Ladbible X Whatsapp
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Nazi condoms discovered amongst artefacts on sunken U-boat

Home> News

Published 21:47 5 Aug 2022 GMT+1

Nazi condoms discovered amongst artefacts on sunken U-boat

The incredible discovery includes a haul of private documents and letters

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A hoard of Nazi artefacts, including cigarettes, condoms, encoded messages and even the only known copy of a memo announcing the death of Adolph Hitler, has been uncovered on a U-boat almost 80-years after it was sunk. 

U-boat 534 was sunk by the RAF off coast of a Danish island on Saturday 5 May 1945, but in was raised from the seabed in 1993, after which its contents were conserved and kept strictly under wraps - until now. 

The U-boat, which forms part of a display at The U-Boat Story run by Big Heritage, was found to have a hoard of long-forgotten items, including a rare enigma machine and even condoms.

Liverpool Echo

Advert

Speaking about the impressive haul, founder of Big Heritage, Dean Paton, said: “The things we’ve found go from secret documents to personal letters. One was complaining about the cows on their farm not giving them enough milk.

“We’re finding photographs and cards with peoples’ names on them which we can trace. It’s really interesting.

"When they raised the U-boat in the early Nineties the Danish team rapidly conserved and saved anything they could without then going through box by box to see what it was. They just kept it safe and stabilised.

“Those boxes have been passed on and they’ve not been looked at, not been opened. Things we’ve found include what was once considered tens of thousands of reams of paper that was first assumed to be blank but is actually just very faded.

Liverpool Echo

Advert

“So there’s all sorts of new documents now just being seen for the first time since the 40s - from some quite mundane shopping lists and letters to some quite serious stuff like enigma decoded messages informing the crew of their new führer - which, between the lines, means Hitler’s dead and they’ve now got a new boss.

“It’s the only known paper copy of that dispatch in the world.”

Although the boat was sunk in the Baltic Sea, onboard historians found items more suited for tropical climates as well as guides to South America. 

Liverpool Echo

Paton added: “We think that there was probably an intention to take some of this brand new, high tech military equipment somewhere else.

Advert

“That could’ve been to Argentina. It had the range to get to Argentina and that is where a lot of senior Nazis disappeared to after the war, or it could’ve even been intended to go to America - which offered some sort of safe harbour if you brought technology that they could take, or even Japan.

“The interesting thing will be to piece this together over the next few years as more information comes to light. It’s not just about the artefacts its about the story behind it that we’re really piecing together for the first time.”

Featured Image Credit: Liverpool Echo

Topics: World War 2, UK News

Claire Reid
Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

9 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 9 hours ago

    Man, 92, found guilty of murder of woman nearly 60 years ago in UK's 'longest cold case'

    75-year-old Louisa Dunne was murdered in her Bristol home in 1967

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    'Marriage destroyer' holiday hotspot where Brits 'can't stop cheating' revealed

    Time to cancel those flights

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Brit ranked no.733 in world won't receive £99k prize money despite shock first round win at Wimbledon

    Oliver Tarvet won't see the money because of a sporting rule

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Police in frantic search for victim's head after reality star girlfriend charged with murder

    Police believe he was killed nearly two weeks ago now

    News
  • People shocked at how ‘relevant’ advice to American soldiers living in Britain during WW2 is today
  • Urgent warning to Londoners as 'doomsday wreck' carrying 1,400 tonnes of explosives could trigger tsunami on capital
  • 'Doomsday wreck' full of bombs at bottom of Thames that could unleash tsunami is close to collapse
  • Passenger relives chaos on cruise that 'tilted 45 degrees' as guests 'stampeded' on the boat