As World War II started to come to an end, the Americans started to take back much of what the Nazi Germany stole. The United State's forces bombed Reichsbank, which was a major stronghold for all of Germany's loot. The Germans, paranoid about another attack, loaded up the stolen goods. Experts are not sure how they transported the gold, but a local legend claims that it was all loaded onto a train. There is no proof that the train ever existed, but locals are resilient. There is a rumor circulating that two men confessed to the train right before their death. The two struck deals with Poland's government, and if they found the train, Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter would recieve 10% of the treasure's profit. Scientists and experts went of many excavations, but no evidence was found. Scientists had to start back at square one.
There are many spots believed to hold the missing Nazi gold. Most of the spots are secluded and lie within the Alpine Mountain. This treasure is believed to be sunk in various lakes around Germany. The Fuehrer was forced into a panic, and used Jewish people to hide his treasure. He created many concentration camps just to help hide all the stolen treasure. Hitler stole this art and jewelry from the Jews that he captured, and he stole from museums. In 1945, the President of Reichsbank commanded that most of gold stored there was to be sent to the village of Merker, where it would eventually be stored in a potassium mine. This mine held many of the Nazi's treasure, and it was heavily guarded. According to experts, a total of $520 million was stored in that potassium mine. Nazi officials ordered the remaining gold to be sent to the Alpine Mountains, and they would try to regroup. Over 9 tons of gold was sent to the Alps, and over $11 million of those valuables were recovered. Although this much money was found, a whopping $3 million still remains uncovered, and there are many ideas as to where this money could be hidden.
There are many numerous locations that experts think the Nazi gold could be stored in, but I am going to pick three to tell you about. The three that I picked are Jonas Valley, Lake Walchen, and Lake Toplitz. Scientists believe that all three hold significant amounts of gold and other treasure. Experts believe that Jonas Valley holds Hitler's atomic bomb, many art pieces, and many tons of gold from Reichsbank. There is a cave on the Germany-Czech Republic border that scientists believe lead to a tunnel that holds the Tsar Amber Room. The Tsar Amber Room is a gold-lined room that is believed to hold priceless Russian artifacts. It was believed to be somewhere in Jonas Valley, but German experts found a tunnel in the back of Prince's Cave, which they believe the should explore. They cannot explore the cave because they believe it is booby trapped, and there have been several explosions in that area. Lake Walchen is believed to hold $100 million in gold at the bottom of it. It is one of the largest and deepest Alpine Lakes, and locals noticed troops on the shore months before Germany's reign ended. Heinrich Himmler, who was one of Hitler's bodyguards, ordered trucks to travel to this lake in the dark around the same time the locals saw the troops. Lake Toplitz is an Austrian lake that has seen its fair share of death. Many have died searching for the missing gold. In 1959, cases of counterfeit British money was found. There was a total of $134 million found, and Hitler planned to use this to ruin Britain's economy. However, the gold has still yet to be found.
Winston, George. "Billions of Dollars of Looted WWII Treasure Is Still Hidden." War History Online. 19 June 2017. 30 Apr. 2019 <https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/4-improvised-weapons-used-warsaw-m-2.html>.
"Nazi Gold Train." Wikipedia. Ed. 2017. 30 Apr. 2019 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_gold_train>.
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