Ukrainians and Russians are not Slavs. Kievan Rus is not Ukraine

On the trail of undiscovered treasures

PART 3
TREASURES OF THE THIRD REICH

Today we will not talk about specific treasures, but about the treasures that contain them. Some half a century ago, these treasures delighted the human eye - they were contemplated with delight and surprise by both true connoisseurs of beauty and ordinary people, who form the basis of the public loitering around the museums and galleries of pre-war Europe. But from that very tragic moment, when these treasures of world culture laid their paws on these treasures of world culture, the whole world now has the most vague idea of ​​them. After the war, some of them were found in secret vaults and returned to their rightful places, but the fate of the rest is very, very vague. Among them are such masterpieces as the Amber Room, the main fragments of which were presented almost three centuries ago to the Russian Tsar Peter I by the king of one of the German states, the famous collection of gold and silver weapons of the wealthy Polish knight Yakov Sosnovitsky, canvases by outstanding artists-masters of the Renaissance and later times... One can no longer even talk about the many thousands of tons of jewelry, cut diamonds and other small things of painstaking handwork, of historical and even scientific value. But the more time passes after the end of the war, the less chance there is that these treasures will ever be found. However, many of them no doubt still exist, and can really be found in some kind of hiding places. But where are these caches in which they are stored?

WHERE? - we will ask, but we will not hear a sensible answer. However, something is beginning to clear up already now, and something can be argued with rather a high degree reliability. What these statements are, and in what form they appear - the speech in this work.

There is a legend that when one of the numerous secretaries of the former Nazi Ministry of Culture, Walter Straub, after the surrender of Germany, was asked during interrogation what he knew exactly where the treasures hidden by the Germans could be found, he suddenly mysteriously answered: "Look at the bottom of the sea." Unable to get a more intelligible answer from this official, the American investigator decided to postpone the interrogation to the next day in order to prepare for it more thoroughly. But the German who blabbed did not live until the next day: someone mixed poison into his bowl with dinner.

This story is well known. After this incident, the allies began to interrogate the rest of the employees of the ministry, and some even with partiality, but nothing came of them. Perhaps, if they had applied the Gestapo methods, they would have achieved something, but you yourself understand very well ... In addition, almost all the employees of the ministry soon had to be released from prison - they were not covered by the articles of the Hague Conventions on war crimes. This story has remained a mystery. The words of the untimely deceased Straub prompted the allies to take some immediate actions related to the search for treasures at the bottom of the sea, but the bottom of the sea is not an open field for you. It was clear that for a start it was necessary to look not for the treasures themselves, but for the people who hid them.

Years passed, and "from the bottom of the sea" nothing was recovered, even remotely resembling the masterpieces stolen by the Nazis. One decade was replaced by another, and then the moment came when some details of the secret that worried everyone began to appear.

In 1997, the Dutch magazine "Shpunk" published an article about how, after the war, on the coast of the North Sea near the German city of Feidhaven, the British found an abandoned secret factory for the production of individual parts for the latest fascist submarines. In addition to these very parts, the British discovered some more things that had a very distant relation to the production of submarines. These were thin and very strong steel ropes ranging in length from a thousand meters to two, and even three thousand, as well as a dozen or two solderable cylinders with an internal volume of several cubic meters each. When the cylinders were opened with great care, nothing was found in them. However, it was clear that these cylinders were directly related to the ropes - both of them had mechanical locks identical to each other, with the help of which they were connected to each other. There were bright heads who suggested that these cylinders were intended for use at very great depths. Further in their conjectures, however, they did not go. Until they found multi-ton cast-iron blocks in the basements of the plant, equipped with the same locks as cylinders and ropes.

Now everything fell into place. It turns out that the cylinders had to be attached to these blocks, which were the most natural "weights" holding the steel cylinder with the air bubble enclosed in it at a depth, and the rope was attached to the cylinder cover and went up to the surface of the sea. Here the imagination of the British again stalled, and the fantasy of American specialists, to whom the British turned for advice, also did little to help them in this complicated matter ...

So, no matter how hard the occupying authorities tried, they could not find anyone who was in any way connected with the production at this plant, and therefore the secret of the “weights”, cylinders and other many kilometers of ropes was not fully disclosed. Many versions were put forward, and some of them were not devoid of a certain wit, however, no one could unambiguously answer the question of interest to everyone.

The received message interested the editors of the Belgian magazine " secret stories", because she already had at her disposal some information regarding the mysterious cylinders mentioned. It was a story told by a former German submariner named Helmut Frase, and from it it was clear that when he served in the Kriegsmarine (Navy of the Third Reich) in 1944 ) on a submarine, he happened to take part in a rather strange experiment.

