Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought-provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

WW2 category: Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Third Reich tours', 'Third Reich Memorabilia, Militaria', 'Lake Toplitz', 'Nazi Relics', 'Nazi Uniforms', 'RC panzers', 'Amazing metal detecting finds'.

Treasure hunt is on for £70m silver hoard aboard SS Gairsoppa, sunk by the U-boat U101     timesonline.co.uk :: 2010-01-24
An official undertaking to find a ship containing £70 million worth of silver - and sunk during World War II - is to be announced by the UK government which has joined forces with a private treasure hunting company in the hope of salvaging the treasure. The target is the SS Gairsoppa, which was on its way from India to Britain in 1941 with a cargo of silver ingots when it was sunk by the German U-boat U101. Under the agreement, Odyssey Marine Exploration will have two years to find and salvage the silver, which will be split between Odyssey and the transport department.    

On the trail of the Nazi gold that ended up in Madrid - and eventually, it is alleged, in British hands     theolivepress.es :: 2009-06-18
The meeting took place in the Instituto de la Moneda in Madrid in Feb 1945. The director met with the heads of both the German and British secret services. The topic: how to divide up the Nazi gold (everything from silverware and watches to rings and gold teeth) in Spain. "There were 2 British agents and 4 German agents... The British wanted the Gold, insisting it should not fall into the hands of the Americans, while the Germans wanted their gold protected by Franco, officially to be used for post war reconstruction in Germany," says Dr Shimon Samuels, basing his claims on a copy of diary of the former director of the Instituto de la Moneda.    

On hunt for wartime Japanese treasure - Lost WW2 gold     thejakartaglobe.com :: 2009-02-27
Article no longer available from the original source.
After first lifting a curse and using sonar to sweep for booby traps, villagers from East Nusa Tenggara Province have started digging up a cave they think contains Japanese treasure buried during World War II. Rambu Kristina was the first person to report that Japanese forces stationed on Sumba Island may have buried treasure before leaving. With the Japanese army's defeat at hand, she said, based on testimony from her late father, soldiers ordered 50 locals to bury gold in a cave near the village. To keep the secret safe, the soldiers then killed all the villagers except for two people.    

Explorers: British shipwreck, sunk by Nazi submarine U-87, holds 2.6 billion treasure     telegraph.co.uk :: 2009-01-25
Salvagers claim to have found the world's richest wreck: a British freighter torpedoed by a Nazi u-boat while filled with a 2.6 billion cargo (gold, platinum, diamonds). The company has not revealed the name of the ship - laden with goods for the US Treasury under the Lend-Lease - or its location. The vessel, codenamed "Blue Baron," was sent to the bottom by two torpedoes of U-boat U87 in June 1942. Sub Sea Research, a US-based marine recovery firm, has now located the wreck 40 miles off Guyana. Historians have not credited U87 with sinking any vessels in that area in June 1942, but Greg Brooks claims to have located the u-boat's log book which proves otherwise.    

Millions in silver coins dumped in Manila Bay to keep it from the Japanese     associatedcontent.com :: 2008-08-27
Before being ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to depart from Corregidor by PT-Boat in March, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur talked with President Manuel Quezon about what should be done to prevent millions of dollars worth of currency, coin and bullion from falling into the hands of the advancing Japanese. Overhead Japanese bombers were bombarding the surface. The paper currency on Corregidor would have to be burned - as it had been in Hawaii. Sometime between 12 March 1942 when MacArthur left and 6 May when 16,000 troops surrendered Corregidor, the thousands of pounds of silver Pesos and minor coins were dumped to the depths of Manila Bay.    

What happened to WWII gold of the Asian nations pillaged by the Japanese army     scntx.com :: 2008-08-14
John Bavender tells the story of his quest to find out what happened to the treasures of the Asian nations that were looted by the Japanese army during World War II. "Hey You AU (Secret) Gold" recounts his journeys in the Philippines and his face-offs with local citizens there who had gold for sale. The gold was often available only in very large quantities and had to be sold rapidly. The most discouraging aspect was attempting to make arrangements with the Filipino people to buy their gold: "Once the Filipinos realize you have an interest in their gold... they seem to disappear back into the mountains."    

