Like many other countries, Germany sent expeditions to the Antarctic region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most of which were scientific.

The third German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939) was [intended] to find an area in Antarctica for a German whaling station. Whale oil was then the most important raw material for the production of margarine and soap in Germany and the country was the second largest purchaser of Norwegian whale oil.

[I]t was thought that Germany would soon likely be at war, which was considered to put too much strain on Germany’s foreign currency reserves. Another goal was to scout possible locations for a German naval base.

On December 17, 1938 the New Swabia Expedition left Hamburg for Antarctica aboard the MS Schwabenland. On January 19, 1939 the ship arrived at the Princess Martha Coast, in an area which had lately been claimed by Norway and began charting the region.

Nazi German flags were placed on the sea ice along the coast. Naming the area Neu-Schwabenland after the ship, the expedition established a temporary base.

Seven photographic survey flights were made by the ship’s two Dornier Wal seaplanes. About a dozen 1.2 meter-long aluminum arrows, with 30 centimeter steel cones and three upper stabilizer wings embossed with swastikas, were air dropped onto the ice at turning points of the flight polygons.

I had heard of secret Nazi bases in South America, in the center of the Earth, on the Moon, even in Canada, but never in Antarctica.

Maybe this means there’s still the possibility of that next Chinese lunar expedition coming across some Nazi ruins on the Moon…

Via Wikipedia.