The case concerned the testing of a very interesting mechanism, the true purpose of which none of the sailors had to find out. According to the narrator, it was a large buoy, equipped with a high-capacity battery and some kind of electronic equipment. The buoy was attached to the bottom of the sea with a minrep ( * 1 ), taken from a warehouse of deep-sea mines, but fastened so that it was hidden under the sea surface by 20 or 30 meters. This mysterious buoy, together with the minrep and standard "shoes" (weights), was thrown into the sea at an arbitrary point, after which it was necessary to find it again as soon as possible using secret equipment, access to which only the special officer assigned to the boat had access to during testing. All the sailors believed that the hull of some new mine was being tested, and therefore no one then had any unnecessary questions. Only over the years did Fraze begin to get the impression that it was not the mines that interested the special officer who led the tests. The highlight of the whole program, most likely, was only the mechanism itself, which made it possible to find this buoy in the depths of the sea using a radio or some kind of sonar device installed on a submarine.

But the most mysterious thing in this whole story was that the former submariner after that never again met any mention of that strange device. After the war, almost all the secrets of the Nazis regarding developments were covered in the world press. latest types weapons, but Phrase, no matter how hard he tried, could not get the information he was interested in.

So what was this buoy? If we compare the story of a German submariner with what flashed in a Dutch magazine, then we can make a "reconstruction" of this mysterious apparatus with approximate accuracy. Let us imagine a fairly simple but reliable structure, consisting, on the one hand, of a hollow cylinder with walls that could withstand pressure at a depth of many kilometers, held at this depth by a multi-ton cargo, and on the other hand, this strange buoy, designed so that it it was not visible from the surface of the sea, and even from an airplane, but so that, if necessary, it could be found in the ocean expanses with the help of special equipment. Both the cylinder and the buoy were connected by a long steel rope.

The purpose of this device became somewhat clearer, but it was not clear WHAT EXACTLY the Nazis were going to hide in these cylinders at the bottom of the ocean? Of course, the conclusion about the unfound values ​​stolen by the Nazis during the war suggested itself, although from some points of view this idea might not seem serious enough. Who, one wonders, would think of hiding treasures at the bottom of the ocean, using such a cumbersome and not fully secrecy method, when there are quite enough secluded places on land suitable for equipping quite reliable hiding places? But, as time has shown, many fascist treasure hoards and warehouses of secret documents on land were eventually found, but the most important values ​​were still missing ...

Meanwhile, events unfolded in their own way. More recently, in the American edition of the Leisure Magazine (Philadelphia), an article by a certain R. Graham appeared, which was called quite in the spirit of this magazine: "Diamonds from the Sea King." Graham quite authoritatively described his meeting with a wealthy Englishman named Rowan Gilbert, who told the American the story of his wealth. To some, this story may seem pure fiction, but given the information received in its time by the magazines "Shpunk" and "Secret Histories", the story of Rowan Gilbert in the retelling of Graham is worth it to bring it here in full ...

"... So, one fine day, my old English friend Anatole S. - the American begins - introduced me to a man whose fate can legitimately form the basis of a magnificent adventure-detective novel. This man's name was Rowan Gilbert (name and some details this man's biographies have been changed by me), and he is a wealthy gentleman from Brighton. However, this Gilbert's origin was by no means a gentleman's. By his personal admission, he was born in the family of a hereditary his back on the “damned capitalists.” His luck in life was brought by one lucky find, which he told me about with some reservations, when we sat on the veranda of his huge house on the banks of the Pas de Calais and finished another bottle of wonderful Jamaican rum, which his Negro servant, dressed in an exotic livery of the eighteenth century model, dragged us from the wine cellar ...

Here is how it was. Twenty years before the conversation described, when Rowan was about forty years old, he went to work in the north of the country. A large oil refinery was being built not far from the Scottish city of Aberdeen, and one of the relatives employed at this construction site called Gilbert to earn extra money. Gilbert did not refuse, he came to the construction site and settled with his family in a small house, rented with the money raised as an advance. About two months later, the following event occurred: when one Sunday morning, Gilbert was walking with his dog along the coast of the North Sea, his attention was attracted by some object, nailed by the waves of the tide to the rocks that littered the wild beach. Going down to the very water, Gilbert examined, as best he could, the object, which was a large metal cylinder, reaching two meters in length and almost one and a half in diameter. The subject did not look like a mine - Gilbert knew a lot about mines, because at one time he had undergone naval training on minesweepers. Feeling that something interesting might be hidden inside the cylinder, Gilbert tried to open this cylinder. He tried a bunch of ways, but all in vain. Strong metal was not taken by any saw. Intrigued by such a "tough nut", the stubborn Englishman finally decided to spend a significant amount he had set aside for a rainy day to rent an old truck. The cylinder weighed a lot, and therefore I had to fork out more to install a winch in the car. In the end, Gilbert managed to get his find into the back of a car and drive it home.

Gilbert's latest hard-earned hard-earned money was a gas welding machine. The future gentleman studied in detail the rules for using this thing according to the attached instructions, and then slowly and carefully cut the found "piece of iron" into two parts. From that moment on, Rowan Gilbert's entire future life is literally turned upside down. What he found inside the cut cylinder plunged him not even into amazement, but into real, indescribable horror ...