Interview of Adolf Burger, who counterfeited 133 million pounds sterling     murmansk.kp.ru :: 2008-07-09
Between 1944-1945 bags of fake dollars, pounds and rubles passed through Adolf Burger's hands. The Nazis forced the prisoners from all over Europe to make the counterfeit money to destabilise the British economy. Burger, the only living worker of "Operation Bernhard", wrote "The Devil's Workshop" about his experience, and it was the basis for the film "Counterfeiters". --- (Q): Who was in charge? (Burger): SS Officer Bernard Kruger ran the counterfeit-money operations and reported to Heinrich Himmler. (Q): What happened to the counterfeit money? (Burger): The Nazis drowned the printing presses, boxes of money in Lake Toplitz.    

Seeking Cuban gold, divers find B-26 Marauder wreckage from 1942     naplesnews.com :: 2008-07-06
Before fleeing Cuba on Jan. 1, 1959, the tales go, Cuban dictator Fulgencia Batista looted the national treasury and loaded the gold onto 4 B-26s. Only 3 of them reached Tampa, the fourth crashed into the Gulf. So when Tim Wicburg found the top-turret twin .50-caliber machine guns and the wing of a B-26 - he wasn't thinking about WWII. His team spent a week looking for Batista's treasure. Finally finding the plane's serial number, 117966. The team sent it to Ted Darcy of WFI Research Group, whose databases have records of lost World War II aircraft. Result: It was a B-26 lost on Nov. 16, 1942, on a training mission.     [World War 2 Plane Crashes]

Medieval cross, looted by Nazis during World War II, returned     madsilence :: 2008-05-07
A priceless medieval cross looted by the Nazis was returned to the heirs of the owners. The enameled cross, originally from Limoges in France, was discovered in a junk container from an estate sale in the Zell am See. Acquired in 1865, the cross featured in the collection of Countess Isabella Dzialynska. With the war impending, some of the gems were buried on the castle grounds where they were found by the Nazis in 1941. 3 years later with the tide of war turning, the looted items were moved on the orders of Adolf Hitler to Castle Fischhorn from where they were again looted in the chaos around the end of WWII.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Disagreement between treasure hunters of nazi gold: Hanisch vs Haustein     cnn :: 2008-02-29
Treasure hunter Christian Hanisch told CNN that the hunt for Nazi Gold will end Friday after the 2 men heading the expedition had a disagreement. Heinz-Peter Haustein, has been paying for the excavation, told that geophysicists will re-evaluate the place and that digging may resume. "Haustein told me to get out of here immediately," an angry Hanisch told. He said Haustein wanted to make the expedition more credible by summoning the scientists. Hanisch also says he never believed in the Amber Room theory: "I never talked about finding the Amber Room anywhere here, that was all Haustein's idea."    

Operation Sundown: Local history supports treasure hunters seeking nazi gold?     guardian :: 2008-02-27
Notebooks and maps Hans-Peter Haustein found amid the items of his father, a Luftwaffe signaller, support local reports of how, as part of "Operation Sundown", German military convoys hid heavy sealed caskets in the mines on April 9 1945. "My Siegfried always said there was treasure to be found here," said Monika Pach. Siegfried, a history professor and the local historian until his death, had files backing up the claim that diamonds and gold lay in the cave. "We used to receive death threats from people wanting to know where the treasure was, so the documents are now kept in the safe in the town hall."    

Will dig by treasure hunters find Nazi treasure or fool's gold? Video+Pics     cnn :: 2008-02-26
Digging will continue Tuesday at a site in Deutschneudorf, where treasure hunters think exists 2 tons of Nazi gold and perhaps clues about the Amber Room. Digging was stopped as it was feared that the shaft might collapse and that the cave may be set up with booby traps. Treasure hunter Christian Hanisch pointed out that his father, a navigator in the Luftwaffe, was one of the troops said to have been involved in hiding gold as the Nazis saw that they would lose the war. The equipment located "precious metals that can only be either gold or silver. The instruments would not have reacted to any other metal like copper."    

