Nazi ‘gold train’ doesn’t exist, Polish academics say

(JTA) — Despite claims made in August that two individuals had discovered an abandoned treasure-laden Nazi train near the Polish town of Walbrzych, researchers say they do not believe such a train exists.

The experts from Krakow’s Academy of Mining said Tuesday there is no evidence to back up the claims that such a train is in fact buried in a tunnel, Agence France Press reported.

In August, Piotr Koper, who is Polish, and Andreas Richter, a German, said they had discovered the train using ground-penetrating radar, but that they would not reveal its location until they were guaranteed a 10 percent finder’s fee.

The train was believed to be one that reportedly disappeared in 1945 loaded with gold, gems, art and guns bound for Berlin, one of several trains the Nazis used in an attempt to save their war plunder from the approaching Allies. According to local lore, the train vanished after entering a network of tunnels under the Owl Mountains.

Academy of Mining geology professor Janusz Madej said, according to AFP, that his team’s research had indicated “there is no train on this site (but) maybe a tunnel.”

Addressing a news conference in Wałbrzych, he added: “The geo-magnetic model anomalies would be far greater if there was a train.”

Madej spoke at the end of a monthlong survey of a stretch along the Wrocław-Wałbrzych railway line, during which experts employed magnetic field detectors, thermal imaging cameras and radars, according to the Times of Israel.

In August, Poland’s deputy culture minister, Piotr Zuchowski, said he was “more than 99 percent certain that this train exists” based on a ground-penetrating radar image he had seen. He added, however, that “the nature of its contents is unverifiable at the moment.”

Madej told AFP he was “100 percent sure there is no train” there based on magnetic, gravimetric and geo-radar studies.

Koper and Richter stuck to their claim, however, and said they plan to prove the train exists.

“We need a bit more time … we need to excavate,” Koper told AFP.