Nazi Treasure: The Riese Tunnels and the Assets That Disappeared

At the end of the Second World War, as the Red Army advanced from the east and the Allies closed in from the west, Nazi Germany was not only withdrawing troops. It was also moving gold, art, records, and equipment through guarded routes. In Lower Silesia, now part of Poland, tunnels beneath mountains and Książ Castle still exist. What disappeared is the complete list of what entered, left, or was buried there.

The best-known story is the Wałbrzych gold train. The legend says a train carrying gold and looted property vanished near railway kilometre 65 before the war ended. In 2015, two treasure hunters claimed they knew its location through a dying veteran’s confession. Ground radar was used, but later geophysical work found no anomaly with the shape or strength expected from a steel train.