OMMERE, Netherlands, January 6 (Portal) – An old map believed to mark the spot where German soldiers hid millions of euros worth of treasure during World War II captured the imagination of hobbyists this week Treasure hunters in the Netherlands.
Armed with metal detectors and shovels, groups hiked through the fields around rural Ommeren in the east of the country, according to the map released by the Dutch National Archives on Tuesday.
The archive said the map is intended to show where Nazi soldiers hid four large boxes containing diamonds, rubies, gold, silver and all sorts of jewelry, which they looted after an explosion at a bank in August 1944.
The map was obtained shortly after the war by a German soldier from the Dutch institute charged with finding German capital in the Netherlands after the country was liberated from Nazi occupation in 1945.
The research file that contained the map was declassified this week as the maximum period of 75 years it could be kept confidential had expired.
Although the treasure’s existence could never be fully confirmed, the institute made several failed attempts to locate it in 1947, National Archives spokeswoman Anne-Marieke Samson told Portal.
“We don’t know for sure if the treasure existed. But the institute did many checks and found the story to be reliable,” Samson said.
“But they never found it, and if it existed, the treasure could very well have already been unearthed.”
But the small chance of finding valuables did not deter the amateur gold diggers.
“I see groups of people with metal detectors everywhere,” 57-year-old Jan Henzen told Portal as he paused from his own search.
“Like many people, the news of the treasure prompted me to go in search of it myself. The chance that the treasure is still here after 70 years is very slim I think, but I want to try.”
Former Ommeren mayor Klaas Tammes, who now heads the foundation that owns the land that may be hiding the treasure, said he saw people from across the country.
“A map with a line of three trees and a red cross marking a spot where treasure should be hidden really stimulates the imagination,” he said.
“Anyone who finds something has to report it to us, so we’ll see. But I wouldn’t expect it to be easy.”
Reporting by Piroschka van de Wouw, writing by Bart Meijer, editing by Nick Macfie
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