6. What was the secret German base in Antarctica?
For decades the existence of a secret German U-Boat base in Antarctica has been promoted by conspiracy theorists as a potential escape route by Adolf Hitler, a stopping point for the submarine carrying him to South America. The Germans did explore Antarctica through the twentieth century prior to the Second World War, as did other nations, but there was never a German occupation, nor did they build a base for the support of U-Boat operations. In the late 1930s a German exploration expedition was dispatched to the region for the purpose of locating a suitable site for a base, but rather than for being for the purpose of submarine operations its intent was more mundane. The site was intended to support whaling operations. Whale oil and blubber were commodities crucial to the German economy as a source of fat. The German high command knew that during wartime they would rapidly become short of fat, as most of it was imported.
Fat was crucial because it was a component of lubricants, oleomargarine, and soap. The German expedition sent to explore suitable locations marked examined territory with flags displaying the swastika along the coast and on the ice, but did not establish permanent settlements in Antarctica, nor did they return to build a naval base. The Reich government decreed the existence of a German territory which it named New Swabia in August 1939 but within weeks was at war with Great Britain. The British Navy deterred the creation of the German secret base. It did not deter the development of rumors which evolved into myths, that the Germans both established a base there and that they used it for, among other things, the study of UFOs and the development of similar devices of their own. As recently as 2016, tabloids reported the location of a secret German base in Antarctica, claiming it was abandoned when its occupants were sickened by poisoned polar bear meat. They failed to note that polar bears do not reside in Antarctica.