The eagle was part of a battleship that sunk off Montevideo in 1939, and was recovered in 2006. Read more at straitstimes.com.
MONTEVIDEO – Uruguay will melt down a bronze eagle found on a sunken World War II-era German destroyer off its coast 17 years ago, and recast it as a dove of peace, the South American country’s president said on Friday.
The 350kg “symbol of violence and war” will be turned into a “symbol of peace and union,” President Luis Lacalle Pou told journalists in the capital Montevideo. The 2 meter tall bird with a Nazi swastika gripped in its talons adorned the stern of the Admiral Graf Spee, a battleship involved in one of the first naval skirmishes of World War II.
The Graf Spee’s captain, Hans Langsdorff, scuttled the battleship – one of the Third Reich’s largest – on December 17, 1939, following the Battle of the River Plate.In 2019, a court ruled that the sculpture must be sold, with half the proceeds going to the government and half to the salvage team. The 50-50 split had been stipulated in an agreement the salvagers had signed with the Uruguayan navy in 2004. The treasure hunters later filed suit, claiming the government reneged on that deal.Mr Lacalle Pou said Uruguayan artist Pablo Atchugarry has been chosen to make the peace dove, which is expected to be completed in November. AFP