Lost NAZI gold train found in Poland

[Sdiver]

... Supposedly.

But for these two guys to have already hired lawyers about their claim, might just prove to be true.

Poland looking into report of Nazi treasure train found

Two people in Poland say they have found a Nazi German train cloaked in mystery since it was rumoured to have gone missing near the end of World War Two while carrying away gems and guns ahead of advancing Soviet Red Army forces.

Local authorities in Poland's southwestern district of Walbrzych said they had been contacted by a law firm representing a Pole and a German who said they had located the train and were seeking 10 percent of the value of the findings.

"Lawyers, the army, the police and the fire brigade are dealing with this," Marika Tokarska, an official at the Walbrzych district council, told Reuters. "The area has never been excavated before and we don't know what we might find."

Local news reports said the train in question went missing in 1945, packed with loot from the-then eastern German city of Breslau, now called Wroclaw and part of Poland, as the Red Army closed in at the end of World War Two.

One local media report said the train was armoured and belonged to the Wehrmacht (Nazi Germany's military).

Radio Wroclaw cited local folklore as saying the train entered a tunnel near Ksiaz Castle in the mountainous Lower Silesian region and never emerged. According to that theory, the tunnel was later closed and its location long forgotten.

According to Radio Wroclaw, the 150-metre-(495-foot)-long train was carrying guns, "industrial equipment", gems and other valuable treasure. Tokarska said she did not have any details on the location or the contents of the missing train.

Some sceptics say there is no evidence that it ever existed.

"A handful of people have already looked for the train, damaging the line in the process, but nothing was ever found," Radio Wroclaw quoted Joanna Lamparska as saying, describing her as a connoisseur of the region's history.

"But the legend has captured imaginations."

Trains were indeed used to spirit Nazi loot back to Berlin as U.S.-led Allied and Soviet forces surged towards the German capital from the west and the east in the winter and spring of 1945.

In the case of the so-called "Gold Train", Nazi forces sent 24 freight carriages from Budapest towards Germany filled with family treasures including gold, silver and valuable paintings seized from Hungarian Jews and estimated to be worth up to $200 million.

The train was intercepted by U.S. soldiers, who, according to a later U.S. investigation, helped themselves to some of the loot.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...d=ansmsnnews11

[SPARTAN A045]

Great read! Makes you wonder what other crazy treasures the Nazis hid, that haven't been found yet. I'm still holding my breath for the ark of the covenant to be found in some warehouse.

[mojaveman]

And if it's true who's going to claim it? The finders, the Poles, the Jews, the Germans, the Russians? This could get interesting.

[Sdiver]

Looks as if they're 99% sure that they've found it ...

Officials say they’re zeroing in on the fabled German haul, but they’re warning away new treasure hunters looking to solve the mystery and cash in.

WARSAW — Seventy years after the end of World War II, Poland could be on the verge of solving the mystery of a long-rumored “gold train” believed to be tucked away in the country’s southwestern corner. According to legend, a train laden with gold departed the then-German city of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) around the start of 1945, as the Nazis braced for defeat. It never reached its destination, and its whereabouts have fascinated generations of treasure hunters.

Now the answer seems closer than ever—but it could contain some nasty surprises, officials warn.

There is a growing sense that this time is for real, after various false alarms over the years. The clues point to the area around Wałbrzych, a city of some 120,000 inhabitants southwest of Wrocław.

Piotr Żuchowski, head of conservation at Poland’s ministry of culture, said at a Friday press conference that he is more than 99 percent sure that this is the “gold train.”

“This is an unprecedented find. Until now, we found only tanks and guns, and now there’s to be a train that’s over 100 meters long,” he said. “I have seen clear, ground-penetrating radar photos of the underground train.” Seeing is believing, it seems.

The buzz began this month when two unidentified men, a Pole and a German, claimed to have found the storied train. They contacted authorities in Wałbrzych via a law firm, but refused to reveal the train’s exact location until they were guaranteed 10 percent of the value of what’s inside.

