Thursday, July 2, 2026

A World War II Nazi tank found in the basement of a retiree sparked a legal battle


On July 2, 2015, in Heikendorf, Germany, an 84-year-old man’s World War II Panther main battle tank was preparing for transportation.

ARSTEN REHDER/dpa/Getty image

  • An 84-year-old German man became the focus of legal debate after he found a Panther tank in his basement during a raid.
  • The prosecutor said that the retirees violated the German War Weapons Control Law.
  • An American museum is interested in buying this tank.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

In 2015, after the police discovered World War II Panther tanks, anti-aircraft guns and torpedoes in his basement, a German retiree became the center of legal disputes.

Prosecutors and lawyers are working to negotiate penalties for the 84-year-old, which may include probation and a fine of up to 500,000 euros (8.7 million rand).

Whether military collectors violated the German War Weapons Control Law has aroused controversy. The defense argued that these weapons no longer work and therefore do not violate the legislation and will accept a lower fine of 5​0,000 Euros (870,000 Rand). RT-DE report.

However, prosecutors questioned this, and they believed that these weapons could still be used.

A lot of Nazi souvenirs

The 84-year-old man (M) accused of possessing a tank and his lawyer Gerald Goecke (l) are in court awaiting the start of the trial.

According to his lawyers, an American museum wanted to buy war-time Panther tanks, and military collectors were interested in the 70 assault rifles and numerous pistols owned by the defendant, according to World Report.

These weapons were discovered in the basement of retirees in 2015, when the local government, after searching for Nazi-era artworks, informed the local authorities of their wartime content. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

It took 20 soldiers nine hours to retrieve a large amount of military equipment from the home of an unknown man in Heikendorf, a suburb of Kiel in northern Germany.

There are also a large group of Nazi souvenirs, including Hitler’s bust, mannequins in Nazi uniforms, swastika pendants, SS rune-shaped lamps, and a statue of a naked soldier who once stood outside Hitler’s Chancellery. Berlin, favorited by the dictator Created by the sculptor Arno Breker, Report the history of war online.

At the time of the attack, Alexander Orth, the mayor of Heikendorf Tell Süddeutsche Zeitung That man had driven a tank in 1978.

When asked about his views on tank ownership, the mayor replied: “One likes steam trains and the other likes old tanks.”

The case will be closed in August 2021.





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