Search for Nazi plunder: Treasure hunters plan to snake a camera into the cavern     boston.com :: 2008-02-23
There's something metallic - the Amber Room, nazi gold or scrap metal - 60 feet underground in Deutschkatharinenberg. Treasure hunter Christian Hanisch plans to snake a camera into an underground cavern, while waiting that his drilling application is approved. A scan with a metal detector showed a big rectangle in red, indicating metal. Hanisch was led to the spot by coordinates he discovered in a notebook of his father, a Luftwaffe radio operator. "My father and other soldiers have spoken about the gold that was brought to the area, and I have no reason to doubt my father."    

Treasure hunters located 2 tonnes of WWII-era gold with electromagnetics?     spiegel :: 2008-02-20
Germany: Treasure hunters claim they have detected hidden gold in an underground cavern. The electromagnetic pulse measurements located the man-made chamber 20m underground near the village of Deutschneudorf. The team hasn't been inside the room but analysis of the electromagnetic test has led it to believe that the cavern contains gold. "I'm well over 90% sure we have found the Amber Room," said Heinz-Peter Haustein, who has been seeking for the Amber Room in the Ore Mountain region for a decade. Some think Amber room was stashed away by the Nazis in the last days of WWII, while most believe it was accidentally destroyed by the Red Army.    

Search for WWII Douglas C-47 wreckage carrying a payroll of $500,000     smh :: 2008-02-17
A plane that went missing in 1945 with 19 people on board might have been located in Papua New Guinea. Divers in Milne Bay have seen the remains of a twin-engined plane in the spot pinpointed by documents unveiled by an aviation historian. Now a diving boat skipper, who has discovered other plane wrecks in PNG waters, is planning an expedition. Historian Bob Piper said the RAAF Douglas C-47 took off on Sept. 11, 1945, with pilot Flight Lieutenant Eric Beer at the controls. On board was Noel Williams carrying a payroll of £2000: $500,000 in today's money. "The pay was all in paper money and would have been completely destroyed by the water by now."    

Japanese Submarine I-52 had 2 tons of gold and other valuable cargo     montgomeryadvertiser :: 2008-01-28
"Battleground Atlantic: How the Sinking of a Single Japanese Submarine Assured the Outcome of World War II" by Richard Billings tells the story of the I-52, and the salvage efforts by Paul Tidwell. The I-52 carried with it the hopes of bringing victory to Japan. The cargo (gold and liquid opium) was to be used as payment for Nazi engineering that would help bring the Japanese submarine fleet up-to-date, and to bring back to Japan technology for a superweapon - thought to have been a radiological bomb. Billings cites decoded inventories that show uranium oxide aboard the I-52 to back up his argument that Japan was close to launching such a bomb against American targets.     [U-Boats : Submarines]

Prague man claims he has found nazi hoard in a backfilled mine     praguemonitor :: 2007-12-20
Petr Kaspar claimed he has found the site where the "Stechovice hoard" was allegedly hidden by the Nazis at the end of World War II. Kaspar said nazi soldiers had hidden the crates in various caches and he found one in a mine: filled with gold and insignia stolen by the Nazis. The search was based on the testimonies, maps, aerial photos and documents. Kaspar said he would ask the state for help since the high costs. A number of treasure hunters have spent decades in a vain hunt for the "Stechovice hoard." Out of many treasure hunters, Josef Muzik and Helmut Gaensel were the most active in the 1990s, but both later on stopped their campaigns because of lack of funds.    

Hunters of Yamashita treasure leave trails of destruction in Mt. Banahaw     inquirer :: 2007-12-15
Hunters of the legendary Yamashita treasure are leaving trails of destruction in Mt. Banahaw and are hindering efforts to restore the mystical mountain. Saying the "real treasure" is Banahaw itself, Sally Pangan appealed to the believers of the Yamashita treasure to stop their bootless search. She said she had yet to hear any reports of breakthrough. Legend has it that before his surrender, World War II Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered the burying of treasures plundered from Asian temples in different parts of the country. Recently 22 people believed to be engaged in unlawful treasure hunting were arrested.    