The news struck a chord with many others who have long sought to find the train. With its complex network underground of tunnels designed by the Nazis, the surrounding hills of Lower Silesia have plenty of space to hide a train—even one 100 meters long.

It is unclear what the train contains and how much it will be worth. It could include military equipment or archival documents.

Yet just as more hopefuls are joining the gold rush, they are being asked to stop.

Żuchowski issued a warning this week to all treasure-hunters hoping to find the train. “I call on you to halt all searches for it until the official administrative procedure securing the finding is completed,” he said in a statement.

“There is an enormous likelihood that the train is mined,” he added.

This is unlikely to put off hopefuls, particularly now that the trail leads to Wałbrzych. This week, the city’s deputy mayor, Zbigniew Nowaczyk, said at a press conference that the train is “is in the city’s territory, within its administrative limits.” This appeared to solve ambiguities about where the missing train might be hidden, as different versions of the legend pointed in slightly different directions.

Anyone hoping to hear the train’s precise whereabouts was quickly disappointed, though. “For understandable reasons, I cannot show you the exact place,” Nowaczyk added.

In terms of ownership, any works of art inside the train that belonged to the German state before World War II would become the property of Poland now. Private treasures would be returned to their pre-war owners or, more likely, their heirs.

This still leaves some hope for the Polish-German duo. Regardless of whether valuables are state or private property, they would get their 10 percent, Żuchowski said. All the same, it is unclear what the train contains and how much it will be worth. It could include military equipment or archival documents, he pointed out.

As the gold fever mounted, Wałbrzych Mayor Roman Szełemej spoke about the train for the first time on Thursday.

As far the train itself is concerned, he was rather blasé. “The fact that people who think that they have particular knowledge about this or other event is no surprise for us,” he said, quoted by local newssite wałbrzych24.com. “Anyone who lives in Wałbrzych has heard information of this kind at least a few times in their life and it’s nothing new.”

What is surprising is the two men’s determination, he added.

Despite the focus on Wałbrzych, it is becoming clear that the search for the train could demand a larger operation. The historical, legal, and security dimensions of the finding make this a national matter. The city is in touch with the Ministry of Culture, the State Treasury and even the Ministry of Defense, the mayor announced.

Even so, the mayor said that he is “very skeptically disposed” toward the final outcome of the search.

At the same time, he did not hide that the excitement was benefiting the city and its inhabitants. “There have never been so many people interested in Wałbrzych and my humble person as now,” he admitted. “There have been more in these three days than over the past four years.”

For now, Wałbrzych is basking in this unexpected attention at home and abroad. How long it lasts will depend on what treasures the long-lost train reveals.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...nazi-trap.html

[Sdiver]

... and another.

Nazi gold train is FOUND: Deathbed confession leads treasure hunters to secret location as Polish officials claim they have seen proof on radar

A German and a Pole last week claimed they had found the Nazi gold train
Polish official says man who helped hide the train revealed its location
Believed to contain weapons, jewellery, artwork and archive documents
Officials have seen radar images which prove evidence of train’s existence

A Nazi gold train has been found in Poland after the man who helped hide it at the end of the Second World War revealed its location in a deathbed confession.

Two men, a German and a Pole, last week claimed they had found the train - believed to contain treasure - close to the small town of Walbrzych in south-west Poland.

Today, Poland’s Culture Ministry announced that a man who helped hide the train had revealed its location shortly before he died.

Speaking at a press briefing in the capital Warsaw this afternoon, Piotr Zuchowski, Poland’s National Heritage and Conservation Officer, said: 'Information about where this train is and what its contents are were revealed on the deathbed of a person who had knowledge of the secret of this train.'

He added that Polish authorities had now seen evidence of the train’s existence in a picture taken using a ground-penetrating radar.

He said the image - albeit blurred - showed the shape of a train platform and cannons.

Mr Zuchowski said the find was 'unprecedented', adding: 'We do not know what is inside the train.

'Probably military equipment but also possibly jewellery, works of art and archive documents.

