We think of the world as a crowded place -- in an era when even Mt. Everest has cell phone coverage, you wouldn't think that anything could go undiscovered for long. But you'd be surprised -- for instance, nearly seven decades after World War II ended, stuff is still turning up -- and we're not talking about an old rusty Luger here or a set of dog tags there. We're talking about stuff like...
#6. A Bunker for Goebbels and Hitler's Bodyguards Discovered in the 90s
Just as Godwin's Law states that every argument approaches the mention of Nazis the longer it drags on, so too does every construction project in Berlin approach Nazi bunkers the deeper it digs. Even today, it seems like the city can't put a shovel to ground without accidentally unearthing another cement time capsule of evil from the 1940s.
For instance, while trying to build a Holocaust memorial in 1998, construction workers stumbled across Joseph Goebbles' bunker. It somehow survived devastating munitions attacks at the end of the war, was sealed up and then just...forgotten about. Goebbles, if you aren't familiar, was the man who led the political charge for Nazism as the Minister of Propaganda and was the strongest advocate of Jewish genocide, so finding his underground fortress in the exact spot dedicated to a holocaust memorial was, well, a bit awkward.
But really, they're used to it by now over there. Just eight years earlier, right after the Berlin Wall came down, Germany wanted to celebrate its reunification by having Pink Floyd's Roger Waters perform The Wall: Live in Berlin, in the exact spot where the wall used to stand. But before they could build the stage, they had to sweep the area for mines since that's the kind of thing you have to do in an area that's affectionately been nicknamed the "Death Strip" for thirty years. Sure enough, while searching for munitions, workers accidentally found something much, much bigger: a secret bunker belonging to "SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler," Hitler's aptly named Personal Bodyguard Division. It was filled with helmets, a few weapons and huge, intricate wall murals because Hitler was, after all, an artist first and a crazy murderer second...chronologically anyway.
Despite this being a monumental discovery for historians, Berlin sealed off the SS bunker almost as soon as they found it, because they didn't want anyone turning it into a shrine to Hitler. Sadly, we don't have any descriptions or photographs of the murals. To this day the complex is only marked by an innocuous sign. However, if you know where to dig, don't mind illegality, and you have a good jack-hammer guy then there's always the chance you can see them for yourself.
#5. A Nazi surveillance Post in North America Discovered in 1981
Canadian War Museum via The Weather Network
While German U boats would occasionally shoot holes in ships off the coast of North Carolina during WWII, we generally think of fighting Nazis as an away game for Canada and the United States. So you can imagine how surprising it was when Canada found out in the early 80s that Germans once mounted a fully armed expedition into their country without anyone even noticing.
In 1943, Germany was hoping to get a heads up on weather patterns originating in the west by dispatching a U boat to set up an Automated Weather Station in Newfoundland. Knowing weather patterns was a crucial advantage to the allies and the Germans knew that if they were going to stand a chance, they absolutely needed to be able to predict storms. So to keep this invaluable station safe in an enemy country they went to extraordinary lengths to disguise it. Specifically, they marked it as property of the "Canadian Weather Service," and that's it. Apparently this complex camouflaging strategy was more than enough because they fooled every Mountie that ever encountered the station for almost forty years.
It wasn't until the late 70's that a retired engineer stumbled onto evidence of its existence while working on a book about, we shit you not, Nazi weather stations. Even though the book somehow never gained cultural traction, this single discovery certainly did. The Canadian authorities located the station in 1981 based on his evidence, almost 40 years after it was erected and the whole thing has become a highlight of the Canadian War Museum, which we also promise totally exists.
Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20335_6-mind-blowing-things-recently-discovered-from-wwii.html#ixzz2guYqw5Ta
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