3 treasure hunters find death in tunnel     tuong2008 :: 2007-11-15
Two brothers, Apolinario Samiano and Bonifacio Samiano, died of suffocation while their companion Percival Delgado fell to his death in a tunnel they had dug in Biñan town to look for supposed treasures buried there by Japanese soldiers during the Second World War. When the brothers reached a depth of 30 meters, they collapsed due to lack of oxygen. Delgado tried to rescue his two companions by lowering himself with a rope tied to a portable water pump. With Delgado halfway through the tunnel, the portable pump snapped out from its base and fatally hit him on the head.    

The Führer's Counterfeiters - Operation Bernhard, Lake Toplitz     dailymail.co.uk :: 2007-09-23
Of all operations in Third Reich this was the most audacious: forging £135 million and parachuting the notes into UK. What else could explain the arrival of the SS men from a burning Berlin to a village beside Lake Toplitz on May 5, 1945? Locals spoke of Nazi troops sitting on boxes, which were sunk in the water. On August 3, 1959 Wolfgang Löhde's hired frogmen to find them. He reflected on the emblems of the previous convoy that had come here in May 1945: swastikas and SS double-lightning stripes. Everyone knew Toplitz was a keeper of Nazi confidences as its remoteness made it a testing ground for wonder-weapons like V2 gyroscopes, torpedoes, rockets...     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Nazi plot to get gold to Argentina - Uncovered by MI5 in 1943     timesonline :: 2007-09-04
MI5 uncovered a plot by Nazi leaders to smuggle plundered jewellery and gold in a submarine to Argentina in 1943, according to secret files. The details emerged from interrogating an "unprincipled ruffian" called Ernesto Hoppe, who was an agent of the German Intelligence service. Hoppe, codenamed Herold, was arrested in Gibraltar in 1943 and taken to MI5's interrogation centre at Camp 020 in Ham. He had been approached by a German Luftwaffe colonel named Rosentreter, who had outlined his secret mission. The Nazis appeared to be planning for a quick exit to Argentina once Third Reich was defeated and the u-boat cargo was to be their nest egg.    

Could WWII photo locate looted Nazi gold known as Rommel's Gold     dailymail.co.uk :: 2007-07-22
A young German soldier poses with his parents in an old photograph. It is typical photo soldiers would have had taken during the early days of World War II to remind them of family. But this particular snapshot holds a secret that could unlock a mystery: the whereabouts of a hoard of looted Nazi gold. For scrawled in fading blue ink on the back of the photo is a code which investigators hope will locate Rommel's Treasure: a cache of ingots and jewellery hidden by the SS. Terry Hodgkinson said: "We have now worked out the code and are pretty confident of where the treasure is. We feel certain that the latest techniques can be used to retrieve it."    

The race to find £10m Nazi gold hoard - Was Erwin Rommel Unaware     dailymail.co.uk :: 2007-07-19
Field marshal Erwin Rommel had battled in North Africa with Africa Korps for 2 years, first making gains, then seeing Montgomery push his panzers back to the sea. The German adventure in the desert was ending in chaos: all the German forces in North Africa were fleeing. But did the Field Marshal, or some senior officers, take away a treasure? A legend was born that Rommel's men had not left empty-handed. Packed into ammunition boxes were gold and diamonds - fruits of their pillaging. There seems to be some evidence from Peter Fleig: He was with the SS in 1943, and he was ordered to help 4 officers hide 6 boxes in an underwater cavern near Corsica.    