'Armoured trains from this period were used to carry extremely valuable items and this is an armoured train, it is a big clue.'

He said authorities were now '99 percent sure the train exists' and whatever is on it will be returned to the rightful owners, if they can be found.

'We will be 100 per cent sure only when we find the train,' Mr Zuchowski added.

Walbrzych regional authorities will conduct the search using military explosives experts, in a procedure that will take 'weeks', he said.

However, the two men who claim to have discovered the train had demanded a ten per cent finders fee of the value of whatever may be on it.

Mr Zuchowski told reporters that the train was about 100 metres long but added: 'It is not possible to disclose the exact location of where the train can be found.

'The local government in Walbrzych knows where it is.'

He explained it is hidden along a 4km stretch of track on the Wroclaw-Walbrzych line.

Mr Zuchowski said the person who claimed he helped load the gold train in 1945 said in a 'deathbed statement' the train is secured with explosives.

The official declined to comment further about the man who said this but speculation is now rife that it was a former SS guard or a local Pole who stumbled upon the train before hiding it.

Deputy Mayor of Walbrzych, Zygmunt Nowaczyk told the press: 'The city is full of mysterious stories because of its history.

'Now it is formal information - we have found something.'

News of the discovery created such a flurry of interest from treasure hunters desperate to find the train that they were warned to stop looking because it could be mined and dangerous.

'There may be hazardous substances dating from the Second World War in the hidden train, which I'm convinced exists,' Mr Zuchowski had said.

'I am appealing to people to stop any such searches until the end of official procedures leading to the securing of the find. There's a huge probability that the train is booby-trapped.'

Rumours of a German train filled with gold, gems and armaments have been circulating since the end of the Second World War.

Legend has it the locomotive set off from the western city of Wroclaw (then known as Breslau) before mysteriously disappearing around Walbrzych (Waldenburg at the time) while fleeing the Red Army in 1945.

Fortune-hunters have looked for it for decades, and in the communist era the Polish army and security services even carried out apparently fruitless searches for it.

Local lore says Nazi Germany ordered the vast underground network, which snakes around the massive Ksiaz Castle, be built to hide Third Reich valuables.

German concentration camp inmates were used to build the huge tunnels - code-named Riese (Giant) - to use as production spaces for strategic weapons, as the site was safe from Allied air raids.

Located in the passages were underground Nazi shelters as well as one of Adolf Hitler's headquarters.

Portions of the tunnels are now open to tourists while the Polish Academy of Sciences stores seismographs in the deepest section.

But according to some reports there was also a two-kilometre (one-mile) sidetrack and its entryway was blown up when Nazi Germany surrendered.

The two men who claim to have found the train wrote in their statement to officials that it was armoured and filled with self-propelled guns, 'precious metals, valuable objects and industrial equipment'.

Jaroslaw Chmielewski, the lawyer of the two treasure hunters - who have remained anonymous - said the pair provided local authorities with a description of the train carriage.

One group of fortune hunters calling itself The Silesian Research Group insists that it in fact found the legendary train here over two years ago.

And it says the duo who filed a claim with local authorities for the treasure two weeks ago somehow pilfered their information.

One group member, who asked not to be identified after receiving threatening phone calls from a 'mysterious man', told MailOnline: 'About two or three years ago we carried out extensive research of the area using geo-radar and magnetic readings.

'We came across an anomaly about 70 metres below the surface and further investigation revealed this was most likely a train.

'It is well-known that the Nazis built a network of railway lines under the mountains.

'And we know that in May 1945 gold and other valuables from the city of Wroclaw were being transported to Walbrzych when they disappeared between the towns of Lubiechow and Swiebodzice.'

The researcher went on: 'During the war, there used to be an SS barracks here which was heavily guarded. And just behind the railway bridge was the entrance to the tunnel.

'We recorded our findings and marked the location on a map as well as storing the information on computer records.

'We were and are convinced that this is where the gold train is. But, soon after our discovery, the map and data for the area went missing.

'At first we thought it had been mislaid, but then we heard about the findings of these two people and we realised they must have got hold of our information.'

