Is the Mysterious Nazi Gold Train Ready to Give Up its Dark Secrets?

(Image: Przykuta; car reflects the scale of Project Riese’s Complex Rzeczka)

A man who spent 40 years searching for the mythical Nazi gold train in Poland has told the Mail Online that he knows where the train is hidden, and presented a photo of a railway embankment where the hidden entrance to a vast underground tunnel network is alleged to be concealed. It’s understood that the Polish military will now be sent to investigate.

Eighty-five year old Tadeusz Slowikowski, who’s considered to be one of the foremost authorities on the missing gold train, also claimed to know the identities of the two men who sparked the treasure hunt after filing a finders fee, as well as the dying man who is understood to have revealed its location to them from his deathbed.

Local legend has long told of a mysterious train sealed off on a stretch underground track between the cities of Wroclaw and Walbrzych in Lower Silesia, a region of East Prussia that fell to the Republic of Poland in 1945.

The existence of a 100-metre long train in the complex beneath Ksiaz Castle, which was seized by Nazi forces in 1944, is said to have been confirmed by ground-penetrating radar. The tunnels were built as part of Project Riese, a massive Third Reich construction programme intended to create vast subterranean storage and factory facilities.

(Image: German Federal Archives; an armoured German military train)

In a chilling twist, Slowikowski also spoke of a local family murdered by the Third Reich in 1945 in order to protect the secret tunnel’s existence as the Red Army descended. The family is said to have lived in a house overlooking the siding which disappeared into the hillside below. The house was demolished after they had been murdered in cold blood.

Slowikowski said: “From the top window you could see everything coming and going on the railway line. On the 5th of May 1945, the family living there were all shot dead and the house razed to the ground. It was three days before the Soviets took the town.

“Whoever killed them didn’t want them talking about anything they had seen. There is nothing there now. Just an empty space where the house used to be. Nothing has been built there since.”

The treasure hunter told the tabloid that he’d learned of the tunnel from a man named Schulz. He in turn had been told of its existence by a German man who’d discovered the secret location while working on the railway. The man is said to have reported seeing two tracks disappearing into a tunnel that was sealed off close to the entrance.

Fearing that he’d meet the same fate as the murdered family, the railway worker kept his silence until one day – the Mail reports – plucking up the courage to tell Schulz, who in turn related the story to Slowikowski.

(Image: via Google Earth; alleged vicinity of hidden tunnel)

Slowikowski told of how he was granted permission by the Polish government to explore the area in 2003. But it wasn’t long before he fell victim to a series of unprovoked attacks, which he attributed to a shadowy cabal who clearly didn’t want the rumoured train’s existence to be disclosed.

“As soon as we started, three men in civilian clothes and carrying guns came up to us and threatened us, telling us to stop. I didn’t know who they were, but I had my suspicions. Shortly afterwards my dog was poisoned”, he revealed.

“Then my front door was smashed in and then my phones began to be tapped. These were classic tactics of the secret police when they wanted to intimidate people.”

Meanwhile, an anonymous source told the paper: “I received a phone call from a mysterious man who warned me to stay away from the story and to not get involved. A lot of dangerous people are interested in finding this train, this could have been a warning from one of them. This man who called me knows that I know something.”

It’s interesting to note that a lost Nazi gold train long considered to be the stuff of myth could actually be real, while at the same time, media reports are increasingly baring the hallmarks of urban legend: anonymous sources, shadowy individuals, secret police and even murder.

(Image: Drozdp; Ksiaz Castle in Lower Silesia)

Nevertheless the story hasn’t been discounted by the authorities, despite their skeptical stance. Roman Szelemej, the mayor of Walbrzych, told the press that “Walbrzych and Lower Silesia are full of secrets”, while the director of culture at Ksiaz Castle, Magdalena Woch, told the Telegraph: “There is a story that in 1945 there were three trains which came into the town and have never been found. It is possible there are more trains in Walbrzych.”

There’s been significant speculation as to what may be on the train, or trains, should they exist. Some hypothesize that they may contain gold taken from Jewish prisoners sent to their deaths at concentration camps like Auschwitz during World War Two. Other theories suggest the location may conceal missing artworks, perhaps even the spectacular Amber Room, which was once located in Catherine Palace near St Petersburg, but disappeared in 1945.

And what about the identities of the two men who allegedly filed the founders fee demanding 10 per cent of the value of any treasure found? They remain in the shadows, and nobody is reportedly prepared to name them. According to the Mail, one insider claimed that there was, “for want of a better expression, a conspiracy of silence.”