Nazi loot train purportedly found in Poland

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I totally believe it.

It would be fairly easy to temporarily lay down track perpendicular to a permanent line with the German military, blast a hole to make a cave or run it into a small outcropping and wall it in.

Then when you are done, the tracks leading up to the cave are lifted.

Once the government is told where it is and they go get it, only then will all that gold truly "disappear".
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Hopefully our GI's got some take home bonus bar off these trains. One bar would make a decent life start for many returning soldiers.

They deserved it.


As much as they deserve a decent paycheck, it was "stolen loot" and their duty to return it to whatever victims it was stolen from.

Straight-up question for the history buffs: The early 30's Weimar Republic printed money that wound up being worthless due to hyper-inflation, in fact, it was a textbook study. "Neutral" countries selling Hitler war materiel surely preferred gold in payment vs Reischmarks, so why was this gold still floating around Germany? I could imagine (based on movies) individual unit-commanders hoarding their own little stash if they could get away with it, but not a train-full.

Since selling arms to the Nazis couldn't have been good P.R. for "neutral" countries, they were probably secretive about it, and these fabled caches of "nazi gold" were likely laundered/ remelted/ whatever and traded off. When the books were seized at the end of the war, the gold on hand didn't add up. But some would rather imagine it all in one convenient spot (train tunnel) than dispersed a few hundred pounds at a time.

Am I way off?


I am with you! That was not the German's loot they helped themselves to it was stolen from the Jews and other people of Europe that were enslaved, tortured, and murdered by the Germans. The soldiers fighting for the Allies did not deserve any of it.

My Dad actually fought in WWII in the European theater. He went in day 1 of the D-Day invasion on Omaha beach in the 2nd wave of the AM( he was a combat engineer ). He was injured later fighting in Germany and sent home. He didn't talk about his service much( to those old timers it was a duty and just what you did not something to brag about )but he definitely had strong opinions of American Soldiers who looted. He was definitely NOT for it. It made him sick. He couldn't understand those who did it and he especially was revolted by those who pillaged the dead bodies of the Germans.

If they really have found that train any "booty or loot" should be returned to the original owner's where possible( i.e. art stolen out of museums for instances if there is a record of where it was taken from )and any gold/money should be divided into portions and given to any survivors( and there are still many alive today ). Other artifacts like stolen jewelry should go to museums. No one should profit from this. No one and that includes the people who found it.
 
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Originally Posted By: Kira
Also, rail companies don't forget where their right of ways are.

A tunnel through a mountain has a engineering trail, a financial trail, employee records, maintenance records and don't forget the tracks leading up to it.


Yes and no, you have to remember the cauldron of fire the eastern front was in 1945, and after the war the Soviets closed off all the boarders.

The records could have easily been left in West Germany, or destroyed. The soldiers involved in hiding the train were probably SS and could have died shortly after or been transported back to Russia to slowly die in prison camps.

The Germans did keep good records, now that they have it, it would be possible to go back into Wehrmacht records and see what units were operating in that area at that time.

I hope before they move it around to much they document it.
 
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Originally Posted By: expat
Has Greece laid claim to it yet?


Greece is suing for the wealth the Germans took from them during WW2. The litigation is still being prepared. It's a big case and will take years to complete the discovery process.
 
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: expat
Has Greece laid claim to it yet?


Greece is suing for the wealth the Germans took from them during WW2. The litigation is still being prepared. It's a big case and will take years to complete the discovery process.


Jeez didn't we figure that all out by the early 1950s? It's my crude understanding that WWI reparations through the 1920's enslaved Germany, they weren't too happy, and were a sucker for a charismatic leader, so on the second try the rest of the world gave them more of a pass.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: expat
Has Greece laid claim to it yet?


Greece is suing for the wealth the Germans took from them during WW2. The litigation is still being prepared. It's a big case and will take years to complete the discovery process.


Jeez didn't we figure that all out by the early 1950s?


No, Greece was never compensated for the German destruction and looting.

I think only Israel got reparations for the German barbarism. The other victims were left high and dry. The Soviets used the POW labor to rebuild but I do not think there were any financial compensation.
 
