Two men who claim to have discovered an armoured Nazi-era train laden with gold and valuables in Poland say they have irrefutable proof of its existence.
Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper told Polish news channel TVP 2 on Friday they had clear evidence of having solved the 70-year mystery near the town of Wałbrzych, where tales of a gold train hidden by the retreating Germans had circulated since the end of the second world war.
Reading a statement, Koper said: “As the finders of a second world war armoured train, we, Andreas Richter and Piotr Koper, declare that we have legally informed state authorities about the find and have precisely indicated the location in the presence of Wałbrzych authorities and the police.”
“We have irrefutable proof of its existence,” added Koper, who sat with Richter by his side.
Their knowledge is based on information from witnesses and on their own research, carried out with their own equipment, Koper said. The men said that only when they have secured a promise of a 10% finders’ fee in writing will they reveal the whereabouts of the train.
As Richter and Koper were making their statement, Polish military personnel were inspecting and photographing the site where authorities suspect the train, possibly also carrying guns and looted jewels, may be buried. Soldiers identifying themselves as members of a de-mining unit walked around the area, talked to local officials and took pictures. There was no sign they had started digging.
Authorities in Poland’s Lower Silesia region said at a conference that the case of Richter and Koper would be presented to the general command of the armed forces, which will take a decision regarding any further potential action within the next two weeks.
Defence ministry spokesman Jacek Sonta said on Tuesday: “The defence minister decided to send technical equipment to search the area in order to determine whether a train actually exists.”
He added: “The army is acting at the request of the governor of the region concerned.”
On Monday, Tomasz Smolarz, the governor of the south-western region of Lower Silesia, said it was impossible to claim that such a find existed at the location indicated based on the documents that had been submitted.
Local news site Wiadomości Wałbrzyskie said the train could contain up to 300 tonnes of gold, as well as diamonds, other gems and industrial equipment.
Reports of the finding has since sparked a gold rush around Wałbrzych, where tales have circulated since the war’s end that the Nazis hid a train full of gold in early 1945.
Local legend has it that an armoured train packed with treasure from the then German city of Breslau – now Wrocław in Poland – was driven into a tunnel in a hillside near a medieval castle near Wałbrzych as the Red Army was approaching and the allies were carrying out airstrikes in the final days of the war.
There are widespread reports that Nazis hid the spoils – many of which were stolen from Jewish families – in the final days of the war, when there was no chance to transport them west.
Previous hunts to uncover the gold have extended over the decades to caves, lakes, dungeons and bunkers across the former Third Reich, although finds are extremely rare.
In the case of another train – the Hungarian gold train, as it was called – Nazi forces had sent 42 freight carriages full of family treasures including gold and silver from Budapest towards Germany.
Valuable paintings seized from Hungarian Jews and estimated to be worth up to $200m (£130m) were also found.