Thursday, 21st February 2008 (1241 views)

Looted Nazi gold weighing a total of two tonnes has reportedly been discovered in a German village.

Treasure hunters have uncovered an artificial cavern thought to contain great quantities of precious metals, near the village of Deutschneudorf.

Archaeologists believe the cavern contains treasures stolen by the Nazis from the Amber Room, an 18th century chamber in the former Leningrad's Catherine Palace made from amber panels backed with gold leaf.

"We expect it to be either gold from the Amber Room or gold that would give us clues to another hiding place," said Heinz-Peter Haustein, one of the treasure hunters who discovered the loot.

In 1941 following the Nazi invasion the treasure was stolen and transported to Konigsburg, now Kalingrad, but was lost in 1945.

During the war, the Swiss National Bank received $440 million of gold, $316 million (£162 million) of which is thought to have been looted, according to the Bergier commission's 1998 report on Switzerland and Gold Transactions in the Second World War.

 

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