Gilbert had never seen so many treasures concentrated in one heap even in a movie about the treasures of the leaders of Atlantis. He was a guy with brains, and therefore, after some thought, he divided all the treasures into many parts and hid them in the most secluded corners throughout the district. With difficulty, he waited for the completion of the construction of the plant in order to receive a legal payment, and without arousing any suspicions, leave Scotland. To begin with, he needed to legalize at least some of his treasures, and Gilbert figured out how to do it properly. Ohno took away about £50,000 worth of diamonds (an insignificant part of the wealth found!), moved to Wales and staged an ancient treasure chest in the sand on the beach. He handed over the "treasure" to the state and, according to the law, received a considerable part of it. With such deeds, the rest of the treasures could be taken care of...

Gilbert and his family moved to America and founded a car repair company in Newarket near Dearborn. Of course, this is only a cover - Gilbert is not attracted by the prospect of doing business in any form, but the Englishman got a smart assistant, who eventually became the manager of the newly formed company, led her business uphill. This fact allowed Gilbert to relax and return to England for the remaining treasures, besides, he does not like America, and therefore his rare visits to the American continent are purely business. Through simple fraud, he cashes out part of his "diamond reserves" and transfers more and more funds to the management of the company in Newarket. The firm soon becomes a prosperous automobile corporation, and the manager becomes the head of the board of directors.

Production is expanding. At some stage, Gilbert issued shares, and immediately bought up a fairly significant part of them. Along the way, he acquires shares in many other prosperous corporations, and the matter is now completely, as they say, "in the hat." The Englishman got the opportunity to cash out his "diamond reserves" quite legally and without any suspicion on the part of the state and the mafia. Gilbert had finally become the gentleman that all his ancestors down to the tenth generation could only dream of. Most of the diamonds, and unclaimed, still rest in forest and swamp caches scattered throughout England - these are stocks "for a rainy day." To calm his conscience, Gilbert let some things go to charitable causes, something he secretly placed in bank safes, but the main wealth is preserved inviolable, so to speak, in a "virgin" form. Rowan Gilbert still has no idea WHERE this magic cylinder came from, and WHO owned the diamonds enclosed in it.

I asked the Englishman about the fate of the cylinder itself, but the new gentleman informed me with regret that he cut the remains of it and threw it far into the sea in a deep place when he covered his tracks. But he drew me this cylinder and its details on paper as detailed as he could."

Unfortunately, these drawings were not present in the magazine, but the description of the strange cylinder made by Gilbert - the shape, dimensions and weight, as well as the design of the locks - completely coincided with the description given in "Plate". The picture began to clear up.

Thanks to the above three stories, by and large unrelated to each other, we can now quite specifically assume WHERE EXACTLY the Nazis could hide main part treasures they had looted during the war. Of course, it was very clever. Well, who, tell me, will after the war look for some kind of underwater buoys in the vast expanses of the ocean, even if they know about the existence of this entire system? As conceived by the authors, the jewels were soldered into a sealed cylinder, similar to the one found by Rowan Gilbert, and attached to the cylinder heavy load, and on the other hand - a thin but strong steel rope, capable of withstanding extreme loads and the length of which depended on exactly where and at what depth it was supposed to flood the cache. After flooding, the upper end of the rope was kept afloat by a buoy - the same buoy was described by the former German submariner Helmut Frase. The system looked very reliable, according to the German, the buoy was equipped with some kind of transmitting hydroacoustic device, powered not by an ordinary battery, but by the so-called "eternal battery", the principle of which is based on using the temperature difference between the surface and bottom layers of water. A person who possessed information at least about the approximate coordinates of the buoy, and who had such a secret device, to which the buoy "responded" to the radio or acoustic signals sent by it, could quickly find this very buoy. True, there could be difficulties with lifting the cylinders to the surface, but these problems were of a purely technical nature and were not of particular fundamental importance ...

Another concern in this whole story is that if the system seemed more reliable to the Nazis than caches on land, then where did the cylinder found by Gilbert come from? Most likely, as a result of some kind of malfunction in the system, the cylinder simply broke away from it, and, not held at the bottom by a multi-ton sinker, floated to the surface of the sea. It follows from this that the system is still not as reliable as one might imagine... However, these are all doubts of a private nature, but you can be sure of the main thing for sure - before the end of the war, the Nazis did everything possible to hide most of the jewelry ( and possibly secret documents) in the depths of the sea. They also took good care of keeping the secret.

And now it is time to bring the next document into the light of God. Before you are lines from the memoirs of the illustrious Captain Merville Grant, who at the time described commanded the British light cruiser Brunei.

"... On April 15, 1945," Grant writes in his notes, "I received an order to leave the port of Freetown in West Africa and head to the Z square - a deserted area Atlantic Ocean between the French West Indies and the Cape Verde Islands. According to the message received from the pilot of the patrol flying boat, in this square there was a fascist transport - "breaking the blockade" ( * 2 - all explanations - at the bottom of the page) "Eriadne". The commander's instructions were to capture the Eriadne, and, if resisted, to destroy it.

