Admiral Graf Spee was a German warship commissioned in 1932 and scuttled by its crew off the coast of Uruguay in 1939.
In 2006 a salvage team led by Alfredo Etchegaray and partially funded by the government of Uruguay managed to recover a massive bronze eagle and swastika crest that was previously mounted on the ship’s stern.
The bronze eagle is 2 meters high and 2.8 meters wide, and weighs approximately 350 kg. The crest was put on public display for about a month after its discovery, but was eventually moved to a secure storage guarded by Uruguayan military due to a running dispute over its ownership.
"History should be displayed to the public in order to fix the mistakes of the past. The eagle is currently stored in a box watched over by the military. It is not on display and it is not about to be sold. All we want is our just reward for our efforts and for our investments," Etchegaray told Sputnik Mundo.
The bronze crest may fetch up to $55 million if sold. Also, Etchegaray pointed out that "if a couple of museums or some rich collectors show interest in it, the price would skyrocket."
It should be noted that the Supreme Court of Uruguay ruled that the private salvagers are entitled to 50 percent of the profits if the bronze eagle was to be eventually sold.
Jorge Gandini, Uruguayan MP from the National Party, even suggested selling the eagle in order to boost the country’s military capabilities after Uruguay’s Defense Minister Jorge Mendez warned about the need to increase defense spending.
"We need to find a solution that would be acceptable to everyone. If some country, like Germany, insists that the eagle must not be sold or put on display, it should help fund tourism-related projects which would be beneficial to Uruguay. There’s a plenty of options, and all we want is to be compensated for our expenses," Etchegaray explained.
He also dismissed concerns about alleged attempts by some neo-Nazi groups trying to acquire the Eagle, saying that the only interested buyers so far have been museums.
