Nazi past haunts Argentina's fallen Eden

La Falda, Argentina - It was supposed to be a paradise on Earth, a luxury spa deep in the New World. But this fallen Eden is now in ruins - haunted by its past as an Argentine haven for Nazis and their supporters.

The Eden Hotel, famous before the end of World War Two as a posh resort for Germans in central Argentina, is now an empty shell managed by the local municipality, which offers tours and is trying to restore it as a museum.

Wending his way through the ruins on one such tour, 33-year-old businessman Jose Ranz has come to learn of its ties to Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and to unravel the mystery of his own family's past.

The resort was a magnet for the rich and famous early last century, luring Albert Einstein in 1925. But the heyday was short-lived and the hotel was plunged into disrepute and eventual ruin by the Nazi sympathies of its former owners.

'Their idea was to create a German colony here in Argentina'

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And we ended up with them!