The researcher added that he had been 'warned off' talking about the subject or investigating it further.

He said: 'I received a phone call from a mysterious man who warned me to stay away from the story and to not get involved.

'A lot of dangerous people are interested in finding this train, this could have been a warning from one of them. This man who called me knows that I know something.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...oof-radar.html

[PRB]

If, as it says, they contacted a lawyer first to present their discovery then more than likely true.

Very cool, for them, and those that lost stolen art/treasure.

[PSM]

I've read many thrillers based on this "myth". I hope it's real.

In the meantime, watch The Train (1964) with Burt Lancaster.

Pat

[mojaveman]

Screw the gold, if there are any of these on that train I want them.

[glebo]

Originally Posted by mojaveman

Screw the gold, if there are any of these on that train I want them.

Shit...those ARE gold...

[cbtengr]

I plan on following this until they announce that Geraldo will be doing a live special of the train actually being uncovered.

[Paslode]

That will be one one hell a time capsule.

[Hand]

The area surrounding the newly-discovered Nazi train filled with Holocaust- era plunder in southern Poland went up in flames on Monday, according to reports by The Telegraph.

The fire brigade brought to the scene to fight the blaze said they are almost positive the fire was not due to an arson attack, reported The Telegraph.

The fire only adds to the mystery of the legendary train in the wake of a request put forth by Polish officials to World War II buffs and rail enthusiasts to stop searching for a Nazi German train.

Tadeusz Slowikowski, a treasure hunter who has been on the hunt for the train for 40 years revealed to The Daily Mail that he had faced threats on his search for the legendary train.

"As soon as we started, three men in civilian clothes and carrying guns came up to us and threatened us, telling us to stop. I didn't know who they were, but I had my suspicions," Slowikowski said in an interview with The Daily Mail.

"Shortly afterwards my dog was poisoned. Then my front door was smashed in and then my phones began to be tapped. These were classic tactics of the secret police when they wanted to intimidate people," said Slowikowski.

“A lot of dangerous people are interested in finding this train, this [fire] could have been a warning from one of them,” he added.

Polish authorities last week all but confirmed the discovery of the train, which has long been believed to contain millions of dollars worth of Nazi loot. On Friday, Polish Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski announced he has seen a ground-penetrating radar image indicating that the train, which two unidentified individuals claimed to locate earlier this month, likely exists.

The train is believed to be one that reportedly disappeared in 1945 loaded with gold, gems, art and guns bound for Berlin, one of several trains the Nazis used in an attempt to save their war plunder from the advancing Allies. According to local lore, the train vanished after entering a network of tunnels under the Owl Mountains.

Sam Sokol and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source

[Sdiver]

So, how do you say "Nothing to see here ... Move along." in Polish?

Polish Army Begins Digging For Nazi "Gold" Train

In late August and early September, Polish media was abuzz with stories that the long-lost, and legendary, Nazi gold train had been finally uncovered by two men, a Pole and a German, in the deep underground tunnels between the Polish towns of Wroclaw and Walbrzych.

We covered the saga of the missing 150 meter-long train, which allegedly is full of gold, gems and weapons extensively in the following posts:

•Is This Where The Long Lost Nazi "Gold Train" Is Located
•Polish Government Confirms Discovery Of Nazi "Gold Train", Warns It May Be Booby-Trapped
•Radar Image Said To Reveals Nazi "Gold Train" Final Resting Place

Then, some time around the first week of September, virtually all stories involving the "Nazi" train disappeared, and there was hardly any mention of the train. As a reminder, Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said last month he was "more than 99 percent sure" the train exists because of ground-penetrating radar images he had seen.

But officials since cast doubt on its existence, saying there was no credible evidence of it. They have not however given up on verifying the claim.

In fact, the story of the mysterious Nazi train was all but forgotten until earlier today, when AFP reported that while the Polish propaganda machine has been busy to neutralize any speculation that such a train may indeed exist (or have been discovered) even though it explicitly admitted as much just a month ago, Poland's army confirmed that it has begun inspecting the southwestern area where two men claim to have discovered an armored Nazi gold train buried at the end of World War II.

