns and ammo present in the apartment also landed him with an illegal weapons charge.
The suspect comes from a family that amassed wealth through investing, Luis Armond, the case’s lead detective, told Reuters, and police believe he used his inheritance to fund his collecting hobby—a uniform worn by a high-ranking Nazi can cost as much as $290,000, he said.
Police are investigating whether the suspect has ties to far-right groups in Brazil, and Armond floated the possibility of a museum taking the Nazi collection.
Crucial Quote
"He is a smart guy and articulate, but he's a Holocaust denier, he's homophobic, he's a pedophile and he says he hunts homosexuals," Armond told Reuters. "I'm no doctor, but he seems to me an insane psychopath."
Key Background
After World War II, thousands of Nazi millitary officers and party members fled to South America to avoid being tried for war crimes.The most notable known to have ended up in Brazil was Josef Mengele, who was a doctor in Auschwitz and performed cruel experiments on prisoners. He drowned while swimming off the coast in São Paulo in 1979, nearly 20 years after he fled the fall of the Third Reich. Neo-Nazi groups still operate in Brazil, especially in the southern part of the country, and have grown in recent years.
Further Reading
Brazil police find 3 mln euro Nazi haul at home of suspected pedophile (Reuters)