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Title: Nazi gold train is FOUND: Deathbed confession leads treasure hunters to secret location as Polish officials claim they have seen proof on radar
Source:
Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... ls-claim-seen-proof-radar.html
Published: Aug 28, 2015
Author: Ed Wight In Warsaw, Poland and Jenny Sta
Post Date: 2015-08-28 16:42:39 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 2299
Comments: 16
A Nazi gold train has been found in Poland after the man who helped hide it at the end of the Second World War revealed its location in a deathbed confession. Two men, a German and a Pole, last week claimed they had found the train - believed to contain treasure - close to the small town of Walbrzych in south-west Poland. Today, Poland’s Culture Ministry announced that a man who helped hide the train had revealed its location shortly before he died. Scroll down for video Confirmed: Poland’s National Heritage and Conservation Officer Piotr Zuchowski today said the secret location was revealed in a deathbed confession Speaking at a press briefing in the capital Warsaw this afternoon, Piotr Zuchowski, Poland’s National Heritage and Conservation Officer, said: 'Information about where this train is and what its contents are were revealed on the deathbed of a person who had knowledge of the secret of this train.' He added that Polish authorities had now seen evidence of the train’s existence in a picture taken using a ground-penetrating radar. He said the image - albeit blurred - showed the shape of a train platform and cannons. Mr Zuchowski said the find was 'unprecedented', adding: 'We do not know what is inside the train. 'Probably military equipment but also possibly jewellery, works of art and archive documents. 'Armoured trains from this period were used to carry extremely valuable items and this is an armoured train, it is a big clue.' He said authorities were now '99 percent sure the train exists' and whatever is on it will be returned to the rightful owners, if they can be found. 'We will be 100 per cent sure only when we find the train,' Mr Zuchowski added. Walbrzych regional authorities will conduct the search using military explosives experts, in a procedure that will take 'weeks', he said. However, the two men who claim to have discovered the train had demanded a ten per cent finders fee of the value of whatever may be on it. Speaking at a press briefing in the capital Warsaw this afternoon, Piotr Zuchowski, Poland’s National Heritage and Conservation Officer, said: 'Information about where this train is and what its contents are were revealed on the deathbed of a person who had knowledge of the secret of this train.' He added that Polish authorities had now seen evidence of the train’s existence in a picture taken using a ground-penetrating radar. He said the image - albeit blurred - showed the shape of a train platform and cannons. Mr Zuchowski said the find was 'unprecedented', adding: 'We do not know what is inside the train. 'Probably military equipment but also possibly jewellery, works of art and archive documents. 'Armoured trains from this period were used to carry extremely valuable items and this is an armoured train, it is a big clue.' He said authorities were now '99 percent sure the train exists' and whatever is on it will be returned to the rightful owners, if they can be found. 'We will be 100 per cent sure only when we find the train,' Mr Zuchowski added. Walbrzych regional authorities will conduct the search using military explosives experts, in a procedure that will take 'weeks', he said. However, the two men who claim to have discovered the train had demanded a ten per cent finders fee of the value of whatever may be on it. Piotr Zuchowski, Poland’s National Heritage and Conservation Officer, said the find was 'unprecedented' It has been confirmed that the Nazi gold train is hidden on a stretch of railway track near Walbrzych in Poland Mr Zuchowski told reporters that the train was about 100 metres long but added: 'It is not possible to disclose the exact location of where the train can be found. 'The local government in Walbrzych knows where it is.' He explained it is hidden along a 4km stretch of track on the Wroclaw-Walbrzych line. Mr Zuchowski said the person who claimed he helped load the gold train in 1945 said in a 'deathbed statement' the train is secured with explosives. The official declined to comment further about the man who said this but speculation is now rife that it was a former SS guard or a local Pole who stumbled upon the train before hiding it. Deputy Mayor of Walbrzych, Zygmunt Nowaczyk told the press: 'The city is full of mysterious stories because of its history. 'Now it is formal information - we have found something.' News of the discovery created such a flurry of interest from treasure hunters desperate to find the train that they were warned to stop looking because it could be mined and dangerous. The Nazi gold train is hidden on a 4km stretch of track on the Wroclaw-Walbrzych line, it has been confirmed 'There may be hazardous substances dating from the Second World War in the hidden train, which I'm convinced exists,' Mr Zuchowski had said. 