- If you’ve ever wanted to feel just a bit like Indiana Jones, here’s your chance.
The Nazi regime pillaged and plundered Europe during World War II, stealing enormous amounts of money, gold, artwork, and other valuables from the countries they took over. Although a good part of the riches was recovered, much of it remains missing to this day.
And now the Dutch are rushing to try and find some of those hidden Nazi treasures.
On January 3, the Dutch National Archive declassified a set of documents from the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Among them is what appears to be a genuine, bona fide, real-deal treasure map.
Now available to the public, the map has inspired would-be treasure hunters to try their luck. Armed with metal detectors and shovels, they have descended upon the rural village of Ommeren in the central Netherlands.
“I see groups of people with metal detectors everywhere,’ Jan Henzen, a 57-year-old treasure hunter, told Reuters while on a break from his own hunt.
“Like a lot of people, the news about the treasure made me go look for myself. The chance of the treasure still being here after 70 years is very small I think, but I want to give it a try.”
Good luck to you, Mr. Henzen — and anybody else searching for the Nazi gold.
Those Thieving Nazis
But let’s take a step back for a moment. This whole thing sounds too much like an adventure movie plot. Can this treasure map even be real?
It is — at least according to the Dutch National Archives.
A Dutch institute attempting to locate German wealth confiscated the map from Helmut Sonder, a German soldier, soon after the end of WWII. During interrogation, Sonder stated he had seen the treasure being buried.
“[I watched] three of our troops … burying four boxes with valuable items such as golden watches and jewelry with precious stones,” Sonder told investigators according to Dutch News.
The treasure — which supposedly contains millions of dollars’ worth of watches, gold, diamonds, rubies, silver, and more — came from the Rotterdamsche Bank in Arnhem. After the building took a direct hit from a bomb, Nazi soldiers raided its vault.
“They said they had picked up the things when a bank safe had taken a direct hit and the jewelry and so on was scattered all around,” Sonder detailed.
Sonder’s map was classified and declared secret for 75 years. Dutch authorities made multiple attempts to find the valuables during those years — but never did.
Still, they believe Sonder is telling the truth.
“We don’t know for sure if the treasure existed. But the institute did a lot of checks and found the story reliable,” said Anne-Marieke Samson, a National Archive spokeswoman.
But Is It Still There?
So, since the Dutch investigators never found the haul, that means the treasure is still here! Just imagine, all that gold and stuff, just waiting there for one lucky person…
Well, not necessarily.
It may very well be that the Nazi cache was found a long time ago. In fact, it’s quite possible the Nazis themselves retrieved it soon after burying it.
At the time the Nazis hid the treasure, the area around Ommeren was an active battlefield. The Germans may well have decided that they didn’t want to leave the valuables for the Allies to find.
“It could be that the treasure was buried and dug up two days later,” said historian Joost Rosendaal.
Another possibility is that somebody else found the four buried ammo boxes and decided to keep the loot for themselves. This scenario brings up a curious moral dilemma.
On one hand, who in their right mind would feel bad for stealing from Nazis? But on the other, the Nazis stole all that gold, so it should probably go back to its rightful owners.
And even if someone were to find the treasure tomorrow, they may not be able to keep it. Klaas Tammes, the former mayor of Ommeren who now runs the foundation owning the land the treasure is supposed to be on, says his foundation should be the first to hear about it.
“Anyone who finds anything will have to report it to us, so we’ll see. But I wouldn’t expect it to be easy,” Tammes said.
But for the time being, the Dutch are having fun trying to find their nation’s stolen valuables. Maybe those good times are the real treasure in the end.
Though finding the gold would be pretty sweet, too.
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