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: expat
Has Greece laid claim to it yet?


Greece is suing for the wealth the Germans took from them during WW2. The litigation is still being prepared. It's a big case and will take years to complete the discovery process.


Greece is just [censored] that the Germans are one of their main creditors and don't want to pay back the money they borrowed.
 
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Originally Posted By: KrisZ
After WWII Germany got an equivalent of a wrist slap and a pinky swear that they will not do it again. In the meantime look what happened to Iraq for stuff that they did not even do.



I guess if you consider a "wrist slap" to be the total destruction of their society and having their country split in half for 50 years with some parts never to be returned, having most of their women raped, and most males over the age of 18 either killed or hauled off to work camps for most of their lives. The Allies also forced them to continue to pay WW1 reparations with back interest, anyone who put student loans into deferment knows how that adds up. Germany just finished paying for WW1 BTW.


Iraq in no way compared to Germany or Japan. We simply invaded Iraq we did not totally destroy and rebuild their society.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: expat
Has Greece laid claim to it yet?


Greece is suing for the wealth the Germans took from them during WW2. The litigation is still being prepared. It's a big case and will take years to complete the discovery process.


Jeez didn't we figure that all out by the early 1950s?


No, Greece was never compensated for the German destruction and looting.

I think only Israel got reparations for the German barbarism. The other victims were left high and dry. The Soviets used the POW labor to rebuild but I do not think there were any financial compensation.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reparations_for_World_War_II

Quote:
Greece

Excerpt Akte R 27320, page 114 (political archive of the German Federal Foreign Office)
In 1942, the Greek Central Bank was forced by the occupying Nazi regime to loan 476 million Reichsmarks at 0% interest to Nazi Germany. In 1960, Greece accepted 115 million Marks as compensation for Nazi crimes. Nevertheless, past Greek governments have insisted that this was only a down-payment, not complete reparations.[1] In 1990, immediately prior to German reunification, West Germany and East Germany signed the Two Plus Four Agreement with the former Allied countries of the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Since that time, Germany has insisted that all matters concerning World War II, including further reparations to Greece, are closed because Germany officially surrendered to the Allies and to no other parties, including Greece. On Sunday, February 8, 2015, the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras appeared in front of the Greek parliament and officially demanded that Germany pay further reparations to Greece.[2] On April 6, 2015, Greece demanded Germany pay it the equivalent of $303 billion in reparations for the war. Germany replied that the reparations issue was resolved in 1990.


The repayment (they WERE payed) is debatable. Greece now wants more money and their current financial situation is a convenient reason for reigniting the interest in this.
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
After WWII Germany got an equivalent of a wrist slap and a pinky swear that they will not do it again. In the meantime look what happened to Iraq for stuff that they did not even do.



I guess if you consider a "wrist slap" to be the total destruction of their society and having their country split in half for 50 years with some parts never to be returned, having most of their women raped, and most males over the age of 18 either killed or hauled off to work camps for most of their lives. The Allies also forced them to continue to pay WW1 reparations with back interest, anyone who put student loans into deferment knows how that adds up. Germany just finished paying for WW1 BTW.


Iraq in no way compared to Germany or Japan. We simply invaded Iraq we did not totally destroy and rebuild their society.


Oh, so you think the countries and the populations that were occupied by Germans simply enjoyed their schnitzels and fine marching of the troops? You have no idea what kind of devastation and pillaging the wermaht did. Entire cities were leveled by their air raids. In occupied countires a German officer could execute the occupied people at will in the middle of the street, no reason was necessery. He simply did not have to like the look of a person.
What about the entire Easter Europe that got to enjoy the warm hand of Soviet Russia after the war?

Yes, the Germans were really the victims after the whole affair was over. Give it 20 more years and the whole WW2 will be blamed on some other country. The people that fought Germans in WW2 would be disgusted by the political correctness or out right ignorance of some
spankme2.gif
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
Originally Posted By: expat
Has Greece laid claim to it yet?


