After following clues in an SS officer’s diary, treasure hunters are about to search for crates of Adolf Hitler’s treasures in an old Polish palace.
Treasure hunters hope to dig up 48 crates of Adolf Hitler’s hidden gold worth around $900 million at a Polish palace used as a brothel by his SS henchmen.
The team of treasure hunters will begin the archaeological excavation at the 18th-century palace in the village of Minkowski in southern Poland next week and hope to unearth 10 tonnes of gold and other riches.
The swag was stolen towards the end of World War II under SS boss Heinrich Himmler’s instruction to fund the creation of a Fourth Reich.
It is also thought to be made up of jewelry and possessions treasured by Germany’s elite who lived in the area and gave the Nazis their valuables to avoid being snatched by Russia’s advancing Red Army.
Diary proves key to finding Nazi gold.
The elusive Gold of Breslau, which disappeared from police headquarters in the Polish city of Wroclaw, is also believed to be among the hidden loot.
The treasure hunters from the non-profit Silesian Bridge Foundation determined the location after scouring through secret documents, an SS officer’s diary, and a map they received from the offspring of officers who frequented a discreet lodge dating back over 1000 years.
The 10th-century Quedlinburg lodge was created by the first German king Henry the Fowler, who was so fascinating to Himmler that he believed he was the king’s reincarnation.
Quedlinburg members were awarded high-ranking positions in many Nazi institutions after the two allied with the Third Reich.
The records were handed over by descendants as “the return of world heritage is seen as a milestone on the long path of reconciliation,” according to the foundation.
The uncovered diary, believed to have been written by a high-ranking SS officer under the alias Michaelis, seems to be the key to the buried booty.
A pencil-written entry from March 12, 1945, discussing the Minkowski palace’s stash reads: “A trough has been dug in the orangery, which is a safe ‘home’ for the delivered chests and containers.
Michaelis continued: “48 chests from the Reichsbank, in good condition, were hidden, very well covered with earth and ‘greened’ with still-living plants.
“Let providence watch over us.”
The revealing memoir has proved to be quite the treasure map after it revealed the location of another palace in the region last year, where 28 tonnes of valuables are believed to be buried at the bottom of a well.
But the Silesian Bridge team has opted to excavate the Minkowski mansion as the stash is easier to access.
Among the other indicative documents is a letter from a senior SS officer by von Stein, written to a female who worked at the palace and later became his lover.
“My dear Inge, I will fulfill my assignment with God’s will. Some transports were successful. The remaining 48 heavy Reichsbank’s chests and all the family chests I now entrust to you,” he wrote.
“Only you know where they are located. May God help you and help me fulfill my assignment.”
Masses of loot stolen by Nazis in WWII
“Several people took part in hiding the deposits in Minkowski. One of them was an officer called von Stein,” the head of the Silesian Bridge foundation, Roman Furmaniak, told the MailOnline.
“He used to stay in the palace because he had a lover there. Due to its location, it was often visited by high-ranking SS officers who treated it like a brothel.”
He convinced Inge to watch over the treasure, who happily obliged because “she was in love with the handsome officer in a black SS uniform”.
“They were like gods,” Mr. Furmaniak continued.
“She believed that she would have to stay there for a year, maybe two, then it would all be over.
“There was a two-month period in 1945 when she had to hide in the forest from the Russians. But when she got back, the area had not been disturbed.
“If they had dug a hole, they would have taken what they wanted and then left the hole. We have seen this in history many times in Poland.”
The region eventually came under the control of the Russians at the war’s end, who ousted the German settlers amid the return of Poles who had taken refuge in Western Ukraine.
Inge adapted her appearance and identity to conceal herself among the new population, even marrying a local man while watching over the treasure until her death 60 years later.