After some time, we went to a given area and quickly discovered the fascist ship with the help of an airborne reconnaissance aircraft. However, it was not the Eriadne, but a completely different ship - the Nautilus, which was listed in the German fleet as a mine transport. Our plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the Nautilus, however, the pilots escaped, and after the end of the operation they were safely taken aboard the cruiser. The Germans at first tried to escape from us, but quickly realized that they would not be able to do this, but they were not going to give up. Before, I had never encountered such senseless and stubborn resistance - the Nautilus had five times fewer guns, and their caliber was too small compared to ours. However, the Germans fired with such amazing tenacity, as if they seriously intended to fight off an armored cruiser. However, their shells did not reach us, and we quickly achieved a hit in the engine room, and the fascist ship was enveloped in a large cloud of steam and smoke. The Germans began to lower the boats, but they did not raise the white flag, and I decided that they intended to sink their ship. The fire from the "Nautilus" stopped, and I gave the order to prepare for launching a speedboat with a capture team. By that time, the steam and smoke had dissipated, and the boats with the German sailors were already far away.

20 minutes passed, and our group finally climbed onto the wrecked ship. Suddenly, the Nautilus shuddered and began to slowly list to starboard - the Germans must have opened the kingstones from this side before retreating. I ordered the senior officer, who had set off on a boat, by radio to hurry up with an examination of the holds. After a few minutes, the list reached the point where it became too dangerous for people on board. The capture group left the sinking "Nautilus" ...

However, no documents were found on board the transport, however, I did not hope for this. The Germans never left us any documents if they had even the slightest opportunity to destroy them. Upon arrival, the senior officer reported to me that he found nothing special in the holds, except for steel minreps of incredible length, rolled into giant coils, as well as several hollow cylinders of unknown purpose. When the Nautilus sank, we searched for our downed pilots for a long time, and when we went to pick up the Germans, it was already too late. Suddenly, a squally wind blew and dispersed the boats with the Germans all over the ocean. It was getting dark quickly, and before the moment when the storm turned into a hurricane, we managed to save only five sailors, led by the captain of the ship. To all inquiries about the course and purpose of their vessel, the sailors of the Nautilus insisted that they had been ordered to break through to Argentina and surrender there. But I understood that the matter was not at all as simple as these cunning people wanted to present it to me. Of the prisoners, I selected one, in my opinion, the least psychologically strong sailor, and decided to put pressure on him.

In the end, the sailor admitted that the breakout was carrying out a responsible task, received by his captain personally from one of the leaders of the Reich, suffocating in the grip of a rigid blockade. He was not aware of the essence of the task, but, in his opinion, the ship was engaged in laying deep-sea mines off the coast of South America on the routes of tankers transporting oil from Venezuela to the United States, and came to Z square for another communication session with Berlin.

I criticized this obviously ridiculous version, but the sailor stubbornly stood his ground. Then I decided to interrogate the captain again, having new data in my hands.

But I'm late. The German, apparently, suspected something, and therefore, when he was being led from the ship's punishment cell for interrogation, he snatched a pistol from the officer accompanying him and shot himself. I was very annoyed at this turn of affairs, but there was nothing to be done about it. I lashed out at the rest of the Germans with threats, but they stubbornly refused to say anything ... They only repeated that they were members of the engine crew, and therefore did not see what was happening on the decks, and the spread of rumors and gossip on the "Nautilus" was suppressed by the most cruel way - for this, there was a secret security service on the ship. Of course, I really wanted to solve the secret of "Nautilus", but it turned out to be too tough for me. In the end, I spat on this venture with the interrogation of prisoners and breathed freely when I handed them over from hand to hand to the military authorities of Freetown ... "

Like this. Whoever is interested in the source of this information, we can inform you that the memoirs of Captain Merville Grant are called "In the Light of Glory", and they were published by Cohen and Stingray in 1965 in London. The book has not yet been translated into Russian, but the most important thing in the end is that thanks to the information gleaned from this book, you can finally make sure that the Germans at the end of the war actually "mined" the entire Atlantic - from Greenland and all the way to Antarctica - these cylinders with treasures hidden in them. By whose order it was done is a completely different question. The main thing is that the PROCESS WAS ON.

It seems that none of the leaders of the Third Reich are currently alive, and the memoirs that some of these people left behind do not contain a hint of the treasures they hid on the ocean floor. More than half a century has passed since the operation that "caught" the Nautilus mine transport, but apart from the lucky find of Rowan Gilbert, there is no other evidence that the treasures are still waiting for those who will come for them someday. If the one who hid them did not extract them at the time, then where, one wonders, is there a guarantee that the automatic buoys are still in good order and have the ability to respond to the "calls" of the search device, the traces of which also could not be found?

The materials published in various magazines allow us to hope that someone else will respond, who will help find such a necessary lead in this matter. Where is the solution to the mystery? Where can I find the search device described by the German submariner Helmut Frase? Could he himself, or at least his drawings, disappear without a trace? Since after the war both cylinders, and many kilometers of minreps with weights, and even part of the treasures were found, then these mysterious things must finally be found. Necessarily. Sooner or later. And if one fine day, those who are thirsty to contemplate the once lost beauty, the views of millions of people on our planet will discover the majestic and unique charm of the real Amber Room in its most natural form, then we can assume that the issue with secret burials of Nazi treasures at the bottom of the oceans was not raised in vain.

