An old map believed to mark the spot. Where German soldiers hid millions of dollars worth of treasure during World War II sparked. The imaginations of amateur treasure hunters in the Netherlands this week.
Armed with metal detectors and shovels. Teams wandered through the fields surrounding the rural Omeren in the east of the country. After the map was released by the Dutch National Archives on Tuesday.
The archive said the map is believed to state. Where Nazi soldiers hid four large boxes filled with diamonds, rubies, gold, silver and all kinds of jewelry. That they looted after a bank explosion in August 1944.
The map was obtained from a German soldier shortly. After the war by a Dutch institute tasked with tracing the German capital in the Netherlands. After the country’s liberation from Nazi occupation in 1945.
The research file containing the map was released this week because it can be kept secret for a largest period of 75 years.
Although the treasure’s existence has not been confirmed. The institute made several unsuccessful attempts to find it in 1947. National Archives spokeswoman Anne-Mariek Samson told Reuters.
“We don’t know for sure if the treasure existed.
“I see groups of people with metal detectors everywhere,” Jan Henzen, 57, told Reuters while taking a break from his own search.
“Like many people, the news of the treasure made me search for myself. I think the chances of the treasure still being here 70 years from now are slim, but I’d like to give it a try.”
Former Omeren mayor Klaas Tammes, who now runs the foundation that owns the land where the treasure could be hidden, said he’s seen people from all over the country.
“Anyone who finds anything needs to report it to us, so we’ll see. But I don’t expect it to be easy.”
