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Lake Toplitz (Austria; Alleged Nazi Treasure Dump Site)

rynner2

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Austria to ban diving for 'Nazi diamonds' in Toplitz Lake
Austrian authorities are seeking a 99-year ban on searching for Nazi diamonds worth millions at the bottom of Toplitz Lake in order to protect wildlife.
Published: 11:16PM BST 01 Oct 2009

Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the last chief of the Reich Main Security Office, is said to have sunk the secret loot in the remote lake high in the Alps, 60 miles from Salzburg in western Austria, as Allied forces swept through Europe at the end of the Second World War.

Previous dives have dredged up hundreds of thousands of pounds of forged British currency and boxes of top secret SS documents. Hans Fricke, a German scientist, even discovered a new bacteria, called the "worm of Toplitz Lake".

But now Austrian nature experts are demanding a 99-year ban on all future dives because the constant hunt for treasure is disturbing local wildlife.

The Bundesforste authority, which oversees Austria's forests, and Austria's water authority, have warned the government that the frequent dives are so disruptive that they risk losing species from the lake, in the province of Styria.

"These Indiana Jones types are very bad news for the animals that make their home around the lake," said one expert.

Austrian-born General Kaltenbrunner was the final general in charge of SS stormtroopers as the German army fell apart and the highest ranking SS officer to be executed for war crimes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -Lake.html
 
The (mostly fake) British currency stash related to Operation Bernhard found in Lake Toplitz - I understand from a couple of daft documentaries I've seen that the boxes were all dumped in the lake as £100,000,000 of fake notes took too long to burn. Rumours of gold also being dumped there also persist although the lake is dangerous for diving and the local authorities tried to ban further diving expeditions.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/mystery-of-lake-toplitz.html
 
The (mostly fake) British currency stash related to Operation Bernhard found in Lake Toplitz ...

I've set up a separate thread for the longstanding Lake Toplitz mystery (allegations it was a Nazi treasure dump site).

For those unfamiliar with the place ...

Lake Toplitz (German: Toplitzsee) is a lake situated in a dense mountain forest high up in the Austrian Alps, 98 km (61 mi) from Salzburg in western Austria. It is surrounded by cliffs and forests in the Salzkammergut lake district, within the Totes Gebirge (dead mountains). The Toplitzsee water contains no oxygen below a depth of 20 m. Fish can survive only in the top 18 m, as the water below 20 m is salty, although bacteria and worms that can live without oxygen have been found below 20 m.

In 1943 and 1944, the shore of Lake Toplitz served as a Nazi naval testing station. Using copper diaphragms, scientists experimented with different explosives, detonating up to 4,000 kg charges at various depths. They also fired torpedoes from a launching pad in the lake into the Tote Mountains, making vast holes in the canyon walls. Over £100 million of counterfeit pound sterling notes were dumped in the lake after Operation Bernhard, which was never fully put into action. There is speculation that there might be other valuables to be recovered from the bottom of the Toplitzsee. There is a layer of sunken logs floating half way to the bottom of the lake, making diving beyond it hazardous or impossible. Gerhard Zauner, one of the divers on the 1959 expedition, reports that he saw a sunken aircraft below this layer. ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Toplitz
 
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