The Nazi Gold Train
Two treasure hunters said radar showed a buried Nazi train full of gold near a Polish city. Digging found nothing.
What was reported
Stories have circulated since the end of the Second World War that, as the Red Army advanced in 1945, German forces hid an armoured train loaded with gold and valuables in a tunnel near Wałbrzych, then part of German Silesia.
In August 2015 two treasure hunters announced they had found it, showing ground-penetrating radar images of what they said was a buried train. The story went around the world, and a Polish deputy culture minister said he was '99 per cent' sure it existed.
Explanations offered
Experts from a Kraków university found no evidence of a train, and an excavation in August 2016 turned up only natural rock formations. The region does hold real Nazi-era tunnels, the Project Riese complex, built with forced labour, which keeps such rumours alive.
- When
- Claimed in August 2015
- Where
- Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, Poland
- Witnesses
- Two treasure hunters, and the world's press
- Status
- Never found
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.