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3Novices:Poland backtracks on Nazi ‘gold train’

WARSAW // Polish officials are backtracking from earlier comments over the probable discovery of a buried German Nazi train that local legend says is laden with gold and other loot.

A regional governor in Poland said on Monday he had serious doubts about the alleged discovery days after a deputy culture minister revealed he was “more than 99 per cent sure” one had been found.

“There is no more proof for this alleged discovery than for other claims made over the years,” Tomasz Smolarz, governor of the southwestern region of Lower Silesia, said.

Two anonymous fortune hunters claim they have pinpointed the Nazi-era loot.

“It’s impossible to claim that such a find actually exists at the location indicated based on the documents that have been submitted,” Mr Smolarz said, adding that he had set up a special unit including historians and geologists to scrutinise the alleged discovery.

Global media have for days been abuzz with talk of trains full of jewels and gold stolen by the Nazis after the two men – a German and a Pole – claimed to have found an armoured train car buried near the city of Walbrzych.

On Friday, Polish deputy culture minister Piotr Zuchowski said he had seen a convincing radar image of the alleged Nazi train.

“I’m more than 99 per cent sure such a train exists, but the nature of its contents is unverifiable at the moment,” Mr Zuchowski said, adding that he could make out platforms and cannons on the photo.

Mr Smolarz said Monday he had not seen any such image.

“The fact that this train is armoured suggests there could be valuable objects inside” including artworks, archival documents or treasures, Mr Zuchowski added.

The World Jewish Congress has asked that any valuables found that once belonging to victims of the Holocaust should be returned to their owners or heirs.

Mr Zuchowski said someone who had been involved in hiding the train, which is over 100 metres in length, had disclosed its location before dying.

Rumours of two special Nazi trains that disappeared in the spring of 1945 have been circulating for years, capturing the imagination of countless treasure-hunters.

The lore is fuelled by a massive network of secret underground tunnels near Walbrzych – including around the massive Ksiaz Castle – that Nazi Germany built and where legend has it the Third Reich stashed valuables.

Meanwhile, Polish authorities have blocked off a wooded area near a railroad track after scores of treasure hunters swarmed southwest Poland looking for the alleged Nazi gold train.

The city of Walbrzych and its surrounding wooded hills are experiencing a gold rush after last week’s news.

Provincial governor Tomasz Smolarz said on Monday that police, city and railway guards are now patrolling the area and blocking treasure hunters to prevent any accidents with trains running on the tracks.

“A few hectares of land are now being secured. People have been barred from the woods” surrounding the site, he said.

“Half of Walbrzych’s residents and other people are going treasure hunting or just for walks to see the site. We are worried for their security,” police spokeswoman Magdalena Koroscik said.

A man taking a selfie on the tracks reportedly narrowly missed being hit, she said.

* Agencies



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