The map of a treasure stolen by the Nazis never found comes to light

Every year, the National Archives of the Netherlands (Nationaal Archief) publishes thousands of documents from its collection hitherto hidden from the public, or which can only be studied under strict security measures.

This January, the map of a treasure of jewels, watches and precious stones whose theft is attributed to German soldiers in 1944, during World War II, appears in that relationship.

Hitherto classified as secret and drawn by hand, it depicts the region where loot never found was presumed to have been hidden.

According to the sketch, they buried him near the town of Ommeren, in eastern Holland, in a place that was checked three times by the authorities.

Hand-drawn map of Ommeren (The Netherlands) of the place where loot never found was presumed to have been hidden during World War II.Nationaal Archief/The Netherlands

The story, as it appears in the documentation, is as follows.

In August 1944, in the course of a bombardment, a branch of the Rotterdamsche Bank (precursor of the current ABN Amro) in the city of Arnhem, located about 40 kilometers from Ommeren, was damaged.

The contents of the safes ended up scattered on the street and "the German soldiers filled their pockets with the loot," says Annet Waalkens, adviser to the Nationaal Archief, located in The Hague, over the phone.

Operation Market Garden, launched by the allied forces to create a corridor to cross the Rhine River, began in September of that same year.

According to the file, "they put the jewels in ammunition boxes and hid them in a train car."

"We think he was buried in 1945, a couple of weeks before the liberation of the area by the Allies,

The file cites Sergeant Major Kastel, Sergeant Bräuer and Private Biebert as the ones who took the jewelry.

They were seen by another German soldier named Helmut, born in 1925. He mentioned the month of August 1944 as the date of the damage to the bank building, "and then he had to watch the moment the boxes were buried," the same story continues. advises.

The officers belonged to the Witzig parachute regiment, according to experts, one of the most prestigious of the Wehrmacht, the unified Armed Forces of Nazi Germany.

To reach the witness Helmut, the Dutch military mission stationed in Berlin followed the trail of rumors about the existence of a treasure of these characteristics.

They consulted with those responsible for the Dutch institute that reviewed the destination of the money lost during the war and the data matched: the bank was damaged in the war and things were missing.

“Then they looked for the soldier, who was in the German town of Baden-Baden, and took his statement.

As he had the map among his possessions, he was taken to the Netherlands to help in the treasure hunt.

Two of the three soldiers who buried the jewels died during the war.

The third could not be located”, continues Waalkens.

Two of the three soldiers who buried the jewels died during the war.

The third could not be located”, continues Waalkens.

Two of the three soldiers who buried the jewels died during the war.

The third could not be located”, continues Waalkens.

Despite the fact that the land indicated on the map was thoroughly searched three times, the boxes with the jewels did not appear and the Dutch authorities described four possibilities before considering the matter closed.

They are these: “Soldier Helmut may have invented it to have fewer problems on his return to civilian life;

perhaps a Dutch farmer from the surrounding area dug it up;

or someone from the Dutch institute itself that investigated the matter took advantage of it ”, sums up the expert.

They even thought that it could have been some American officer stationed in the area at the time.

The map and accompanying information were saved to avoid treasure hunters.

A true-to-life scene from Richard Attenborough's 'A Bridge Too Far', in which a British officer leads his men with an umbrella.MICHAEL OCHS/GETTY

For the historian Joost Rosendaal, from the Dutch Radboud University (Nijmegen), the incidents of the jewels are absorbing and deserve to be investigated, but he has doubts about the sequence of events.

According to his data, "we know that there were bombings before the Market Garden operation, but they did not hit bank buildings in Arnhem."

In a telephone conversation, he points out that "several banks in the city were looted at the end of 1944 and in February 1945."

On the other hand, he recalls that “Witzig members were fighting in August 1944 on the Eastern Front, in Latvia and Lithuania;

they only reached the Dutch region in question in February 1945″.

He goes on to say that the bombings, the fighting and the looting of the bank headquarters are documented,

"And the German soldiers forced the population of Arnhem to leave their homes for fear of the resisters, and because they wanted a free battlefield."

The city was empty at the end of September "and looting was widespread."

German troops forced civilians to leave on foot, and he notes that images of the exodus from the war in Ukraine today are reminiscent of that march.

"The neighbors left with nothing and when they returned there was nothing left."

The allies liberated the city on April 15, 1945, and the civilians returned in June.

"The neighbors left with nothing and when they returned there was nothing left."

The allies liberated the city on April 15, 1945, and the civilians returned in June.

"The neighbors left with nothing and when they returned there was nothing left."

The allies liberated the city on April 15, 1945, and the civilians returned in June.

Located in the east of the country, Arnhem was included in the Allied military operation Market Garden (between September 17 and 25, 1944), which tried to force a quick passage for its infantry towards Germany by taking several bridges in the Netherlands. and cross the Rhine. The river was the natural border and the German Army had armored divisions in the area, and for half a year that region was the front between the Allies and Nazi Germany.

The allied troops ended up defeated at the last of the bridges: at Arnhem.

It is one of the most recognizable episodes of the war, and Rosendaal explains that the part of Ommeren indicated as the location of the treasure, "was a noble property used by the Nazis as a headquarters, bombed by the allies on April 24, 1945 ″.

(

, according to the Spanish version), directed by the British Richard Attenborough.

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