Uruguay faces dilemma from the deep: what to do with a salvaged Nazi eagle?

Sculpture was retrieved from German battleship sunk in 1939 Battle of the River Plate but its future is controversial The enormous bronze sculpture of an eagle clutching a swastika in its talons spent nearly 70 years lying at the bottom of the River Plate, off the coast of Uruguay. After being salvaged in 2006, it briefly went on display in the Uruguayan capital – before the government reconsidered the wisdom of granting such prominence to a Nazi emblem, and the eagle was hidden away on a military base. As the 20th anniversary of its recovery approaches, Uruguay still does not know what to do with the half-tonne raptor which once adorned a German battleship sunk at the start of the second world war. One former president suggested melting it down and recasting it as a dove of peace. Others have suggested housing it in a museum, while a local politician is now campaigning for it to be displayed on the seafront of the resort town of Punta del Este. “It has been hidden away in a crate,” said Teresa Marzano, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Maldonado province last year. Her plan involves mounting the eagle atop a structure resembling a ship’s stern, surrounded by a moat, with a vi

Mar 26, 2026 → Mar 26, 2026