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Buried Nazi "Gold Train": Legend Or Actual Treasure Trove?

Mal_Adjusted

Justified & Ancient
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Aug 6, 2003
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US to settle Nazi gold train claim

Reuters in Miami
Tuesday December 21, 2004
The Guardian

The US has agreed to settle a lawsuit with tens of thousands of Hungarian Holocaust survivors over a trainload of gold, jewellery and other property seized by the American army at the end of the second world war, lawyers said yesterday.

The agreement over 24 freight vans filled with $200m worth of art and household goods stolen by the Nazis and then confiscated by the US still has to be worked out, lawyer Sam Dubbin told a Miami court.

Government documents said property was requisitioned by army officers to furnish homes, was sold, or kept as trinkets.

"This money won't bring back my parents, my loved ones. I don't care if I get one dollar or $100,000, I just want closure," said Jack Rubin, 76.

Mr Rubin was 15 when the Nazis took him to Auschwitz. He was forced to help load the train with gold, jewellery, art, Oriental rugs, household goods and religious items.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1377744,00.html

mal
 
Another Gold Train story:

Nazi gold train 'found in Poland'
19 August 2015

Two people in Poland say they may have found a Nazi train rumoured to be full of gold, gems and guns that disappeared in World War Two, Polish media say.
The train is believed to have gone missing near what is now the Polish city of Wroclaw as Soviet forces approached in 1945.

A law firm in south-west Poland says it has been contacted by two men who have discovered the armoured train.
Polish media say the men want 10% of the value of the train's contents.
Local news websites said the apparent find matched reports in local folklore of a train carrying gold and gems that went missing at the end of World War Two near Ksiaz castle.
The claim was made to a law office in Walbrzych, 3km (2 miles) from Ksiaz castle.

"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."

Two news websites in Walbrzych said the train that was found had guns on turrets along its side. One website, walbrzych24.com, said (in Polish) that one of the men was Polish and the other German.
They were liaising with officials in the city, who have since formed an emergency committee led by the mayor to investigate the claims, the website says.
Another site, Wiadomosci Walbrzyskie, said (in Polish) the train was 150m long and may have up to 300 tonnes of gold on board.

Joanna Lamparska, a historian who focuses on the Walbrzych area, told Radio Wroclaw the train was rumoured to have disappeared into a tunnel, and that it had gold and "hazardous materials" on board.
Previous searches for the train in the same area had proved fruitless, Radio Wroclaw said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33994483
 
Poland radar image 'almost certainly Nazi train'

A Polish official says ground-penetrating radar images have left him "99% convinced" that a World War Two German military train is buried near the south-western city of Walbrzych.
Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said images appeared to show a train equipped with gun turrets.

Local legend says a Nazi train filled with gold, gems and guns went missing near the city in 1945.
Mr Zuchowski called the latest evidence an "exceptional" discovery.
He did not reveal the location of the find but said he personally hoped that it would bring to light looted art and Nazi archives.
However, he also reiterated warnings to treasure hunters that it may be booby-trapped.

Mr Zuchowski said information about the train had apparently come in a deathbed confession from a person involved in concealing it.
Earlier this month, a Pole and a German told authorities in Walbrzych that they knew the location of the armoured train.
Through lawyers, they said that they wanted 10% of the value of anything that was found.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34090165
 
Another Gold Train story:

Nazi gold train 'found in Poland'
...

Local news websites said the apparent find matched reports in local folklore of a train carrying gold and gems that went missing at the end of World War Two near Ksiaz castle.
Great story for us Indy Jones buffs. Will be staying closely tuned.


Ksiaz castle. So much atmosphere just from a picture.
maxresdefault.jpg

Ksiaz2.jpg
 
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Nazi 'gold train' explained: Is the train real, what is inside it and what are the authorities doing?
Rose Troup Buchanan
Wednesday 02 September 2015

The area surrounding the alleged location of a train full of looted Nazi gold and priceless artwork has gone up in flames as Polish authorities struggled to dampen the hysteria surrounding the possible discovery.

On Monday, approximately 219 yards surrounding the train line went up in flames, but authorities told The Daily Telegraph they were almost certain it was not arson. It is the latest incident as feverish interest in the Nazi "gold train" only increases. But what are the facts behind the hype
...
What were the origins of the ‘Nazi gold train’?

At the end of WWII, as the Red Army advanced, the Nazis reportedly sent a train filled with goods looted from Wroclaw to Walbrzych. They took the train into a tunnel system constructed under the Sowa mountains and, according to a German miner who claimed to have witnessed events, bricked up the tunnel’s entrance shortly afterward.

