A group of treasure hunters have received official permission to begin excavating a former SS military site in northern Poland, in the Kashubian region, where they believe a hidden Nazi bunker may contain German loot - possibly including the legendary Amber Room.
The search, led by engineer and amateur historian Jan Delingowski, is the result of a decade of private investigation. He believes the treasures were transported from Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia) towards the end of the war and hidden in a camouflaged shelter near a lake near Brusi, once part of a restricted secret SS area.
Delingowski claims the breakthrough in his investigation came from a former prisoner who claimed to have met with Erich Koch, the highest-ranking Nazi official in East Prussia from 1928 to 1945, while Koch was imprisoned in Poland after the war.
Despite being sentenced to death in 1959 for the deaths of some 400,000 Poles, Koch's sentence was never carried out.
According to the story, Koch said that a convoy carrying looted works of art and gold from Königsberg never reached Berlin, but disappeared somewhere in northern Poland.
The Regional Office for the Preservation of Historical Heritage in the Pomorie region granted permission for excavations on July 1 after determining that the site may contain World War II remains of historical value.
The site is linked to telegrams sent to SS officer Gustav Wiest, which mention a coded object designated “BSCH“. Delingowski believes this refers to Bruß Schutzraum - a fortified shelter near Brusi.
The Amber Room, often called the “eighth wonder of the world”, was an ornate hall of amber, gold, and mirrors, originally given to Russia by Prussia in the 18th century. It was looted by Nazi forces during World War II and moved to Kaliningrad.
Its fate disappeared in 1945, and its fate remains one of the great wartime mysteries.