Posted on 06/20/2016 7:01:27 PM PDT by Theoria
There is perhaps no lost-treasure mystery more seductive than that of the priceless Amber Room of Peter the Great, which disappeared in the chaotic closing hours of World War II. Now Bartlomiej Plebanczyk, an unassuming historian and museum director in northeastern Poland, believes he has found it.
Elderly villagers told Mr. Plebanczyk that they had seen a German convoy unloading big crates into a secret chamber in a stark, moss-covered Nazi bunker near the Russian border in early 1945. So the Mamerki Museum, whichhe leads, recently completed a ground-penetrating radar scan of the derelict bunker that he said confirmed the existence of a hidden chamber.
“This is the perfect place to hide something if you have to move it quickly out of eastern Prussia,” Mr. Plebanczyk said.
Poles are used to hearing extravagant tales of lost war loot, and also to hearing the tales debunked. Last year, two men claimed to have found a buried train containing Nazi gold, but an investigation found no such thing. Despite that, war-treasure hunting is such a popular pastime in Poland that enthusiasts have their own web forum.
The Amber Room is a singular treasure. It was originally completed in the 18th century in a palace near St. Petersburg, Russia, paneled with six tons of precious amber, elaborately carved and decorated with gold. After advancing German troops captured the palace in 1941, the 600-square-foot room was dismantled and carted off to Königsberg Castle in East Prussia, where it was later exposed to British bombs and Soviet shells. Berlin sent orders in January 1945 to evacuate high-value cultural items from the castle, but what happened after has never been clear.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ha zackly
Thanks Theoria. The Germans buried explosives and other sabotage related stuff during the retreat for last-stand rear guard action, much of which did in fact take place (IOW, the materiel was expended in 1945, to slow down the enemy advance), and they also concealed surplus that they couldn't carry out just so it wouldn't be found and used by the Red Army.
Regarding the Amber Room, we've got at least a few fine additional topics in the FRchives.
Nah. The Amber Room was hidden by the CIA and Bilderburgers in the secret bunkers under Denver International Airport.
Wow. Thanks SC! :o]
Actually, since it’s the Russians, it’s probably hiding in plain sight. That’s the original...they’re about to dig up the replica in bunker in Poland.
All that survives of the original is one of four mosaics (stolen by a Wehrmacht soldier, and returned to Russia by his son following the end of the Cold War) and twenty-two pieces of amber that had broken off over the decades and were stored separately from the room.
Bring da Amber Lamps!
Is she related to Amber Lamps?
Dang it!
If I ever operate a house in a red light district, it will have an Amber Room with Amber Lamps.
With that much amber, we’re looking at a dinosaur population boom very soon.
That’s hillarious.
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