Where did the Nazi gold go? The gold train in Poland

It is generally known that the Nazis bought up huge amounts of valuables, art objects and especially gold in occupied Europe. They tried to take this loot to the safety of Germany during the retreat or hid it in times of need. This created many treasures that are still being sought today. The problem with prospectors is that they usually lack critical thinking, focus on one (often dubious) piece of information that they believe, and fanatically embark on a search. One of these great and legendary Nazi treasures is the "Golden Train", which carried gold, art and valuables from the advancing Red Army from the city of Breslau (nowadays Vratislav in Czech, Wroclaw in Polish).

Let's try to critically evaluate the available information about this treasure and guess what might have happened to it.

Narrative

In mid-August 2015, two men - a Pole and a German: Piotr Koper (a construction entrepreneur) and Andreas Richter (a German citizen), in an attempt to remain anonymous, at least initially, announced through a lawyer that they had managed to find the train that disappeared at the end of the war. They said they would reveal the details when they received a promise of a finders' fee of ten percent of the value of the treasure.

Its location was also said to have been led by the testimony of a former Wehrmacht soldier on his deathbed, who was involved in hiding the train 70 years ago and provided the finders with a hand-drawn plan.

The train, which was up to 100 metres long, was fully loaded with valuables including gold, diamonds and many works of art; the total cargo was said to be up to 300 tonnes (other sources say 300 kg of gold). According to surviving reports, it left Wroclaw sometime in 1945, bound for Berlin - but never arrived there, and its trail is supposed to end somewhere in the vicinity of Valbrich, where it was hidden in the corridors of the Riese project near the Książ castle. Allegedly, the train entered a secret tunnel there, which the Germans filled in, mined and covered up most of the tracks so that it was impossible to find a way to it.

Later on, the two treasure hunters conducted a GPR (ground penetrating radar) KS-700 survey on their own, where they obtained reflections strikingly resembling the silhouettes of the carriages with guns hidden underground.

On the basis of these images, and after checking them with Polish bomb technicians, the two men were given permission to dig up the reconnaissance probes - and found nothing.

Uncertainties and questions

At first glance the story looks good, but on second glance it is very strange and there are many uncertainties. Stories like this tend to be either completely made-up fairy tales or at least heavily edited by the storyteller. Often unintentionally, where the storyteller or memoirist really thinks they are telling the truth, but memory or bad information misleads them.

This story is very difficult to work with because it gives virtually no usable details. Let's try to focus on that and try to fill in the story from other sources.

The first issue is the date. This is pretty significant because if we know the exact date, we can cross hunt for corroborating or refuting information. Unfortunately, we keep getting "at the end of the war" as the date for all the articles, which is very vague. The only exception is a sentence attributed by the author of the article to one of the searchers - Piotr Koper: "The Polish amateur searcher reminds us that he is by no means losing sight of his main target - the Nazi treasure. He has no doubt that the train set off in May 1945 from Wroclaw, then called Breslau, but is said never to have arrived in Walbrzych, then Waldenburg."

https://www.zlato.cz/zlato/hledal-nacisticky-zlaty-vlak-nasel-fresky-ceskych-kralu/

and also here is a repeat of May 1945: from application to excavation - Gold Train Walbrzych - Gold Train - History (zloty-pociag.com)

This is, however, information whose veracity could certainly be questioned with success. Either Mr Koper, described as "a man who has been involved with trains for years", is severely uninformed about the wider context, or this sentence was put into his mouth without his consent by the editor of the article. Because in the framework of the Vistula-Oder operation(https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viselsko-Odersk%C3%A1_operation) the Red Army launched a surprise and overwhelming attack on the German troops stationed in what is now Poland and drove them at a speed of 50 to 70 kilometers per day to beyond the Oder River, where they arrived in late January. They launched an attack on Silesia on 19 January, and on the same day the evacuation of the civilian population from Wroclaw was ordered. The Russians surrounded Wrocław on 13 February.

From the above, it is highly probable that the golden train definitely did not leave in May, but sometime between 19 January and 13 February (most likely the end of January). It can be assumed that nothing had been prepared by that 19 January, because anyone who even mentioned the evacuation would have risked being accused of defeatism, which in the Reich was an almost immediate execution by shooting. Officially, therefore, it was only after the forced evacuation of most of the civilians in the town was ordered by the Silesian Gauleiter Karl Hanke on 19 January 1945 that the packing could be done. It can be reasonably assumed that it took some time to gather and load 300 tons of valuables (even under haste and stress). This brings us to the end of January, or at the latest the first days of February 1945. Very probably not after 13 February, when the city was surrounded. The idea of a train getting out of a city surrounded by a conquering army is more than unlikely. Perhaps a car or infantry unit would have slipped through, but a steam train (albeit an armoured one) billowing smoke and steam and having to run on rails would probably not have made it through the encirclement. Vratislav may have fought back until 6 May, but the treasure train certainly did not leave the besieged town despite the Russian divisions surrounding the town.