Terry Hodgkinson 'confident' he knows where Rommel's gold is     telegraph.co.uk :: 2007-07-18
A British researcher claims to have located Erwin Rommel's elusive sunken treasure just weeks after a team of German divers scouring the Mediterranean failed to find the hoard. The treasure has been reputed to have been dumped off the coast of Corsica by fleeing SS men. Terry Hodgkinson, who has been researching the missing gold for 15 years, told that he was now "confident" he knew its exact location nearby the town of Bastia. He has teamed up with Corsican experts and won permission to enter the race to find 6 steel cases said to contain 440lb of gold bullion plus other objects pillaged in Tunisia during WWII.    

Race on for Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Gold     oxfordmail :: 2007-06-27
Terry Hodgkinson has been stunned by a German TV company's audacious bid to recapture Rommel's Gold. He has been planning a documentary which will focus on a search for the £10m haul of gold and diamonds. But he was shocked when he discovered that TV station ZDF stole a march on him by making their own film - screened earlier this month. ZDF carried out covert research missions last year to search for the missing gold. The treasure was supposedly dumped in 1943 after Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps was driven out of North Africa. The hoard is reputed to have been hidden by german SS men, who planned to recover it after the WWII.    

Priceless collection stolen by the Nazis found in Soviet military archive     timesonline :: 2007-05-24
A invaluable collection of antique manuscripts and books that has been missing since Nazi troops looted it from the synagogue in Rome in 1943 may be languishing in an abandoned Soviet military archive. As Soviet troops pushed back the German forces, they may have taken possession of the collection. There is good reason to believe that the collection could be in a warehouse, said Dario Tedeschi, who has been leading efforts on behalf of the Italian Government. He described the decades-long hunt as "trying to unravel a historical mystery."    

Tracking Nazi gold-hunter and a hoard of sunken Nazi gold     oxfordmail :: 2007-04-10
The hunt is on for an Oxford man Dan Eden who could help pinpoint the location of a hoard of sunken Nazi gold. Terry Hodgkinson is planning a documentary about a search for a £10m haul of gold and diamonds, known as Rommel's Gold. The treasure supposedly came from North Africa during World War Two and was sunk, or hidden in a cave, off the east coast of the French Mediterranean island of Corsica by the Germans in 1943 after Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps was driven out of North Africa. It has never been found, despite many attempts to locate it, including an expedition led in 1963 by Lord Kilbracken.    

German State Claims a Treasure looted by American officer     nysun :: 2007-03-20
A German state of Baden-Württemberg is suing to reclaim a valuable book of 16th-century German drawings (Augsburg Book of Nobles), accusing a deceased American officer Captain John Hewitt Doty of stealing the artwork in the closing days of World War II. German institutions have won similar suits before. In 1981, a federal judge ordered a lawyer to return two portraits by Albrecht Durer he had purchased in 1946 from a returning WWII veteran. Nearly two decades ago, a German church sued in Texas to recover a trove of manuscripts and jeweled treasure taken by an American officer.    

Russia displays looted German treasure - Gold and silver artefacts     guardian :: 2007-03-13
Berlin lay in ruins. Adolf Hitler had been dead for 4 weeks. Working in great secrecy, some Red Army soldiers embarked on a delicate mission: to spirit back home unique treasures belonging to the Germans. In June 1945, 3 chests holding 1,538 gold and silver items were loaded on to a Moscow-bound plane. For more than half a century German experts had little clue as to whether the gold necklaces and eagle brooches dating from the 5th to 8th centuries still existed or had been lost in world war II. Today the Merovingian-era pieces emerge from their hiding place as Moscow's Pushkin State Museum is exhibiting the treasures, last seen in Berlin in 1939.    

Fort Huachuca Gold - Treasure hunt in Arizona     kvoa :: 2007-03-03
To many people, Fort Huachuca is a place known as a training ground for soldiers. But what many people don't know is that it is rumored to have a secret hidden in its hills. There's even a map. It's a modern day treasure hunt. When it comes to recreation, life on post can be difficult... It was 1941. Private Robert Jones and his buddy spent the day heading up a mule trail into Huachuca Canyon. It was a serene stroll until... "He fell into a hole. He slid down what 35 feet into a cavern into a room. When he dusted himself off and looked around, he looked around with the little light he had and he saw large bars of gold and silver"    

Most of wealth Nazis stole still missing     guardian :: 2007-01-20
The vast majority of property stolen from Europe's Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators has never been returned, according to a new study by economist Sidney Zabludoff, a former CIA and US treasury official. A fifth of the wealth stolen during the world war II has been returned. Property that is now worth $115bn-$175bn is still missing, despite "numerous clear and explicit international agreements and country promises made during world war 2 and immediately thereafter".    

