German soldiers are believed to have hidden millions of euros worth of loot near a Dutch village.
Amateur sleuths in the Netherlands are combing the countryside near the village of Ommeren after the Dutch National Archive released a map pointing to a multimillion-euro stash of diamonds, rubies, gold, and silver. Local authorities, however, have warned that the rules of ‘finders keepers’ don’t apply.
The map, which went on display in The Hague on Tuesday, features a red cross over a spot near the village, and is described by the archive as “a real treasure map.” Detailed drawings on the map show that the stash is buried at the base of a berm beside a field, three trees adjacent from what appears to be a gravestone.
Archivist Annet Waalkens told a local newspaper that the treasure was buried in August 1944, after an explosion at a bank in the nearby city of Arnhem. A group of German soldiers raided the bank after the blast, filling four ammunition boxes with the loot, before burying it at the site.
Op 3 januari vierde het @NA_Archief de jaarlijkse #Openbaarheidsdag. De #schatkaart van een nazi-schat die mogelijk in #Ommeren ligt, werd openbaar gemaakt. Wij krijgen veel vragen over deze schatkaart en de nazi-schat. Lees hier wat er wel en niet kan ➡️ https://t.co/V55kMnstUm pic.twitter.com/sKY4Xg98Oj
— Gemeente Buren (@gemeenteburen) January 5, 2023
“It’s worth several millions,” Waalkens said, adding that the government has tried to locate it on multiple occasions since the end of the war. A German soldier who claimed to have witnessed the burial was brought in to assist the search in 1947, and although he drew up the map, no treasure was ever found.
Fighting was raging around Ommeren in 1944, with British forces driven back from crossing the Rhine at Arnhem a month after the stash was supposedly buried.
“It is possible that the treasure was buried and that it was removed again two days later,” historian Joost Rosendaal told the local paper. “I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the treasure disappeared.”
Despite Rosendaal’s skepticism, one local treasure hunter told Reuters that there were “groups of people with metal detectors everywhere” on Friday.
These would-be gold diggers are breaking the law, however. The Municipality of Buren, where Ommeren is situated, forbids the use of metal detectors without a permit. Additionally, the Netherland’s 2016 Heritage Act forbids amateur archaeological excavations and requires any artifacts found to be reported to local authorities.
The municipality also cautioned that due to the intense fighting that took place in the area in 1944, unexploded bombs, mines or grenades could lurk beneath the ground. “We therefore advise against searching for the Nazi treasure,” it stated.
Better than spending hours in front of the tele I guess… 😂
My Oma was Dutch. Her parents had their house taken over by the Nazis in WW11 in holland. When they returned at the end of the war there were none of their belongings left in the house. Later they found the family leather bound bible half buried in the garden. My 2nd cousin is in possession of this book today and I have seen it. It really hits home when you have relatives that were caught up in this madness.
My kids wouldn’t have a clue, and despite me telling them such stories, they have little interest. I have done my best to educate them but the ‘system’ has dumbed them down I guess. Sad really.
If they still have the property you might consider using a GPR (ground penetrating radar) contractor to try to locate any further buried possessions. They use a hand held device, it’s not too expensive these days.
Thanks – the property has been sold long ago. What actually happened was my oma was living in the UK and her mum went to the UK from Holland for a holiday and for the birth of my mums younger brother. Then the war broke out and she ended up staying in the UK until after the war. Not sure what happened to her husband, I think he had remained at the house and was kicked out by the Nazis.
This actually wasn’t that long ago. Several generations and it’s all forgotten hey. 😞😔 my mum is still alive and remembers the rations, black out curtains, the sirens, the planes and keeping warm by sleeping with newspaper on top of her bedcovers. Her two sisters and older brother were send away to Bournemouth I think it was during the war to keep them ‘safe’ .
it is the belgians who are going to laugh !
As the saying goes, if the dutch drop a eurocent, they will dig to down under to get it back 😂😂
NATO must be getting desperate to fund the war in the Ukraine…having to resort to ‘buried treasure’ to fund the same…!