There was a Nazi Antarctic expedition. It was real, it is documented, and its purpose was mundane. Everything built on top of it — the secret base, the U-boat escape route, the post-war Antarctic UFO program — is not documented and contradicts the evidence that exists. Here is the full record.
What Actually Happened: The Schwabenland Expedition
In late 1938, Germany dispatched the MS Schwabenland to Antarctica. The expedition ran from December 17, 1938 to April 12, 1939. The ship carried two Dornier Wal flying boats, launched by steam catapult, which were used to photographically survey approximately 600,000 square kilometres of the Antarctic coast and interior.
The mission’s purpose was commercial and territorial: to claim the region for Germany primarily to protect German whaling interests. Norway had already been exploring the same territory and formally claimed it in January 1939 — while the Germans were still at sea. About a dozen aluminium flags were dropped from the aircraft at survey turning points. The land surveyed was claimed by Germany in August 1939 as “Neuschwabenland” — named after the ship. The claim was abandoned in 1945.
The outbreak of war in September 1939 prevented two further planned expeditions and the possible construction of a research base. There is no evidence of any further German activity in Antarctica during World War 2.
The U-Boat Story
On July 10, 1945 — two months after Germany’s surrender — the German submarine U-530 arrived at the Argentine naval base at Mar del Plata. On August 17, U-977 also arrived. Rumours immediately spread that one or both had delivered Hitler, Eva Braun, and senior Nazi leadership to Patagonia or Antarctica before surrendering.
These rumours originated with a single article in a Buenos Aires newspaper, written by a Hungarian exile named Ladislas Szabo, who claimed detailed knowledge of a fictional escape. The story spread worldwide. Szabo published a book in 1947 titled “Hitler is Alive.”
The commanders and crews of both U-boats were arrested and interrogated by Argentine, US, and UK naval personnel. All investigators concluded the arrivals were innocuous. The crews were released. Hitler died in Berlin on April 30, 1945. Soviet troops found his remains. His identity was confirmed by dental records.
Why the Myth Persists
Antarctica is genuinely remote, genuinely inaccessible, and was genuinely the site of classified Cold War military activity. Google Earth satellite imagery of ice patterns and research station equipment generates ambiguous images that are easy to mischaracterise. The 1938 expedition is real and documented, which provides a legitimate historical seed. The combination of these factors makes Antarctica an enduring substrate for conspiracy narratives that blend verifiable history with fabricated extrapolation.
The “Buried UFO” at coordinates 75°0‘47”S 0°4’52”E that generated news coverage in 2018 is the German Kohnen Station, a summer-only research facility opened in 2000 by the Alfred Wegener Institute. It is marked on the REMA high-resolution Antarctic relief map. Anyone can verify this in under two minutes.
Sources: coolantarctica.com; National Antarctic expedition records; Argentine Navy records; Soviet Army records, April 1945.