Is treasure buried beneath the mountains of Poland?

[JustJohn or JJ]

THE NEW YORKER

The Nazi Underground

Is treasure buried beneath the mountains of Poland?

By Jake Halpern



“There are so many tunnels, who knows what else is there,” Tomasz Jurek, one of Lower Silesia’s
many treasure hunters, said. “It’s the tip of an underground city.”
Credit Photograph by Rafal Milach for The New Yorker

Lower Silesia, in southwestern Poland, is a land of treasure hunters. Until the end of the Second World War, the region—covered by mountains and deep pine forests with towering, arrowlike trees—was part of Germany. In the early months of 1945, the German Army retreated, along with much of the civilian population. The advancing Red Army killed many of the Germans who remained. Nearly all those who survived were later evicted and forced to move west. By the end of 1947, almost two million Germans had been cleared out.

In order to fill the emptied landscape, the newly formed Polish government relocated hundreds of thousands of Poles from the east. The settlers arrived in vacant towns, walked into empty houses, and went to sleep in strangers’ beds. There was furniture in the houses, but usually the valuables were missing. The porcelain dishes, the silk dresses, the fur coats, the sewing machines, and the jewelry were gone, often hidden in the ground: buried in jars, chests, and even coffins. It was a hasty solution—a desperate effort to cache valuables as people were running for their lives. The owners of these possessions intended to return, but most didn’t. And so on steamy fall mornings, when the new arrivals dug in their gardens or tilled their fields, they unearthed small fortunes.

More here:
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/09/searching-for-nazi-gold

[Jaga]

John, this was a big news a couple of months ago. There was a talk about the train with gold leaving Breslau before the end of WW II.

+++In order to fill the emptied landscape, the newly formed Polish government relocated hundreds of thousands of Poles from the east.+++

these people lost their houses and belongings and land since Soviet Union took over.

[JustJohn or JJ]

May 11, 2016 6:38:10 GMT -7 JustJohn or JJ said:

THE NEW YORKER

The Nazi Underground

Is treasure buried beneath the mountains of Poland?

By Jake Halpern



“There are so many tunnels, who knows what else is there,” Tomasz Jurek, one of Lower Silesia’s
many treasure hunters, said. “It’s the tip of an underground city.”
Credit Photograph by Rafal Milach for The New Yorker

Lower Silesia, in southwestern Poland, is a land of treasure hunters. Until the end of the Second World War, the region—covered by mountains and deep pine forests with towering, arrowlike trees—was part of Germany. In the early months of 1945, the German Army retreated, along with much of the civilian population. The advancing Red Army killed many of the Germans who remained. Nearly all those who survived were later evicted and forced to move west. By the end of 1947, almost two million Germans had been cleared out.

In order to fill the emptied landscape, the newly formed Polish government relocated hundreds of thousands of Poles from the east. The settlers arrived in vacant towns, walked into empty houses, and went to sleep in strangers’ beds. There was furniture in the houses, but usually the valuables were missing. The porcelain dishes, the silk dresses, the fur coats, the sewing machines, and the jewelry were gone, often hidden in the ground: buried in jars, chests, and even coffins. It was a hasty solution—a desperate effort to cache valuables as people were running for their lives. The owners of these possessions intended to return, but most didn’t. And so on steamy fall mornings, when the new arrivals dug in their gardens or tilled their fields, they unearthed small fortunes.

More here:
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/09/searching-for-nazi-gold