Brazil opens suspected Nazi bank vault

The Brazilian authorities have opened a bank vault in Sao Paulo, containing more than four million dollars worth of property believed to have been stolen from victims of the Nazis.

The vault, belonging to a German named as Albert Blume who arrived in Brazil before the Second World War, was found to contain cash, gold bars and jewellery -- and his diary.

He's alleged to have acted as a banker for Nazis who fled from Germany to South America.

But members of his family deny that, and claim the fortune belongs to them.

The Brazilian commission investigating the country's role in sheltering Nazi fugitives is planning to run scientific tests to try to establish ownership.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service