It strikes us as strange to send in the army to begin industrial - and guarded - excavation if, as officials have claimed, "there is nothing there."

But don't worry: the army isn't there to recover the alleged $1 billion in gold. "Our goal is to check whether there's any hazardous material at the site," said Colonel Artur Talik, who is leading the search using mine detectors and ground-penetrating radar.

The governor of the region of Lower Silesia, Tomasz Smolarz, added that "other decisions" regarding the search for the train would be made "once safety is assured at the site". Any by "safety" they mean seclusion from the outside world, giving Poland's government the freedom to do as it sees fit with what may be the biggest Treasure in history.

Rumors of two Nazi trains that disappeared in the spring of 1945 have been circulating for years, capturing the imagination of countless treasure-hunters.

And now that the Polish army is officially "on location" and is guaranteed to have the first and only claim on any undocumented discovery, one can be certain that absolutely no "discovery" will be revealed to the outside world, especially if the Polish army does in fact make a discovery that would send Indian Jones blushing with envy.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...azi-gold-train

[Santo Tomas]

This is very cool. Ever since I saw Monuments Men I've researched this subject as time allowed.

There are still millions of pieces missing. I would love to stumble across one some day.

[Sdiver]

Here's hoping they find something worthwhile.

The world might be about to find out whether a train full of Nazi gold is really hidden in Poland

LONDON — When two men claimed to have found a mysterious train filled with Nazi gold last fall in Poland, it all seemed too spectacular to be really true. Skepticism of the alleged finding quickly overtook the initial enthusiasm.

On Tuesday, we may finally find out whether the Nazi gold train has indeed been found.

One year after claiming to have traced it, a team of 35 researchers that includes Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter will start digging for the precious metal. A report they worked on found that soil anomalies could hint at the train's existence, but another study by the AGH University of Science and Technology in the Polish city of Krakow found no evidence for that. The latter study, however, did conclude that a tunnel may be at the location where Koper and Richter will now put their theory to the test.

"The train is not a needle in the haystack — if there is one, we will find it," Andrzej Gaik, the spokesman for the search committee, told the news agency Agence France-Presse. The committee consists of volunteers rather than of Polish officials, who refrained from participating in the search efforts.

Gaik remains hopeful: "If we find a tunnel, then that is also a success. Maybe the train is hidden inside that tunnel." The privately funded effort will be streamed live online and could be over within two days. Using special equipment, the search team is planning to drill three 100-meter holes into the ground.

The story of a Nazi-era train with valuable art, gems and gold that disappeared at the end of World War II in 1945 has circulated for decades. It is believed to have been last seen near the city of Wroclaw, which is today part of Poland, and researchers and hunters have been unable to find the tunnel complex in which it is thought to be hidden.

The tunnel system carried the name "Giant" ("Riese"), which indicates the dimensions of the underground network. The Riese tunnel network was originally also supposed to house a bunker for Adolf Hitler, but construction stalled as the Allied forces made gains.

The Polish news site Wiadomosci Walbrzyskie reported last year that up to 300 tons of gold could be hidden onboard the long-lost train, if it exists.

Although such claims may turn out to be incorrect, some of the history of Nazi gold is well documented. Using jewelry from Jews and other prisoners who had been sent to concentration camps, the Nazis melted the metal into ingots. When the Allied forces advanced at the end of World War II, the Nazis transported that gold back to Germany amid fears that it might fall into Soviet hands. Experts say that not all of it has been found.

Researchers have remained wary of those claims, however. There is no evidence that the train has ever existed, although locals have passed on the story since 1945, when World War II ended.

Despite having refrained from participating in the search, local officials took the claims of the finding seriously at first. News agency Reuters quoted local official Marika Tokarska as saying last August: “Lawyers, the army, the police and the fire brigade are dealing with this. ... The area has never been excavated before, and we don’t know what we might find.”