Zbiroh castle hides Nazi treasure - A persistent local rumour     sawf :: 2006-07-18
Every week team abseils into a well of a Czech Zbiroh castle in search of a secret passage or the Nazi treasure. Around 60 metres down they discovered Nazi documents. A local rumour has it that the castle hides Nazi treasure. "We know from witnesses that a Nazi aircraft landed and large cases were unloaded and taken to the castle. We know that the last SS fled on foot without their uniforms and without taking anything. No one has found any trace of the cases and no one knows what was in them." Castle has a series of tunnels and secret passages but closed off behind cement by the Nazis. Some dream that the "amber room" could be stashed somewhere in labyrinth.    

Hunt continues for secret Nazi loot in a castle with tunnels     cdnn :: 2006-06-04
A castle, complete with secret medieval tunnels and hidden treasures, looks set to give up a hoard of goods looted by the Nazis during the second world war. The first attempt to explore some of the secret passageways linked to the well was made in 1965. But the military divers failed to notice the concealed tunnel entrance. They retrieved from a chest full of Nazi documents of a secret outfit that had occupied the castle. The chateau had served as headquarters for a secret SS unit which monitored radio traffic. "Last month, we found German Army documents, which confirm that the bottom conceals a secret passageway used by the Nazis to hide looted treasures."    

Relics of Nazi navy battleship Graf Spee stokes controversy     sawf.org :: 2006-05-25
Six decades have passed since the pride of the Nazi navy, the "Admiral Graf Spee", was sunk off the coast of Uruguay, but the once feared pocket battleship stirs up argument. The recovery of a giant bronze eagle from the Nazi ship has triggered a standoff between Alfredo Etchegaray and the German government, which is against a public sale of the WWII-era relic. An imposing Nazi emblem with wings spread out and a swastika under its talons could fetch a huge sum at auction. Teams have raised a gun and a tower which are on display. The recovery of these artifacts has push ahead project of raising the entire battleship from its muddy grave.     [Admiral Graf Spee: Pocket Battleship]

Military men arrested after treasure hunt of WWII gold     bangkokpost :: 2006-05-13
A new rush for gold and other treasures believed to have been left behind by Japanese soldiers during World War Two has led to the arrest of a retired air chief marshal and two captains. But more than 10 people fled into the jungle and escaped capture. Police seized a four-wheel-drive vehicle and digging tools as evidence, and found that wide areas of the mountain had been excavated. The area has long attracted Second World War treasure hunters because there are several caves, some of which house monasteries. Local villagers told someone found three gold bars in a cave about 10 years ago.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Nazi treasure may be hidden under well - Nazi items found     praguemonitor :: 2006-05-10
The secret of a deep well in the Zbiroh chateau, west Bohemia, may be soon uncovered. Experts found a false bottom in the well where a Nazi treasure is allegedly hidden. War survivers mentioned the existence of the false bottom. Historical sources claim that there is a secret medieval passage under the well bottom, where members of the Nazi staff kept stolen valuable items. Owner Oldrich Selenberk told his team has not searched the bottom thoroughly since it may be risky. Last year they uncovered Nazi documents there, and a week ago 20 weapons. They have been digging in the filled-up well for over a year.    

