Treasure Hunters Hopeful of Unearthing Lost Nazi Gold Train
Image by Getty Images
Sign up for Forwarding the News, our essential morning briefing with trusted, nonpartisan news and analysis, curated by Senior Writer Benyamin Cohen.
Treasure-hunters said on Wednesday they were optimistic they would find a Nazi-era train believed to be hidden underground in southern Poland as they launched a second day of excavations.
According to folklore, the train – dubbed by Polish media the “gold train” because it was carrying jewels and guns looted by the Nazis ahead of advancing Soviet forces – was buried in a tunnel in the lower Silesia region in 1945.
Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter said last year they had located a train buried in an embankment near railway tracks connecting the cities of Walbrzych and Wroclaw.
A team of Polish scientists later expressed doubts about whether a train was there. Koper and Richter decided to excavate the embankment at several points.
Two excavations made on Tuesday have been terminated after reaching solid rock with no sign of a tunnel, but a third dig on Wednesday revealed material put in the embankment by human hand, said Christel Focken, spokeswoman for the project.
