A handgun once owned by Adolf Hitler, described as the “most valuable pistol on Earth” and valued at approximately $42 million, is at the center of a legal dispute in Argentina. Juan Pablo Ruppel, an appliance repairman, is suing the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security after the firearm was allegedly confiscated and subsequently lost by police.
Ruppel claims the Luger Parabellum .45 caliber No. 5 was stolen during a raid on his home in rural Buenos Aires province in 2016. Masked officers, who Ruppel stated were acting under a false premise, seized the weapon along with other minor items. While Ruppel was not charged with any offenses related to the raid, the pistol was never returned to him. He alleges that a police officer subsequently stole the Luger from police custody.
The pistol is considered the “Holy Grail of firearms” and is one of only five 1907 prototypes forged by Georg Luger. Its rarity was noted in the 1987 film “Wall Street” by the character Gordon Gekko, who referred to it as “the rarest pistol in the world.” However, it is the association with Hitler that experts say makes the firearm an exceptionally valuable, albeit chilling, piece of history.
Ruppel inherited the pistol from his German great-uncle, Hans Ruppel, who was a member of Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, the SS Division Leibstandarte, and fled to Argentina in 1945. According to Ruppel, his great-uncle stated that the Luger belonged to Hitler and was brought to Argentina in 1948 with assistance from the then-president, Juan Domingo Peron. Hans Ruppel was never accused of war crimes.
The pistol’s 1979 firearms owner license lists an address in Buenos Aires, the same city where Nazi official Josef Mengele resided for over two years. An Interpol notice reportedly describes the Luger No. 5 as bearing the inscription “Adolf Hitler.”
A civil court recently found the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security liable for $15,000 plus interest. The court awaits an independent expert analysis to determine the pistol's current worth, which Ruppel’s lawsuit estimates at $42 million. Two police officers who led the 2016 raid are scheduled to face trial in March on criminal charges including aggravated theft and breach of public duty.
Investigative journalist Laurence de Mello, who is assisting the family in their search for the weapon, described the pistol as a “ghost of the Third Reich.” She noted that finding such a historically significant firearm in a rural home was not surprising given historical escape routes into South America, but expressed concern over how provincial police identified and seized the weapon, and its subsequent disappearance from state custody.