Amber Room hunt makes lake Toplitz the Tsar attraction     scotsman.com :: 2006-04-16
It was the most opulent of Tsar Peter the Great's rooms, brought to his new capital of St Petersburg on 18 horse-drawn wagons in 1716, a present from the King of Prussia. The fabulous Amber Room contained six tonnes of the precious resin and took 10 years for some of Europe's top craftsmen to complete. But more than 60 years ago it was plundered by Nazis as they stormed across Europe, never to be seen again. Now, after years of searching, a team of treasure hunters believe it is at the bottom of an Austrian lake. A group of American divers will today begin a £7 million project searching the 338ft-deep Lake Toplitz situated in the heart of Austria.     [Lake Toplitz - Sunk Nazi Gold]

Museums to get $500,000 in Nazi Gold Train case     washingtonpost.com :: 2006-04-13
Two checks totaling $500,000 will be sent to museums for research and documentation of the historic Nazi Gold Train case. In 1944, the Nazis loaded $200 million in gold, jewelry, furnishings and pricey art work onto dozens of railway cars bound for Germany from Budapest. The so-called "Gold Train" was abandoned by the Nazis in Austria and recovered by the U.S. Army on May 16, 1945. A report in 1999 said most of the treasures vanished. The suit alleged that high-ranking U.S. Army officers furnished their villas and officers' clubs with Gold Train loot as they oversaw the rebuilding of Europe after the war.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Who owns war loot of Gen. George Patton and Allied leaders?     calendarlive :: 2006-04-05
Huntington's display: Original copies of the three Nuremberg Laws, signed by Hitler, including the infamous Blood Law of the Third Reich. The claim to ownership of the documents rests on the fact that they were a gift from Gen. George Patton. But the documents are war loot, a prize that wasn't his to take or give, and a piece of history whose own history needs to be cleaned up. Collecting battlefield trophies was common during WWII on all sides. Former President Hoover had a man in Germany seeking documents for him. Rabbi Judah Nadich, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's advisor, took home a couple of Joseph Goebbels's swords. But Patton acquired more than most people.     [General Patton]

First payouts distributed in WWII 'Gold Train' case     ap :: 2006-01-31
The first payouts have been distributed from a $25 million settlement with Holocaust survivors who lost jewelry, artwork and other treasures when a Nazi "Gold Train" was commandeered by the U.S. Army during WWII. The train was loaded with gold, jewels, silver, china, 3,000 Oriental rugs and 1,200 paintings that had been stolen from Hungarian Jews. It was captured by U.S. soldiers from pro-Nazi Hungarian forces in May 1945. A U.S. investigation found in 1999 that some Army soldiers failed to return items initially "requisitioned" from the train.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Raiders of the lost art - Unclaimed Nazi-confiscated artifacts     praguepost :: 2005-12-09
Prague: Sixty years after the end of World War II, thousands of Nazi-confiscated artifacts remain unclaimed and unidentified in state and private museums throughout the country. In a dark, decrepit building is an office called the Documentation Center of Property Transfers of Cultural Assets of WWII Victims. 15 people spend their days doing laborious research, scouring computerized archives and paper records in an effort to track down artwork that was confiscated during WWII. Since its founding four years ago, workers have placed about 7,000 objects in an Internet database.    

Secrets of Nazi terror - an underground labour camp and vanished treasures     Guardian :: 2005-10-25
Trawl through Stasi archives stumbles across records of hidden horrors and hidden treasures. A retired pit foreman Horst Bringezu stumbled on evidence while researching a local history of the mining industry. Documents revealed that some 1,500 prisoners worked among its vaults; many died. They also revealed that the SS had used the secret tunnels linking two mine shafts to store rare books, priceless paintings and letters by Goethe - all now vanished.    

Rumours of Nazi gold surface u-boat secret     Fairfax New Zealand Limited :: 2005-09-30
Rumours of Nazi gold stashed at sea more than 50 years ago have surfaced after a Blenheim man's trip to the Auckland Islands this week. Mr Carey said he has successfully identified two big objects on the seabed near the Auckland Islands. "They didn't bring it all the way from Germany if it was old tin cans," he said, referring to a theory that a German U-boat had stashed gold underwater during World War 2."    

