A World War II document revealing a cache of coins and hidden gems in German is put online through Dutch archivists.
While the Nazis were fleeing occupied Europe in the final days of World War II, 4 German infantrymen buried a hidden treasure trove of gold coins and jewelry in the middle of nowhere in the Dutch countryside. Nearly 80 years later, hopes grew to locate the buried loot. after the National Archives of the Netherlands published a treasure trove of documents and a treasure map where the X marks the place.
The treasure (4 instances of ammunition loaded with coins, watches, jewelry, diamonds and other valuable stones) is believed to be worth at least 2 or 3 million Dutch guilders in 1945, the equivalent of about £15. 85 million in silver today.
“Many researchers, news seekers and amateur archaeologists are interested and excited,” said Annet Waalkens, an adviser to the National Archives, which last week published more than 1300 ancient documents. affair. Among the cache of World War II documents was a 7cm-thick folder recounting the Dutch state’s failed efforts to locate Nazi treasure looted after the war.
Researchers, the treasure was buried in April 1945, when the Allies were about to liberate Arnhem in the east of the Netherlands. German infantrymen were fleeing. They make the decision to bury the treasure because it’s too hot under their feet and they’re afraid,” Waalkens told the Observer.
The valuable shipment was buried in the roots of a poplar, 70-80 cm deep, just outside the village of Ommeren, about 25 miles from Arnhem. The riches might have disappeared from the old record without a loquacious German soldier. Helmut S, who was not yet one of the first looters, participated in the burial.
The National Archives does not reveal his full name, as Helmut S, born in 1925, is possibly still alive, although no one has been able to locate him. Of the other 3 soldiers, two did not enter the war and the other simply disappeared. .
Helmut S, however, remained on the radar. ” He was a bit talkative in Berlin,” Waalkens said, and temporarily caught the attention of the Dutch government in the occupied German city. They passed the data to the Beheersinstituut, the Netherlands Institute. for Asset and Property Management, an organization guilty of managing the assets of other people who disappeared in World War II, adding deported Jews, Dutch spies and German citizens living in the Netherlands.
According to Helmut S, the treasure was discovered when an Arnhem branch of Bank Rotterdamsche was bombed in August 1944. A broke, leaving jewelry, coins and other riches strewn across the street. the loot in boxes of zinc ammunition.
In 1946-47, the Beheersinstitut conducted 3 investigations. The first one failed because the floor froze. The second, with the help of primitive steel detectors of the time, yielded nothing. For the third attempt, they called Helmut S from Germany to help them, but despite his wisdom as an eyewitness and the map he had provided, the excavations were unsuccessful.
Archivists aren’t sure who made the map, but it was done by one of the German soldiers. After Helmut S overlooked it, the card entered the register of the Beheersinstituut, as long as it was not published for many years to protect the money. interests of the owners.
Dutch officials have toyed with several theories. Perhaps the treasure had been unearthed through a local who witnessed the burial or through the mysterious surviving German soldier. Others were suspicious of Americans. In the third search, Beheersinstituut personnel met with two U. S. officials and discovered that the soil in the domain had been disturbed. “And they really come to them and say, “Well, we don’t know what they’re doing, but please focus on your own business and that’s our business,” Waalkens said.
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Joost Rosendaal, an assistant professor of history at Nijmegen’s Radboud University, told the Observer that looting is not unusual on both sides. In October 1944, at least five banks in Arnhem were looted by German soldiers. After liberation in April 1945, some others were stolen by troops in British uniforms, an organization that included a Dutchman serving in South Wales Borderers.
The historian believes that Helmut S was certain facts. Helmut’s claim that his comrades stumbled upon jewelry in the street after a bank was attacked in August 1944 “cannot be true” because Arnhem was not bombed that month, Rosendaal said.
It was not until September that the Allies attempted to take Arnhem, in the disastrous Operation Market Garden. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s reckless gamble to break through in Germany claimed many lives and was later dramatized in the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far.
Rosendaal believes it is most likely that the other foot soldiers stole the jewels in November 1944 when German forces placed a chimney in Arnhem’s Rotterdamsche bank, the chimney meant to “hide the bank robbery. “
The historian doubts that the treasure will ever be found. The domain around Ommeren was heavily bombed on the night of 24 April 1945 by the Royal Air Force. He suspects that the hiding place “destroyed through this bombardment,” which allowed the treasure to be found. through local or allied troops, or that was taken to some other position through the Germans.
The Dutch archives team is more hopeful now that the map is online and can be viewed by the user in The Hague, along with other documents from their 142km-long collection, which would stretch 142km if aligned. “I hope it’s still here,” Waalkens said. And that when it is excavated, we can possibly locate some of the rightful owners. “