Recently, a search team known as the Silesian Bridge Foundation announced that they had discovered four tons of gold hidden by the Nazis. The team stated that they pinpointed the location of this gold thanks to information found in a diary of a German soldier and the assistance of modern technology, such as ground-penetrating radar.
This gold was concealed in a metal barrel, buried within a palace in the village of Minkowskie in Poland, located more than 50 kilometers east of Wrocław. The palace has existed since the 18th century and was previously used by Hitler’s army as a storage facility.
The palace where the gold barrel was found. (Photo: Kalbar/TFN)
The head of the Silesian Bridge Foundation, Roman Furmaniak, stated: “The shape and color [displayed on the screen from sensor data] are quite unusual, suggesting that there has been human intervention underground. […] The metal has a different density than the soil, and in the displayed images, it will appear darker.”
He added that the location described in the diary correlates perfectly with the actual site of the barrel.
After receiving signals from the radar, the search team obtained permission from heritage protection agencies to conduct exploratory drilling. Results from the drillings indicated that the soil had been disturbed by human activity.
The diary believed to belong to a German soldier, indicating the location of the barrel. (Photo: Silesian Bridge Foundation)
Furmaniak noted that the first two drillings confirmed the soil showed signs of unusual disturbance, and by the third drilling, the drill bit struck something. To support his claim, he pointed out that some types of rock should not exist in that geological area.
Preliminary research suggested that this gold was initially stored at the Reichsbank (Wrocław, Poland) and was later stolen by Heinrich Himmler (a powerful figure in the Nazi regime) in the final months of World War II to establish a new empire.
Geological survey results indicate human interference. (Photo: Silesian Bridge Foundation)
The diary was sent to the search team about ten years ago; these documents also indicated 11 locations where treasures from World War II were buried.
The Minkowskie Palace was the first site the team investigated. According to the diary, a large amount of gold, artworks, valuable objects, and religious artifacts were hidden in several secret locations throughout Lower Silesia (Poland) to prevent them from falling into Soviet hands.
The officer named in the diary, Michaelis, was believed to be a liaison between senior Nazi officers and local nobility, who wanted to assist in protecting their assets from the Soviets.
The search team claims that the diary belongs to a mysterious religious group known as the Quedlinburgers. The small town of Quedlinburg (Germany) has strong ties to Nazi worship beliefs in the 1930s and 1940s, as it was associated with Germany’s first king, Henry the Fowler, in the 10th century. Furmaniak believes the Quedlinburgers are descendants of Nazi officers who sought to compensate for the losses inflicted on Poland by the Nazis during World War II. He stated that the Quedlinburgers and the search team want any treasures found to be returned to their original owners.
The Silesian Bridge Foundation is awaiting permission to bring the barrel to the surface. They are also waiting for approval from military special forces because the search team believes there may be traps set by the Nazis in the area.