'I am appealing to people to stop any such searches until the end of official procedures leading to the securing of the find. There's a huge probability that the train is booby-trapped.' Rumours of a German train filled with gold, gems and armaments have been circulating since the end of the Second World War. Legend has it the locomotive set off from the western city of Wroclaw (then known as Breslau) before mysteriously disappearing around Walbrzych (Waldenburg at the time) while fleeing the Red Army in 1945. Fortune-hunters have looked for it for decades, and in the communist era the Polish army and security services even carried out apparently fruitless searches for it. Found: The Nazi gold train found in the mountains is an 'armoured train' which looks similar to the one pictured Local lore says Nazi Germany ordered the vast underground network, which snakes around the massive Ksiaz Castle, be built to hide Third Reich valuables. German concentration camp inmates were used to build the huge tunnels - code-named Riese (Giant) - to use as production spaces for strategic weapons, as the site was safe from Allied air raids. Located in the passages were underground Nazi shelters as well as one of Adolf Hitler's headquarters. Portions of the tunnels are now open to tourists while the Polish Academy of Sciences stores seismographs in the deepest section. But according to some reports there was also a two-kilometre (one-mile) sidetrack and its entryway was blown up when Nazi Germany surrendered. The two men who claim to have found the train wrote in their statement to officials that it was armoured and filled with self-propelled guns, 'precious metals, valuable objects and industrial equipment'. Local lore says the Nazis ordered the underground network be built to hide Third Reich valuables (pictured) Jaroslaw Chmielewski, the lawyer of the two treasure hunters - who have remained anonymous - said the pair provided local authorities with a description of the train carriage. One group of fortune hunters calling itself The Silesian Research Group insists that it in fact found the legendary train here over two years ago. And it says the duo who filed a claim with local authorities for the treasure two weeks ago somehow pilfered their information. One group member, who asked not to be identified after receiving threatening phone calls from a 'mysterious man', told MailOnline: 'About two or three years ago we carried out extensive research of the area using geo-radar and magnetic readings. 'We came across an anomaly about 70 metres below the surface and further investigation revealed this was most likely a train. 'It is well-known that the Nazis built a network of railway lines under the mountains. 'And we know that in May 1945 gold and other valuables from the city of Wroclaw were being transported to Walbrzych when they disappeared between the towns of Lubiechow and Swiebodzice.' Discovery: The train went into one of a series of tunnels the Nazis built in the mountains similar to this one The researcher went on: 'During the war, there used to be an SS barracks here which was heavily guarded. And just behind the railway bridge was the entrance to the tunnel. 'We recorded our findings and marked the location on a map as well as storing the information on computer records. 'We were and are convinced that this is where the gold train is. But, soon after our discovery, the map and data for the area went missing. 'At first we thought it had been mislaid, but then we heard about the findings of these two people and we realised they must have got hold of our information.' The researcher added that he had been 'warned off' talking about the subject or investigating it further. He said: 'I received a phone call from a mysterious man who warned me to stay away from the story and to not get involved. 'A lot of dangerous people are interested in finding this train, this could have been a warning from one of them. This man who called me knows that I know something.' Two men last week claimed they had found the train close to the town of Walbrzych (pictured) in Poland
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
They can demand all they want, but now that the government is involved, they will be lucky if they get a "Thank You". Si vis pacem, para bellum
The finder's will get something, probably. The heirs of the victims will get most of it. Museums will get the art. This is, after all, stolen goods. Doesn't it belong to those from whom it was stolen. And it's sitting on railroad property, after all, so doesn't it belong to the railroad? Consider the case of a box full of $10 million in pirate gold that happens to be sitting right underneath the shed in your back yard. You don't find it. Somebody does a whiz-bang job with Google Earth and an old treasure map from British pirate days, and locates the place, then flies over with an anomaly detector and finds it. So, you never knew it was there. If he finds a vein of gold, it may not be yours at all, if you don't own the mineral rights to your land. A box of treasure isn't mineral rights. Whose treasure is it? The finder's, because he went through the effort to find it? Yours, because it's on your land? The workers who actually dig it up, because they did the labor? Suppose the gold turns out to clearly be taken from a Spanish ship that was plundered by English pirates? Does the Spanish government still own that gold? (They have successfully claimed treasure hoards from galleons sunken in the 1600s.) Does the gold and silver in that chest taken by the English pirates from the Spanish ship that sailed from Rio de Janiero in 1626 really belong to the heirs of the Inca Indians (who are still there) from whom it was plundered? Does it belong to the descendants of the pirates, by right of conquest? Who owns treasure, and why? It's a fascinating moral question, and it doesn't have a simple answer. Every potential owner has a claim, and the claims all have some merit. But who gets the gold? And why him? Jesus answered this in Scripture, by the way. I think I will include that answer in the "What to do" message I said I was going to send you.
As before, I look forward to your message. Si vis pacem, para bellum
Only if the people from whom it was stolen from came by the property honestly. Who knows how many times some of some of that loot was stolen? You only know who stole it last. There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
Who knows how many times some of some of that loot was stolen? Therefore it belongs to the people on whose property it is located. It's located on railroad property. It belongs to the railroad.
