Nazi Gold Hunt

A hunt for believed treasures, stolen on orders by SS boss Heinrich Himmler to set up the Fourth Reich are buried in the 14-hectare park of a palace in the southern Polish village of Minkowski.

There are said to be 10 tonnes worth half a billion pounds of gold buried here. The location was revealed by secret documents, a diary and a map that the treasure hunters received from the descendants of SS officers. Those belonging to a secretive lodge worshipped by Himmler and dating back over 1,000 years. The buried treasure is thought to have the so-called 'Gold of Breslau' which went missing from police headquarters in what is now the nearby Polish city of Wrocław.

The dig is taking place on the grounds of the 18th-century palace in the village of Minkowski, southern Poland, and is expected to last for most of May

The diary said to have been pencil written by a high-ranking SS officer under the pseudonym Michaelis, last year revealed the location to the hunters of yet another palace in the region where it is thought 28 tonnes of treasure is buried at the bottom of a well along with 11 other locations across Lower Silesia which before and during the Second World War was German territory But the hunters said they are beginning their dig at the new location because of its easier access.

‘We know we are looking in the right place because the foundation spoke several times to Inge before she died and she told us to look here.

‘We will dig to a depth of 5 metres. The site was secured by specialists 75 years ago, so we need specialists now to uncover it.’

Says Roman Furmaniak from the Silesian Bridge Foundation. The arrival of the Red Army meant that the Germans had to hide the tonnes of gold and valuables as quickly as possible. 'These include bank deposits from the Reichsbank as well as private German banks, and civilian deposits as the population had been urged to deposit gold, money and jewellery.

According to legend, the treasure was collected in the building of the police headquarters and packed into crates. It was then transported under an SS guard from Breslau towards what was then the town of Hirschberg, today’s Jelenia Góra in Poland, and then the Sudeten mountains. But, soon after departing, the trail went dead and the gold has never been seen or heard of since. One of the theories is that it was stolen on Himmler’s orders to go towards the creation of a Fourth Reich.' He added that they may even find five French prisoners of war who are said to have been murdered immediately after helping to dig the hiding place.

Only a few days prior to the Foundation starting their dig they came across a WWII German Bayonet in the grounds of the house (on left). Promising once again, that they are in the right area. They are still on their search for two guns that are said to be there. ‘She would have hidden them [the two guns and knife] because if the Russians found them it would have been very dangerous for her.’ says Furmaniak. He says the Foundation had been led to the site by one of the girls, Inga, who had worked at the palace

An entry from March 12, 1945, referring to the treasure at the palace in Minkowski says: 'A trough has been dug in the orangery, which is a safe "home" for the delivered chests and containers.'

It continues: '48 chests from the Reichsbank, in good condition, were hidden, very well covered with earth and "greened" with still-living plants.'

'Let providence watch over us.'

Among the bundle of documents is a letter (on left) from a senior SS officer called von Stein to one of the girls who worked at the palace in Minkowski and who later became his lover and a diary (on bottom) that last year revealed the location of where it is thought 28 tonnes of treasure is buried at the bottom of a well.

'The diary describes one cache as containing 47 works of art of international importance, believed to be stolen from collections in France. The loot apparently includes works by Botticelli, Rubens, Cezanne, Carravagio, Monet, Dürer, Rafael and Rembrandt. Yet another treasure stash is supposed to contain religious objects gathered by Himmler’s Ahnenerbe, which hoovered up sacred items from around the world in an attempt to find evidence for Hitler’s racial theories.'

Furmaniak said: ‘We are making preparations as we speak to start digging at the other ten sites, where we expect to find much more.’

He added: ‘We are described everywhere as treasure hunters. In fact, we want nothing for ourselves.

‘The goal of the Quedlinburg Lodge and therefore the foundation is to hand these deposits over to their rightful owners in the interests of world heritage and as an act of atonement for the Second World War.’