Normally the protection of such transports of valuables is carried out by a specialized unit of 100 percent trained and reliably loyal soldiers, which in the case of Germany certainly meant an SS unit. This was apparently not available, so a regular Wehrmacht unit was assigned to protect the train, which included the soldier who later made the deathbed statement.

Where was the train originally headed? The word Berlin is constantly repeated in the available sources, but this may not be true at all. The soldier from whom the information came certainly did not attend the command meetings. They were fleeing the Red Army from the east, so he logically assumed they were going to Berlin as the heart of Germany. But we already know that at that time (or shortly thereafter), on the contrary, the valuables were evacuated from Berlinto the potash mine at Merkers in Bavaria, where several carloads of gold and currency were taken in March 1945. Valuables were also usually transported to the Alpine Fortress at that time, which may have been the final destination of the train. The crossing of the Protectorate was uneventful, Bohemia was peaceful and (compared to Poland) the partisan movement was weak (ishin the first half of April 1945 German troops were crossing Bohemia without any problems) and could not threaten the armoured train. Difficulties could only be expected in southern Bohemia and Austria in connection with raids by American "boilermakers" who specifically targeted trains. However, it is also possible that the train had no target when it fled Wroclaw. It had to be cleared immediately, as the Russian tanks were going full tilt and could have arrived any day. There were Russian battle planes in the sky, firing at anything that moved, their guns piercing the armour of the tanks as surely as the boilers of the locomotives. So the logical immediate and temporary solution was to drive the 70 or so miles to Ksiaz and there hide the train in the tunnel from the planes and wait for further orders. Because in the confusion of the Russian offensive in Berlin, there was probably no one who could clearly formulate the combat andorders - when and where to go on which track, where to get coal for the locomotive, where to get food for the soldiers, and so on.

Subliminally, the narrative imposes the idea that the train with its cargo of valuables arrived in Ksiaz, which was deserted and empty, and therefore could have been used by thethe train's guard and security safely and without witnesses hid the valuable cargo in the tunnel under the castle, and blew up and mined the tunnel portal at the turn-off from the main line.

But it is very easy to trace that this was not the case.

Ksiaz was a favourite castle of Himmler and Hitler. The castle was confiscated from its original owners in 1939 - incidentally, at that time Ksiaz was on German territory, not Polish - Poland only got the territory after the war - see for example the map here:

https://mavink.com/post/8E5788E794A8922F60FB68E2D5C026368AAM055691/historicke-mapy-evropy

The Nazi paramilitary organization "Todt" entered the Książ Castle as early as 1941, intensive work is underway, probably one of Hitler's main headquarters is being prepared here.

During this time, underground tunnels are also built under the castle and the courtyard of honour with a 40-metre deep elevator shaft in front of the main portal.

During this time, a tunnel for the railway is also being built so that Hitler can take the train to the elevator that will take him directly to the entrance of the castle. The importance of the underground and the castle is evidenced by the fact that in early 1945 the Germans stopped work, many prisoners died here (up to 50,000 were deployed), and work was continuous. The construction was supervised by the Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer. On Hitler's direct order, work resumed in January 1945, but only ended when the front approached and the Russians were within range. The Russians did not occupy Ksiaz until 8 May and later blew up part of it.

The time difference between 13 February (the encirclement of Wroclaw) and 8 May (the arrival of the Red Army in Ksiaz) is quite long (over 80 days), but explainable. For the Russians, Berlin was the joker and they rushed to it, writing "To Berlin" signs on their tanks. Some nest in the Owl Mountains didn't seem to interest them much. The main lines of attack can be seen here:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%92%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%BE-%D0%9E%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F.jpg

Does anyone really think that for those 80 days the SS left a train full of gold parked in the tunnels underground on the Ksiaz and did nothing about it? Does anyone really think that in the meantime some general in Berlin didn't deal with the situation? The soldier escorting the train must not have known anything about it, his last contact with the train was when they parked it underground handed over the protection of the train to an SS unit (there were lots and lots of them) and he was apparently put in the hands of a flintlock and sent to fight at the front. And this little soldier kept in his memory the memory of the enormous treasure he had last seen on the train in the underground tunnel under the Ksiaz castle.

Where could the treasure have been repatriated from Ksiaz? Because it certainly didn't stay in that tunnel.

