A pistol described as the “most valuable” on the planet — a Luger reportedly once owned by Adolf Hitler and valued at about $42 million — has become the focus of a dramatic legal fight in Argentina involving an appliance repairman and a police officer.
The firearm, often referred to by collectors as the “Holy Grail of firearms,” was allegedly taken in 2016 during a SWAT-style raid by masked officers at the rural Buenos Aires province home of repairman Juan Pablo Ruppel.
“It’s a one of a kind piece, and there is no question that it is the most valuable semiautomatic handgun in the world,” Ruppel, a 48-year-old father of four, told The Post in his first interview since a recent court ruling in the case.
According to Ruppel’s lawsuit, he inherited the disturbing historical artifact — described as a “ghost of the Third Reich” — from his German great-uncle, Hans Ruppel, who had served as one of Hitler’s bodyguards. At the time of the raid, Ruppel had been accused of stealing small household items, including plates, glasses and cutlery, the suit says.
Ruppel was never charged in connection with those allegations, but he claims that did not prevent a corrupt officer from walking off with the famed Luger during the search of his home.
The gun is identified as a Luger Parabellum .45 calibre No.5, one of just five 1907 prototypes produced by renowned firearms designer Georg Luger. Its rarity has long been part of gun-collecting lore: Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gekko even name-checks it in the 1987 film “Wall Street” as “the rarest pistol in the world.”
Experts say the weapon’s alleged connection to Hitler is what could elevate it from an extraordinarily rare firearm to a uniquely valuable — and deeply unsettling — historical object.
“To understand the stakes here, you have to understand that this isn’t just a beautiful firearm; it is a ghost of the Third Reich, the most valuable pistol on Earth,” said British investigative journalist Laurence de Mello, who is leading an independent investigation for Ruppel’s family as the search for the missing gun continues.
The gun’s 1979 firearms owner license listed in Argentina’s national registry has a Buenos Aires address — where heinous Nazi “Angel of Death’’ Josef Mengele lived for more than two years before fleeing the Argentine capital.
The Luger No. 5 also is described in an Interpol notice as having the inscription “Adolf Hitler” on it.
Juan Pablo says Hans told him that it belonged to Hitler and was taken to Argentina in 1948 with the help of the country’s president at the time, Juan Domingo Peron.
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“I’ve been saying the same thing for 10 years: If someone offered me either $50 million or getting the gun back, I would choose the gun every time,” Ruppel told The Post.
“But since it still hasn’t turned up and I can’t keep waiting, I want the government to pay up.”
Ruppel is suing the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security for compensation for the gun, which was never returned to him after it disappeared while in police custody.
A civil court this month held the agency liable for $15,000 plus interest for now, pending an independent expert’s analysis of its current worth — which Ruppel’s lawsuit puts at around $42 million.
The two cops who led the raid on Ruppel’s home are due to go on trial on criminal charges of aggravated theft and breach in the duties of a public officer in March next year.
Ruppel told The Post that his great-uncle Hans — who was his grandfather’s brother and had no children of his own — gave him the Luger No. 5 as a birthday present.
Hans Ruppel had served in the SS Division Leibstandarte — Hitler’s personal bodyguard unit — during the Second World War and fled to Argentina in 1945.
He was not involved in Mengele’s war crimes and was never accused in connection with Nazi atrocities during World War II, De Mello said.
“After 25 years tracking post-war Nazi escape routes into South America, I know exactly how high-profile figures, U-boats and priceless assets slipped into Argentina,’’ she told The Post.
“Finding Georg Luger’s pristine Parabellum .45 Calibre No. 5 — the holy grail of firearms — inside a rural electrician’s home is no surprise to me,’’ she said.
“What is incredible, is that provincial cops conducted a raid on a false premise to get it and knew exactly what they were looking for.
“They took it into state custody and the state simply cannot find it. This smells worse than one dirty cop.”