Nazi Gold - The Search for Truth     losttreasure :: 2005-04-19
Soviet Troops Raise the Hammer & Sickle Over the Reichstag Building After Taking Berlin. Days Before Nazi Officers Fled Berlin with Treasure to be hidden in the Alpine Fortress. In the final days of WWII with allied troops advancing, a bombed out Berlin stood on the verge of collapse. Fleeing Berlin, Nazi officers took with them vast amounts of treasure along with the darkest secrets of the Third Reich. The Nazi plan was to evacuate Hitler and a guerrilla army to the region around Lake Toplitz in the Austrian mountains that they called the 'Alpine Fortress.'    

Red Army, not the Nazis, destroyed tsar's Amber Room     smh.com.au :: 2004-05-23
Book "The Amber Room: The Untold Story of the Greatest Hoax of the Twentieth Century" reveals that The Amber Room, the fabulous tsarist chamber looted from Russia by the Nazis and which disappeared, was destroyed by the Red Army. Previously unseen documents, suppressed for decades by Moscow, show that in 1945 Russian soldiers burned down the hall where the treasure was stored in a castle in Germany founded by the Teutonic knights. Historians have hoped that the "eighth wonder of the world" had escaped damage and was hidden, waiting to be found. The jewel encrusted room was created for Peter the Great in 1717 and was considered one of the world's greatest art treasures.     [Art stolen by Russia during WWII]

Czech treasure hunter promises to finally uncover Nazi "Treasure of Stechovice"     radio.cz :: 2004-05-09
Shortly before the end of the WW2, despite staring defeat in the face, Nazi leaders tried to salvage what was left of their crumbling empire. In the last months of the war, some of the Third Reich's secret archives were hurriedly transported from Berlin to the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, an area believed to be safe from US bombing. Although some of the hidden material was recovered after the war, there are still many people who believe that valuable treasure may still lie buried in Central Bohemia.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

Golden cauldron evokes mystery of hidden Nazi gold     freerepublic :: 2002-08-09
A mysterious golden cauldron found in a Bavarian lake has rekindled a fascination with Nazi gold hidden in the Alps. The Bavarian government said it was claiming ownership of the 10.5 kg solid gold vessel found by an amateur diver at the bottom of Lake Chiemsee. Archaeologists said the cauldron, adorned with a relief of mythical Celtic and Indo-Germanic figures, may have been made by the Nazis. It is estimated to be worth 100,000 euros based on the weight of its gold. This could lure treasure hunters to the Alps which the Nazis saw as their last bastion, and which became the destination for gold shipments from Berlin in the dying days of the Third Reich.    

Diver hunt for sunken WW2 gold treasure stolen by the Nazis     bbc :: 2000-08-09
A team of divers has been given permission to search for sunken treasure taken from Greek Jews. Gold coins and jewels worth $2bn were taken by Max Merten, the German administrator of Thessaloniki. The treasure was loaded onto a fishing vessel and sunk off the Peloponnese in 1943. Merten was briefly jailed when he travelled back to Greece in 1957 posing as a tourist, presumably to try and fetch the gold. A mystery informant told the Jewish Council that he had shared a cell with Merten, who had given him maps showing where the treasure lay. The officials were sceptical until he gave details of the valuables, which could only have come from Merten.     [Greece during World War II]

Argentina 'held Nazi gold'     bbc :: 1999-04-27
Argentina's central bank stands accused of holding Nazi gold after WWII. Researchers investigating the activities of the Nazis in Argentina say they have obtained a letter signed by the country's former foreign minister, saying he asked for the gold to be deposited in the bank in 1946. Until then, the money was being held for the Germans by the Swiss embassy in Buenos Aires. "For the first time we do have Argentine evidence that Argentina was the recipient of Nazi gold," said research co-ordinator of the commission of inquiry on Nazi activities in Argentina.     [Nazi gold & Hidden WWII treasures]

See also:
'Third Reich tours'
'Third Reich Memorabilia, Militaria'
'Lake Toplitz'
'Nazi Relics'
'Nazi Uniforms'
'RC panzers'
'Amazing metal detecting finds'.

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