The tiny trail leads to Bohemia because it was the only direction that made sense. Bohemia was peaceful and safe at the time, the uprising didn't start to hit until April. The headquarters of the Mitte Group command, under the command of General - later Field Marshal - Ferdinand Schörner, moved into the spa town of Velichovka, a short distance from Ksiaz. The latter did not have a very small force even at the end of the war. Schörner's army then numbered about 900,000 soldiers. "It had about 9,400 guns and mortars, 2,400 tanks and over 1,000 aircraft,"

https://radiozurnal.rozhlas.cz/polni-marsal-schorner-se-o-kapitulaci-dozvedel-ve-velichovkach-6263432?nonmob=1).

Schörner's staff numbered over three thousand, and his staff train was parked in nearby Jaroměř. From Velichovka to Ksiaz is 90 kilometres by road, probably even less by rail. Could Schörner have left unnoticed the train full of treasures he had at his fingertips? Because the communication was working and reports from Ksiazha safely reached Hitler's bunker in Berlin on a regular basis.

We have direct testimony at our fingertips. The mystery writer Arnošt Vašíček is said to have met a witness who has evidence that the gold train reached the territory of the then Protectorate.

https://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/domaci/hledany-zlaty-vlak-nacistu-mozna-dojel-az-do-cech_394977.html

After all, the Germans were also taking a rare breeding herd of horses from Ksiaz - and they would leave the gold underground?

"In 1945, it was decided to evacuate the stallions from Ksiazha to the Saxon stud farm Moritzburg. Their transfer began on 5 March, but the destination ended up being the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia."

https://pametni-mince.cz/pametni-razby/katalog/katalog-razby/stado-ksiaz

Summary

Assumed fact based on circumstantial evidence and known information.

After the Red Army launched its attack across the Vistula River, there was a panic in Silesia and the gold, valuables, artwork and currency from Wroclaw were stored on the train and evacuated to the tunnel under the Ksiaz Castle sometime after 19 January. A soldier whose name we do not know was also a member of the train protection unit and who later made a statement on his deathbed.

The protection of the standing hidden train was taken over by the Ksiaz garrison (presumably members of the SS) and the military guards from Wrocław were assigned to other tasks.

The information about the train full of valuable deposits was forwarded to Berlin. There, further transport and protection of the train was professionally prepared. Sometime in the following weeks the train left the underground of Ksiaz and moved to Jaroměř under the protection of General Schö's armySchörner (or rather his deputy, Schörner did not physically arrive in Velichovka from Hitler's headquarters until 15 April 1945, and the train probably arrived there earlier).

The further fate of the treasure, (or its most valuable part) is complicated and I will describe it in a future blog.

Conclusion

Of course, it is very possible that I am wrong and the train is still in the underground castle. The train may contain the entire treasure, or the treasure without its most valuable parts. It could be that due to damage to the track by bombing or guerrilla action, or some technical fault with the locomotive, it was impossible to move the train. In such a case, it could very well have happened that only the most valuable pieces of the treasure (gold, diamonds) were taken away and the rest (statues, works of art) is still there.

If anyone wants to search for the treasure in the golden train, they can always go to Ksiaz Castle. It is 200 kilometres and three hours by car from Prague. The castle itself is beautiful - quite rightly they call it the Polish Versailles. There is a tour of the Nazi underground as part of the sightseeing tours and it is well worth it. Except they don't have an info centre in such a huge monument and the lady at the ticket office spoke nothing but Polish. We tried in vain to explain to her in Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, English and German that we didn't want a ticket for today but for tomorrow. It took a quarter of an hour, and finally a random visitor had to help with the translation. So I recommend - first google translate what you want into Polish and then try to buy a ticket.

The area around the castle is also beautiful and contains other attractions. Surely it is better to search for treasure in such a beautiful and safe environment than chasing with a spade in the heat among swarms of mosquitoes and poisonous snakes for Captain Kidd's treasure in the Caribbean or Seychelles.

You don't even need a shovel or pickaxe to search. A train 100 or 150 metres long, and armoured to boot, represents a major intervention in the physics of the underlying soils and rocks. Of course, the first thing an amateur thinks of is GPR (ground penetrating radar) and a magnetometer. These methods have been used by prospectors, but so far without success. What hasn't been used of the non-destructive methods, for example, have been electrical resistivity methods. Steel (not just train tracks, but perhaps tracks) has a much lower electrical resistivity (and higher conductivity) than soil (albeit aquiferous) and thus some results could be had. Oh, and some multicable (or a couple of electrodes and a piece of cable) will fit just fine in the trunk of a passenger car. And it's a non-destructive method, so there should be no reasonable argument against its use. Same with refraction seismics, because the tunnel lining (or even those tracks and train) will have a significantly higher seismic wave speed. A professional geophysicist might think of many other things.

You can't find the actual tunnel by geophysics, finding the empty space is one of the most difficult (and often impossible) tasks in geophysics.

If someone takes the plunge, I wish them good hunting.

Burden