Exhibition “Greek Gold. Treasures of Hellenes and Barbarians»

Information appeared in the foreign media about the publication of the diary of an SS officer *, indicating the caches in which the Nazis hid the loot. "Vecherka" found out all the ins and outs of the Nazi treasures.

According to historian Vladimir Sidorov, at the end of the war, the Germans really hid the looted treasures - as in an offensive zone Soviet army, and in the west, where the Anglo-American group was advancing. There were two goals: firstly, enough a large number of Nazi officers, mostly from the SS, stole valuables as personal booty. And they hid it as a reserve for later use for their own purposes. They then believed that the occupation of Germany would not last long, and the robbers would be able to return to their hiding places.

Secondly, - Sidorov noted, - there was a targeted program to hide the stolen valuables for the further restoration of the Reich - secret Nazi organizations in Europe and the USA, as well as the colonies of the Nazis who managed to escape to South America. All of them dreamed of the restoration of the Reich after some time. The ranks of the SS were engaged in the creation of caches, either SS soldiers were involved as labor force, and then they took an oath of silence from them, or prisoners - and after completing the work they were shot to keep the secret, the historian said.

Beginning in the 1960s, valuables that were considered lost began to appear occasionally at auctions or suddenly pop up from private collectors. This suggests that the former SS retained control over the hiding places, and they used them. At the same time, by the way, the emergence of neo-Nazism began on the basis of various veteran societies of the former military of the Third Reich, which would have been impossible without significant funding.

At the end of the war, the Germans really hid the looted treasures - both in the offensive zone of the Soviet army and in the west, where the Anglo-American group was advancing

A large number of former SS men were accepted into the US Army, Sidorov explained. - Of course, the German army was also created on the basis of the remnants of the Wehrmacht and the SS. Over time, representatives of the criminal organization banned by the Nuremberg Tribunal - namely, the SS is considered to be such after the tribunal - entered the elite of the army and special services of the FRG and the USA. A decent number of SS men served in the CIA in the sixties and seventies. According to available open information, they used caches left in West Germany. According to the intelligence services, there were several attempts to secretly take out some of the treasures from the caches left in Poland and on the territory of the GDR.

According to the historian, counterintelligence officers of the socialist camp managed to uncover a couple of such caches with valuables, but most have not been found. There were several stories when, under the guise of tourists who wanted to look at the houses or graves of their ancestors, former SS men came to Kaliningrad (Kenigsberg) and penetrated the dungeons under the city. During the assault on the city, the Germans tried to mine the abandoned positions, and thus the dungeons, in which, by the way, the original Amber Room could be hidden, were mined up and down. Soviet sappers were able to clear only the upper tiers of the Koenigsberg cellars. It was not possible to capture the schemes for laying mines - the Germans either destroyed them or took them out of the besieged city through secret passages, of which there were many in the fortress - the Soviet troops could not block everything. After the West German "tourists" frequented the dungeons, Soviet authorities simply flooded the lower tiers of the dungeons with water.

From time to time there is news about the discovery of another Nazi cache of loot, but most often these stories end in nothing: either the valuables have already been taken out by someone, or the indication of the cache turns out to be fake, disinformation. The SS men knew how to keep their secrets, and still keep them - themselves or their descendants.

On March 9, information appeared in the media about the diary of SS officer Egon Olenhauer, which indicated the locations of eleven caches at once with a list of treasures hidden in them. According to preliminary data, all places are located on the territory of modern Poland, and in addition to gold, they contain many works of art from looted museums - for example, works by Botticelli, Rubens, Cezanne, Caravaggio, Monet, Durer, Raphael and Rembrandt.

As for the story with the diary and 11 hiding places in Poland, then most likely there are no treasures there anymore, Vladimir Sidorov believes. - If all the owners of the diary who came from the war and after the collapse of the socialist camp knew about the location of the caches, then most likely they have already appropriated them.

*SS - banned by the Nuremberg Tribunal.

During the Second World War, the Nazis were engaged in robbery in almost all the countries they occupied, and on the eve of the defeat, the allied countries did not escape a similar fate - special SS teams took out stocks of money and gold from their banks, from museums - all cultural values, the Nazis did not disdain and elementary breakdown. A certain part of the loot after the end of the war was returned to the owners, much more settled on the accounts of Nazi criminals who fled after the defeat of Germany, but considerable wealth remained unfound and rests in caches forgotten to this day. For the most part, only legends and rumors circulate about these treasures, but many authentic documents have survived, indicating that such caches actually exist. The most popular stories are about the search for the Amber Room and the treasures of Marshal Rommel, but few people suspect that no less significant treasures await their discoverers...

Nazi trophies

Bombs to drop! Close hatches! Let's get out of here! shouted a young US Air Force pilot as 950 bombers dropped 2,265 tons of explosives on Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. The bombing of February 3, 1945, one of the most brutal in the entire Second world war, claimed the lives of about 2,000 people, left another 120,000 homeless, leveling entire urban areas. Many government buildings, including Adolf Hitler's office, were completely destroyed or badly damaged.