Greece is suing for the wealth the Germans took from them during WW2. The litigation is still being prepared. It's a big case and will take years to complete the discovery process.


Jeez didn't we figure that all out by the early 1950s?


No, Greece was never compensated for the German destruction and looting.

I think only Israel got reparations for the German barbarism. The other victims were left high and dry. The Soviets used the POW labor to rebuild but I do not think there were any financial compensation.


The soviets took all the financial compensation they wanted.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
After WWII Germany got an equivalent of a wrist slap and a pinky swear that they will not do it again. In the meantime look what happened to Iraq for stuff that they did not even do.



I guess if you consider a "wrist slap" to be the total destruction of their society and having their country split in half for 50 years with some parts never to be returned, having most of their women raped, and most males over the age of 18 either killed or hauled off to work camps for most of their lives. The Allies also forced them to continue to pay WW1 reparations with back interest, anyone who put student loans into deferment knows how that adds up. Germany just finished paying for WW1 BTW.


Iraq in no way compared to Germany or Japan. We simply invaded Iraq we did not totally destroy and rebuild their society.


Oh, so you think the countries and the populations that were occupied by Germans simply enjoyed their schnitzels and fine marching of the troops? You have no idea what kind of devastation and pillaging the wermaht did. Entire cities were leveled by their air raids. In occupied countires a German officer could execute the occupied people at will in the middle of the street, no reason was necessery. He simply did not have to like the look of a person.
What about the entire Easter Europe that got to enjoy the warm hand of Soviet Russia after the war?

Yes, the Germans were really the victims after the whole affair was over. Give it 20 more years and the whole WW2 will be blamed on some other country. The people that fought Germans in WW2 would be disgusted by the political correctness or out right ignorance of some
spankme2.gif



The german people were victims even before the war, but to their own elected (or not) leaders. What therest of europe got during the war was equal to what the germans got since the early 30s
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Originally Posted By: Andy636
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
There are much larger German machines that disappeared during WW2 and have yet to be found. Totally believable.


Why I tend to be a nay sayer is because you can lose a ship or a plane...but let's face it...how far away can a train go from the tracks, 50-100 meters ?


How far can a rail cannon that travels on 2 sets of tracks go from the tracks? Yep. One of them has never been found.


Seriously?!
shocked.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Originally Posted By: Andy636
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
There are much larger German machines that disappeared during WW2 and have yet to be found. Totally believable.


Why I tend to be a nay sayer is because you can lose a ship or a plane...but let's face it...how far away can a train go from the tracks, 50-100 meters ?


How far can a rail cannon that travels on 2 sets of tracks go from the tracks? Yep. One of them has never been found.


Seriously?!
shocked.gif



Yes, there were two rail cannons (Dora and Gustav) that were used for long range bombardment (including a Russian bunker under the Caspian Sea IIRC). My recollection is that they were destroyed so that the allies couldn't get their hands on them.
 
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
After WWII Germany got an equivalent of a wrist slap and a pinky swear that they will not do it again. In the meantime look what happened to Iraq for stuff that they did not even do.



I guess if you consider a "wrist slap" to be the total destruction of their society and having their country split in half for 50 years with some parts never to be returned, having most of their women raped, and most males over the age of 18 either killed or hauled off to work camps for most of their lives. The Allies also forced them to continue to pay WW1 reparations with back interest, anyone who put student loans into deferment knows how that adds up. Germany just finished paying for WW1 BTW.


Iraq in no way compared to Germany or Japan. We simply invaded Iraq we did not totally destroy and rebuild their society.


Nonsense.

Iraq is utterly destroyed and where people used to feed themselves the entire country is basically on rations and foreign aid.
The infrastructure is comp,every destroyed,the people have no real hope of jobs and an real future.
So all they have is their guns. Instead of jobs.
Saddam Hussein may have been a bad man however bush is just as bad,or worse.
He invaded a country that wasn't a threat,sold the sheeple on a war that was for nothing,and the population is still brainwashed into believing it was justified.
America killed as many civilians as Hussein did.
But Hussein maintained a functioning country m
Now it's just a war zone.
 
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