Do historians reckon it is real?

Local historian Joanna Lamparska said there were two theories for the train: either it was under the mountain or hidden near Walbrzch. But, she said “no-one has ever seen documents that confirm the existence of this train.”

Historian Guy Walters claimed although many Nazi gold stories have transpired to be false, this one may “have legs, or rather, wheels.”
...
Ok. So where did these latest rumours originate from?

Two men, a Pole and a German, claimed in August they had found the train and demanded a 10 per cent finders’ fee. They say they are the first people to have found the train – but an organisation called The Silesian Research Group claims they found the train first.

What have the authorities done?

Mostly contradict themselves.
On 28 August Poland’s Culture Minister confirmed the find, with Piotr Zuchowski, Poland’s National Heritage and Conservation Officer, claiming they were “99 per cent” sure they had found the train after a man's "deathbed confession".

Shortly afterwards, the Culture ministry appealed for calm after hordes of treasure seekers besieged the mountain. Provincial governor Tomasz Smolarz said on Monday that police officers had blocked off an area near where the train is suspected to lie underground, ostensibly done to protect curious onlookers from the still-running trains.
The army, alongside Poland's secret Service Internal Security Service (ABW), has been sent in to search the area.

Then, on Monday, authorities suddenly backtracked. The evidence was "no stronger than similar claims made in past decades," according to a Bloomberg report. But the reports have done nothing to calm the feverish excitement that has built around the claims.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-what-are-the-authorities-doing-10481307.html
 
'Nazi gold train': explosive experts search site of secret tunnel
Polish military send chemical and radiation experts to Walbrzych, south-west Poland, to eliminate dangers of alleged missing train
[video - apparently designed to show nothing of interest or importance!]
Associated Press
Monday 28 September 2015 17.07 BST

The Polish military have deployed chemical, radiation and explosives experts to a site in south-western Poland where a Nazi train, allegedly missing since the second world war, might be located.
Tomasz Smolarz, the governor of Lower Silesia, said the aim of the work in the town of Walbrzych was to eliminate any dangers for residents.

The military’s efforts on Monday came after two explorers, Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper, claimed they had found a Nazi train, which could contain armaments and precious minerals, trapped in a tunnel. The explorers’ claims await confirmation, but they sparked hopes that it could be a Nazi train laden with treasure that local legend says went missing at the end of the war. The train was reportedly booby-trapped with weapons.

Walbrzych, which was part of Germany during the war and called Waldenburg, is in an area where Adolf Hitler was building a system of secret underground tunnels. The legend says the “gold train” entered one of the tunnels while fleeing the advancing Soviet army in 1945 and was never seen again.

Although there is no evidence the train existed, news of the possible discovery has sparked global fascination in the case and a local gold rush.
Richter, who is German, and Koper, a Pole, say they used ground-penetrating radar to locate the train and want a reward of 10% of the value of its contents.
Prosecutors said they were investigating whether the men committed a crime by conducting a search with radar equipment without official permission. :rolleyes:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/28/nazi-gold-train-polish-army-search-secret-tunnel
 
So the gold's been stolen already? Disappointing.
 
In a break from their website's normal clickbait, Buzzfeed has a story on Nazi gold trains.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahatopo...zi-gold-trains?utm_term=.yoQ23Mo3M#.yuylO3BO3

It's a long and interesting article that wouldn't have looked out of place in the FT.

------------------------------------
Last summer, explorers in Poland claimed to have discovered tunnels built for trains carrying plundered Nazi gold, only to be debunked a few months later. But for the true believers who’ve been hunting for this treasure for decades, this merely proved what they’ve thought all along: Inside these mountains are secrets and stories that some would rather stay buried.
 
In a break from their website's normal clickbait, Buzzfeed has a story on Nazi gold trains.

Brilliant! A number of the comments on that page express incredulity about finding such an engrossing and well-written piece on Buzzfeed.

I did find that some of the biggest images would not load in Safari - but they do in Chrome. :glee:
 
Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper are said to have ended their joint search after years of dead ends.

The pair criticised efforts calling it “pointless” as authorities weren't digging deeply enough to uncover the loot.

Years on and now a frustrated Andreas Richer has called time on the investigation after reportedly blowing $125,000 on various digs.

Andreas is said to be fed up with mistakes and inaccuracies in various digs and despite still being confident the train exists, says he can't carry on looking for it.

Former partner Koper remains resolute and is determined to crack on with another dig this winter.


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/treasure-hunters-leading-search-hidden-13046396
 
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