The vaults of the Reichsbank held the bulk of Nazi Germany's gold reserves, estimated in today's prices at about $7.5 billion, including 1.5 billion of Italian gold.

Cache of billions

For Dr. Funk, one glance at the bank destroyed by bombs and fire was enough. He immediately transferred senior staff to other cities to continue the work of the Reichsbank, and ordered the gold and money reserves to be sent to a large mine, where potash salt was mined, 300 kilometers southwest of Berlin. The Kaiserode mine, which was about 50 kilometers from the nearest town, was a wonderful hiding place at a depth of 800 meters. Its adits, with a total length of 50 kilometers, had five separate entrances. For the secret transportation of most of the Nazi stocks - approximately 100 tons of gold and 1000 bags of banknotes, 13 railway cars were required.

However, just seven weeks later, the US 3rd Army, under the command of General George S. Patton, approached the area. Incredibly, the Germans were prevented from taking out the gold by the Easter holidays - there were not enough wagons, nevertheless, representatives of the Reichsbank were able to take 450 bags of paper money from the mine. On April 4, the Americans were already in these places. Two days later, a military patrol met two French women on a country road who had been forcibly taken to Germany, and, following an order that restricted movement civilians, took them back to the city of Merkers, from where they were going. As the car passed Kaiserode, one of the women said, “This is the mine where the Germans hide their gold.”

On April 7, American officers descended to a depth of 640 meters and found 550 sacks with a billion Reichsmarks left by the Germans in a salt cave. Having blown up the steel door of hall number 8 with dynamite, they got into a room 46 meters long, 23 meters wide and 3.5 meters high, where there were more than 7,000 numbered bags. The underground storeroom contained 8,527 gold bars, gold coins from France, Switzerland, and the United States, and many bundles of paper money from these countries. Gold and silver utensils, flattened to make it easier to store, and folded into boxes and chests. Suitcases full of diamonds, pearls and other precious stones stolen from the prisoners of the death camps, and next to them are bags stuffed with gold crowns and fillings. Plus - in small quantities - English, Norwegian, Turkish, Spanish and Portuguese money. If you put it all together, then the cache in the mine was one of the richest vaults in the world at that time. As much as 93.17 percent of all Germany's gold and foreign exchange reserves were hidden there at the end of the war.

But the finds didn't end there. In other tunnels, cut in different directions in soft rock, works of art with a total weight of up to 400 tons were found, including paintings from 15 German museums and valuable books from the Goethe library in Weimar. Under strict guard, Kaiserode's treasures in 11,750 crates were loaded onto 32 ten-ton trucks and delivered to Frankfurt, where they were placed in the vaults of the local branch of the Reichsbank. Contrary to rumors that one of the trucks disappeared along the way, nothing went missing in transit.

According to Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, due to the fact that Funk "criminally violated his duty", the wealth of the Reich fell into the hands of the enemy, but the Fuhrer approved an attempt to evacuate the remaining values. In fact, the idea belonged to the officer of his bodyguard, police colonel Friedrich Josef Rauch. Following the example of the Gestapo, which had already begun to transport its gold, jewels, works of art and paper money to mines, to the bottom of lakes and to other caches in the mountains of southern Bavaria and northern Austria, Colonel Rauch offered to take those who remained in Bavaria and hide in a safe place. Reichsbank 6.83 percent of the official gold reserves. These bars and coins would probably be worth about $150 million today.

The currency was loaded onto two trains, and the gold bullion and coins were prepared for shipment by trucks. On the way, Dr. Funk's colleague Hans Alfred von Rosenberg-Lipinski ordered the bags of money to be removed from the train and loaded onto trucks. Eventually a truckload of Reichsmarks, gold coins and bullion, and foreign currency arrived in a small town in the Bavarian Alps. The trains continued on their way to Munich. Rosenberg-Lipinski kept one bag of foreign currency and five small boxes “for certain reasons”. It seems quite probable that this banking boss was preparing a prosperous future for himself.

Others followed his example. Cars loaded with treasures headed for Training Center infantry. While the irritated officers were arguing about where to hide the remaining valuables, Reichsbank employee Emil Januszewski apparently took two bars of gold. When later someone, unsuccessfully trying to light the stove in the officers' canteen, found ingots in the chimney, Januszewski, no longer young, was Respected man, committed suicide. By this time, all the rest of the gold had already been buried in watertight pits near a secluded alpine chalet known as the Forest House. Paper money was divided into three parts and hidden on three mountain peaks. Subsequently, two gold bars found in the chimney and a large amount of currency ended up in the hands of a certain Karl Jacob. They were never seen again.

Soon Dr. Funk and other Nazi leaders were arrested by the Allies, but none of them admitted to knowing where the missing gold was hidden. In the end, the US military found about $14 million worth of Reichsbank gold, as well as $41 million worth of gold belonging to other departments of Nazi Germany, but the valuables hidden near the Forest Lodge were never found. For four years, American investigators diligently tried to solve this mystery, but in the end they were forced to report that about 3.5 million dollars in gold and about 2 million in paper money (respectively 46.5 million and 12 million in current prices) disappeared without a trace.

