There are still many secrets and treasures to discover
in Poland. They are most often associated with the sea, castles, palaces,
undergrounds and relate to World War II. There are about 100,000 explorers in
Poland. News about Poland were in the media from around the world via Discovery
Channel, National Geographic, BBC, TVP, ZDF etc.
The wealth of existing finds and potential treasures
is associated with the diverse history of today's Poland. Roman, Byzantine and
Arab influences come from antiquity. In the Middle Ages, Poland was shaped by
The Amber Route, and the country was influenced by Slavs, Vikings, Saxons
(Germans), Teutonic Knights, Czechs, Tatars and Ruthenia. Lots of valuable
items were lost during The Swedish Deluge in the 17th century. However, the
most mysterious stories are associated with World War II.
Recently, the imagination of viewers around the world
has awakened the so-called The Golden Train in Wałbrzych. Unfortunately, no
traces of it were found. However, there is a lot of evidence that so-called the
Gold of Wrocław and the Polish Looted Art, that 1945 they were exported
(probably by cars) to various places in Lower Silesia in Poland. The most
important evidence is the testimonies of the Nazis before the Nuremberg
Tribunal, the diary of Governor General Hans Frank, the testimonies of German art
conservators (Guenter Grundmann, Ernst Palezieux, Kajetan Muehlmann, Dagobert Frey) and the
interrogations of the German policeman Hubert Klose or engineer Anton Dalmus. Other evidence is so-called
Letters from Captain Schreck, Diary of Leutnant Egon Ollenhauer (or Wilhelm Michaelis),
accounts of soldiers or residents and their descendants, reports of forced
laborers, archives of German companies, anonymous correspondence
to Polish offices around the world, as well as geometric and geophysical
studies. Castles and palaces of Lower Silesia (Książ, Grodno, Czocha, Grodziec,
Sobótka etc.), monasteries (Lubiąż, Henryków, Krzeszów) and underground of the Riese complex occupy the most positions on
the list of treasures places. In 1945-46, Allied (including Polish) soldiers
and officials found a lot of caches in mines, palaces and private homes in
Poland and whole Europe. Many finders of valuable things are not revealed, and
missing art and jewels suddenly appear on portals or auction houses around the
world.
The next unresolved topic is the Riese complex. These
are a many huge tunnels for which you do not know the destiny. According to
archives and calculations, only about 1/3 of 90 km of tunnels is currently
known. We know this from the accounts of the Nazi minister Albert Speer or
materials about the TODT and ODESSA organizations. Other objects with unknown destination
during the war are for example the Czocha Castle, the Monastery in Lubiąż or Project Arado in Kamienna Góra.
There are various hypotheses: secret arms factories, substitute headquarters of
the Third Reich, research centers, intelligence centers and hiding places for
art or gold.
In many places in Poland, but mainly in Masuria and
Lower Silesia, the explorers and scientists are searching for the Amber
Chamber. It was taken away from Königsberg at the end of the war and a trace of
it was lost. The last person who saw her was Nazi soldier Erich Koch, who was in
the Polish prison for many years.
Around 3,000 wrecks from various historical periods
rest in the Baltic Sea. A large part comes from World War II, e.g. the giant
German passenger ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" or the 262-meter aircraft
carrier "Graf Zeppelin". Many of them are in good condition thanks to
appropriate conditions in the Baltic Sea.
During the war, over 500,000 (!) art works were
stolen, mainly by Nazi Germany and USSR
(Russia). Most were not found. The most important missing picture is Rafael
Santi's "Portrait of a Young Man". Some were hidden in lockers in
Poland, and some were taken abroad and are in private or even public (!)
collections.
In addition, many weapons, archives, and private
estates were hidden during the war by Polish troops, officials (Karol Estreicher, Stanisław Lorentz) and private
individuals.
The most important finds till now are: a Swedish
seventeenth-century sailing ship in the port of Gdansk in 1969, 3 kg of gold
coins in Lubiąż in 1981, 20,000 coins in Głogów in 1987, the treasure of Blanka
de Valois (ca. 50 million USD!) in Środa Śląska in 1988, the Messerschmitt Bf
109 aircraft in Lake Trzebuń in 1999, new tunnels in the Riese complex (Soboń,
Gontowa) in 2010 and 2013 and 3 shipwrecks near Kołobrzeg in 2018. In 2015, the
Vistula River unveiled some finds in Warsaw: the German Bajka ship, a mammoth
tooth, fragments of the pre-war Poniatowski bridge or railway traction with a
draisine. The Polish government also located several hundred works of art. Some
of them were recovered, some are under restitution.
We have extensive knowledge on this subject, we have
access to interesting publications and a large number of contacts to explorers,
facilities, offices, writers and scientists. We are waiting for the media,
filmmakers and adventurers!
