It’s the stuff of fairy tales: tonnes of treasure buried deep beneath a medieval castle just waiting to be discovered by brave explorers who must fight to have their story taken seriously.
Except this is no fairy tale. In August, two treasure-hunters informed authorities in the city of Wałbrzych that they’d discovered a train filled with smuggled loot that was destined for Nazi Germany, and requested a finder’s fee.
“These two men want 10 per cent of the value of the train’s contents, so we suppose they know what is inside it,” Marika Tokarska, from the Wałbrzych District Council, told AP.
Their story drew its fair share of sceptics. When criticism mounted, the two were forced to make their identities public and in September they disclosed the supposed location of the train. “We pointed to precisely where the train is hidden, the depth, where it starts, where it ends, how long it is,” Polish treasure hunter Piotr Koper told a local TV station.
Local legend has it that in 1944, an armoured train left what was then the German city of Breslau packed with ill-gotten treasure, including as much as 300 tonnes of gold as well as jewellery, fine art and weapons. The train entered a network of German tunnels under Książ Castle and never emerged. At the end of the war, the area became part of Poland and Breslau became the modern Polish city of Wrocław. Locals now fear that whatever treasure does lie beneath Polish soil might be snatched from them.
Koper’s partner, German treasure hunter Andreas Richter, wants to reassure them that they want it to remain a local asset, and benefit local tourism. “Of course we want it to stay in Wałbrzych and preferably at the same location where it is now standing.”
In response to a wave of interest from amateur gold diggers and global media, authorities have secured the area, concerned that there would be accidents from collisions with trains or from explosives. Control of the site is now held by the local council, and its future is unknown. Koper hopes he and Richter will be allowed to carry out the work. “We have our own specialists and we have our own sponsors who would gladly donate money for that,” he says.
“Taking that on would not bother me. We can do it without charging the state.”
Regardless of the outcome, it’s unlikely to be long before this tale gets the Hollywood treatment. All that’s missing is the romantic twist, but since when have facts been allowed to get in the way of a good story?