The loot of the winners

Not only the Germans took advantage of unexpected opportunities, when gold, money and unique artistic values ​​themselves went into the hands. To the dismay of officers like General Patton, who was very meticulous with German wealth and said, "I don't want anyone to say that the son of a bitch Patton stole any of it," many American soldiers had other people's property stuck to hands. About 300 cases are known when valuable works of art were exported to the United States. The perpetrators were tried for misappropriation of stolen goods and either imprisoned or expelled from military service in disgrace.

However, in 1990, the world was shocked by the news that treasures from Germany had somehow turned out to be for sale by the heirs of an obscure war veteran from a remote Texas town ...

Hardware store owner Joe T. Meador reportedly kept a priceless ninth-century manuscript gospel wrapped in a blanket, often showing it to friends and family at his home in the town of Whitewright, about 100 kilometers north of Dallas. The ornate, illustrated 1,100-year-old manuscript, bound in fine workmanship in gold and silver, belonged to the church in German city Quedlinburg. Unexpectedly, it was put up for sale in Switzerland.

The manuscript, estimated to be worth $30 million, is six centuries older than the Gutenberg Bible. It contains all four Gospels and was written in gold for imperial court and at the end of the 10th century it was donated to the monastery of the ancient fortress city, possibly by Emperor Otto III and his sister Adelaide, the abbess of the monastery.

It turned out that the treasure found by Midor also included a manuscript of 1513 in a richly ornamented gold and silver binding, and an ark of the 9th-10th centuries, decorated with gold, silver and precious stones. There were objects in his collection in the form of a heart and reminiscent of a dish, but the most valuable was a vessel made of rock crystal in the form of a bishop's miter, in which, it is believed, a lock of the Virgin Mary's hair was kept. In addition, there were gold and silver crucifixes and a comb from the 12th century, which belonged to Henry 1. These treasures were taken from the Quedlinburg church and hidden in a mine when allied forces began to approach this part of Germany in last days war. In April 1945, according to US military records, the officials checking the cache found everything safe and sound. However, a few days later they discovered that some of the valuable items had disappeared. An investigation was launched, which lasted three years, but no traces were found.

In all likelihood, Joe Meador, at the time Lieutenant american army, appropriated these valuables and exported them to the United States, successfully completing one of the largest art thefts of the twentieth century. He wanted to be an art teacher, but circumstances forced him to continue the family business in a hardware store.

After Meador's death, when his heirs began to offer treasures from Quedlinburg for sale, the IRS and the FBI launched an investigation. After months of legal maneuvering, the heirs agreed to part with everything they had left for $2.75 million, a full million more than the bail they received for the gospel. Many criticized such a deal, and in 1992 the treasure was returned to Germany.

Bags filled to the brim with paper bills, stamps, dollars, pounds. April 1945, it seems that the end of the world is approaching, it is necessary to save the reserves of the Third Reich. Treasures of the Reichsbank (German: Reichsbank) disappear into the mountains in Bavaria, but where exactly is unknown. This mystery still haunts historians and treasure hunters.

More than a quarter of a century trying to solve this mystery, this is one of the greatest robberies in the world. The gold was transported to the mountains and part of it simply vanished into thin air.

April 1945 Allied forces bomb the German capital, day and night a sea of ​​fire falls on Berlin. On April 14, several trucks, accompanied by police and bank employees, are ready to leave the city. The transportation of the gold is entrusted to Georg Netzeband. He is nervous responsibility on his shoulders colossal. The senior cashier of the Reichsbank, a man of impeccable reputation, is tasked with saving the remains of the treasures of the great Reich.

Where did the Reich gold go?

Gotta hurry, three weeks in advance Soviet troops made significant progress towards Berlin. The Red Army is preparing to storm Berlin. Allied troops are squeezing the ring around the capital, and Hitler's close associates are thinking how to save the gold of the Reich. Propaganda Minister Goebbels and Reichsbank President Walter Funk understand that they may lose their treasures. They issue an evacuation order, all national reserves should be sent to the South of Germany.

A detachment led by Georg Netzeband will have to transfer almost 10 tons of gold. A modest employee of the Reichsbank compiled a detailed account of the treasures of the Reich. Subsequently, this document is overgrown with legends.

Three trucks full of gold and people are heading to Bavaria. For the leader of the detachment, who received vague instructions, there are hard days. From the Netzeband report: "April 15, trucks are overloaded, this slows down our movement." It was an extremely dangerous journey. Several times a convoy of trucks was fired upon by planes.

A few decades later, two bars from Hitler's gold reserves were found in one of the banks in England, but where are the rest of the treasures? The hunt for Reichsbank gold began even before the end of the war, American troops were advancing. In early April 1945, the troops of the third American army occupy the small town of Mergenz in Thuringia. Here they find a huge amount of Nazi trophies.

