Poles Downplay Nazi Treasure Train Expectations
Image by Getty Images
The Polish governor of the province in which a fabled Nazi train loaded with stolen gold and riches reportedly has been located tried to lower expectations of the discovery.
Tomasz Smolarz, provincial governor of Lower Silesia in south west Poland, also announced that the alleged location of the train car’s discovery has been sealed off in the wake of a surge of treasure hunters and curiosity seekers to the area, Polish Radio reported.
Smolarz said in a news conference Monday in Worclaw that new evidence about the train’s location and its contents “are not any stronger than similar claims made in past decades.”
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.
Two men, one German and one Polish, approached government officials in Poland’s southwestern district of Walbrzych earlier this month, claiming to have found the train and demanding a 10 percent finder’s fee.
At a news conference Friday, Zuchowski said he was “more than 99 percent certain that this train exists,” The Associated Press reported.
Zuchowski also said the two men who claim to have found the train learned of its location from a dying individual who had been involved in transporting the train in 1945.
Smolarz said at the news conference that the area where the train is supposed to be located will be secured by police, forest guards and railway security guards. The armed forces will survey the site, he added.
“First and foremost we have to be sure of people’s safety,” Smolarz said. “This is an exceptional situation.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