Could be. I would guess it would go back to whoever had last clear title to the loot regardless of who had possession of it when it was confiscated by the Nazis or on whose property it was secreted. There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
For those who are interested in Europe's history of armored trains and how they were the battleships (and nuclear weapons) of that era of military tech, this is a nice link. WarIsBoring: Fighting Trains! The Zaamurets is the most famous of these armored trains and it has a truly bizarre history as its last crew fought its way across the Russia to Siberia during the middle of the Russian Revolution. Someone really should make a film about this story. You couldn't make up such a strange war story because no one would believe it. WarIsBoring: A Remarkable Armored Train Fought Its Way Across Eurasia Even more stunning, this awesome, self-propelled war machine went on a journey across the world. The years-long voyage carried the train through Ukraine, Russia and China — illustrating the chaos and uncertainty of the era. The leviathan served in Tsarist, Bolshevik, Czech, White Russian and several Chinese armies.
Seems so easy to stop the thing in its tracks...by removing the tracks.
If only they would have thought of that. : )
Very interesting! But an armored train would seem to have a fatal Achilles' heel, no? After all, once you find the track, it shouldn't be any problem finding the train. There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
After all, once you find the track, it shouldn't be any problem finding the train. I think that would depend on the density of the rail lines... If you are out in the middle of nowhere then that should be easy to find/stop/disable/destroy it... One person and some high explosives and "BOOM" no more tracks/train/bridge or trestle... " the two men who claim to have discovered the train had demanded a ten per cent finders fee of the value of whatever may be on it. "
#2. To: Stoner (#1)
They can demand all they want, but now that the government is involved, they will be lucky if they get a "Thank You".
#3. To: Vicomte13 (#2)
" Jesus answered this in Scripture, by the way. I think I will include that answer in the "What to do" message I said I was going to send you. "
#4. To: cranky (#0)
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#5. To: Vicomte13 (#2)
Doesn't it belong to those from whom it was stolen.
#6. To: cranky (#5)
Only if the people from whom it was stolen from came by the property honestly.
#7. To: Vicomte13 (#6)
It's located on railroad property. It belongs to the railroad.
#8. To: cranky, redleghunter, Vicomte13, Willie Green (#0)
Czech armored train in Siberia, 1918 Heavily armored. Bristling with guns. Everywhere it went, Zaamurets was the biggest, baddest thing around. Not many foes could touch it. If you possessed this train, you ruled the rails of early 20th-century Eurasia.
#9. To: TooConservative (#8)
Heavily armored. Bristling with guns. Everywhere it went, Zaamurets was the biggest, baddest thing around. Not many foes could touch it. If you possessed this train, you ruled the rails of early 20th-century Eurasia.
#10. To: TooConservative (#8)
#11. To: Vicomte13 (#10)
#12. To: TooConservative (#8)
The Zaamurets is the most famous of these armored trains
#13. To: cranky (#12)
(Edited)
But an armored train would seem to have a fatal Achilles' heel, no?
"European railway map" by PeterEastern (talk) using data from OpenStreetMap and contributors - slippy map version. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikipedia.
I'm not too sure how accurate that map (above) is as to how much track still exists, I know here in the USA the amount of track has decreased substantially over the years... And in some places it has been turned into bikepaths...
As you can see they haven't turned all of the abandoned rail lines into bikepaths yet but they are working on it. It's fun riding on those paths some of them are on old narrow gauge rail lines and you still find things like telegraph wires, old stop signals and even some of the old crossbucks...
“Let me see which pig "DON'T" I want to vote for, the one with or without lipstick??" Hmmmmm...
#14. To: CZ82 (#13)
Maybe prior to WWI. But once aircraft became available, a train shouldn't be that hard to find as long as its on tracks. I think that would depend on the density of the rail lines...
There are three kinds of people in the world: those that can add and those that can't
#15. To: cranky (#14)
If it's on flat open ground I would think it would be fairly easy to find by aircraft. Now in forests/wooded areas, hilly terrain or the mountains that could be a different story, especially if the train isn't that long... But once aircraft became available, a train shouldn't be that hard to find as long as its on tracks.
“Let me see which pig "DON'T" I want to vote for, the one with or without lipstick??" Hmmmmm...
#16. To: CZ82, cranky, redleghunter (#15)
Which is why armored trains and rail cannons declined during WW II. Video from a captured German World War II propaganda film showing their huge railway guns in action firing on positions along the Maginot Line in the Verdun area during their invasion of France. Shows crews loading and firing the guns and the shells landing. If you look closely you can actually see the shell coming in from the upper left of the screen before it lands. If it's on flat open ground I would think it would be fairly easy to find by aircraft.
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