Americans discover more than 8,000 gold bars in potash mines. Most of the treasures of the Third Reich were found by chance. Priceless paintings, a lot of gold, foreign currency, diamonds and other treasures, there were a lot of them.

The Americans also found reports of Reichsbank reserves. Neat and pedantic bank employees recorded literally every pfennig on paper. The Americans thought they had found the entire national treasure of Germany, but this turned out not to be the case. The gold rush has begun.

Meanwhile, a convoy of truckloads of Reichsbank treasure headed for the Alps. In the mountains, some high-ranking leaders and remnants of german army. After 7 days, the convoy arrived in the Alps. On April 22, a convoy of trucks enters the location of the mountain shooters. Temporarily gold bars were hidden there. Several officers were sent to the mountains to look for more reliable shelter, because the Americans were literally on the heels. A few days later, the convoy left the location and headed for one of the picturesque villages located on the lake in the Alps. There are still legends about the mysterious gold.

The gold and currency of the Reichsbank were temporarily hidden in the house at the mill in this village. Members of the local resistance testify that in addition to treasures, there was something else in the house. Another twenty or thirty boxes that were not listed in the inventory. These boxes were never found afterwards.

The Alps safely hide the gold of the Reich

Responsibility for valuables was transferred to the local command, to Netzeband's utter dismay. The colonel never gave him any receipt for the treasures he had received, explaining that he "couldn't check the values." But Netzeband managed to fulfill one order of the government - to drown the printing plates for Reichsmarks in the lake at great depths.

The Germans have almost no time left: the Americans are gradually pushing them out of the occupied cities. It is believed that initially the German government intended to hide the valuables in the heart of the country, but later it was decided to send them to the highlands. Rumors about the presence of treasure haunted the locals.

On the night of April 28, German soldiers under the cover of darkness, they headed for Mount Steinrigel, loading the gold onto mules. This mission was top secret, according to the colonel's instructions, the gold was to be delivered to special caches on the mountain. The whole operation was carried out within three days. A total of 96 bags of banknotes were buried different countries, 56 boxes of bars and coins. Winter weather favored the operation, the snow covered all traces. Only those who hid them knew where the valuables were left.

April 30, two days after the treasure was taken to the mountains, Garmisch-Partenkirchen is surrounded by American troops. Being confident in the inaccessibility and good security of the area, they call for artillery support. The Germans tried to negotiate a peaceful surrender, and in last minute the bombing was cancelled. On May 8, 1945, the Allied Forces victory parade takes place in the city.

With the onset of peaceful days, American soldiers of the 101st Air Division found German treasures hidden in the mountains. A unique collection of Hermann Goering's valuables, hundreds of priceless paintings and other works of art taken from different parts of Europe, but there was no gold among them. Those who knew about his whereabouts remained silent.

American gold rush

Among the soldiers and officers who surrendered were those who had this information, and soon it became known about the treasures hidden in the mountains near Lake Walchensee. Captain Heinz Rügger was among those who knew where the gold was hidden, and under pressure from interrogators, he pointed out several places.

Having gone with Ruegger to the mountains, the Americans dug up the boxes. Despite the fact that they were not hidden deep, it would be impossible to find them without having information about what was here. 728 gold bars were taken from the ground.

Did the Reichsbank gold story end there? To this day, adventurers flock to Mount Rigel on weekends in an attempt to find traces of the remaining treasures of the Reich. It is still possible to find individual coins in the devastated caches, but this is not what attracts searchers: the Americans have not found the money taken out by German soldiers, while there is no mention of any gold or currency in the documents.

A US command report confirms that only gold bars were found. When comparing the German inventory and the American document on the discovered values, it becomes obvious that some values ​​are missing. Somehow: 25 boxes of ingots, bags of currency and 11 more boxes of gold.

Did someone ended up in the mountains before the Americans? It is believed that these were German soldiers from the training camp, who opened one cache on April 29, 1945 and hid them. Captain Ruegger, who was not involved in this operation, could not have known anything about the movements. The soldiers swore that they must answer all questions that the money had been taken to Tyrol.

Many years later, one of the Wehrmacht lieutenants gave away the whereabouts of the rest of the treasure. Modern treasure hunters go to check his version to the rocky mountains above the lake. Their goal is a hard-to-reach place on the western slope, covered with snow throughout the year, a landmark is a dried tree.

At dawn, on freshly fallen snow, the team rises to a point previously found from the air. They manage to find the path that the mules were following, following it, they reach the place. Metal detectors cannot be used; a ground-based radar is used to detect voids in the ground using ultrasound.

The analysis allows us to conclude that there is no gold in the rock. So where is it located? It is known that after the end of the war, Colonel Franz Pfeiffer, the commander of the operation for the reburial of valuables, hid in these mountains. He could well have hidden the valuables for the third time, and handed over the dollars to the Americans. This money does not appear in the report, it just evaporated.

Pfeiffer was living in Argentina when the case was brought against him. Over the years, the accusations have lost their force, but there is hope that the story is not over yet, and the mystery of the disappeared 36 boxes of Reichsbank gold will one day be revealed.