Treasure hunters from the Silesian Bridge Foundation have already established the supposed location of the German Nazi treasure. UK daily The Sun reported that the team is to begin excavating next week at an 18th century palace in the town of Minkowskie in southern Poland.
There may be up to 10 tons of gold and other riches to be found in 48 chests, worth more than EUR 547 million.
The valuables were supposedly stolen at the end of the Second World War on the orders of the leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler himself. Among the treasure, there is said to be jewelry belonging to German elites, who wanted to hide their valuables from the approaching Red Army, and the legendary “Gold of Wroclaw,” which had disappeared from the Wroclaw bank at the end of the war.
The team from the Silesian Bridge Foundation examined documents that contained clues concerning the chests’ hidden location. These included a journal of an SS officer under the pseudonym “Michaelis” and a map received from the descendants of another German officer.
An entry in the journal from March 12, 1945, discusses the treasure stash at the palace in Minkowskie: “A ditch has been dug in the orangery, which is a safe ‘home’ for the delivered chests and containers.”
The officer also described other hidden treasures, but the team decided to focus on the stash in Minkowskie palace because it was easily accessible.
Another clue concerning the hidden chests was the letter of a German officer named von Stein to a woman who worked in the palace and later became his lover.
“My dear Inge, I will fulfill my assignment, with God’s will. Some transports were successful. The remaining 48 heavy Reichsbank chests and all the family chests I hereby entrust to you. Only you know where they are located. May God help you and help me fulfill my assignment,” von Stein wrote.
