A WWII Treasure Map Sparked A Mass Modern-Day Hunt

 

In early 2023, the Dutch National Archives released documents that were generally considered 'confidential' to the public after a confidentiality period of 75 years. Within these documents was a hand-drawn treasure map with an 'x' to mark the location of the buried goods. News of the buried treasure, hidden by German soldiers near the end of World War II, sparked a massive modern treasure hunt in January, but the looted treasure has yet to be found.

buried treasure

In the fall of 1944, Allied forces launched Operation Market Garden, an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Rhine into the Netherlands. During the operation, bombs destroyed a bank in Arnhem, causing the safe to be breached and valuables such as gold coins, jewellery, diamonds and watches scattered across the streets. Four German soldiers saw it and kept as much of the treasure as they could.

In this skirmish, the Allies eventually retreated, but they followed up with another operation in April 1945. This time, the four soldiers decided that they were going to hide their looted treasure for safekeeping; As Annette Valkens, a consultant at the National Archives, explained, "They decided to bury the treasure because it was getting a little too hot under their feet and they were afraid." So, they packed everything into four zinc ammunition boxes and buried them in the roots of a poplar tree just outside the village of Omeren, 18 miles east of Arnhem, at a depth of less than 3 feet. After this the soldiers retreated with the German army.

It is possible that this buried treasure would never have been discovered had it not been for Helmut S., who was one of the four soldiers who spoke openly about this treasure in Berlin. "He was a little loose," Valkens explained. Helmut S. Was not one of the original robbers of the treasure, but was one of those who buried it at Omeren. Born in 1925, his full name has been withheld because he is still alive.