Two teams cleared to find 'Nazi gold train' in Poland

The forthcoming fieldwork precludes drilling, but allows for the use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR).

If convincing results are produced, excavation will begin in the Spring of 2016.

The decision by city authorities in Wałbrzych for the fieldwork to continue follows security checks by the army at the alleged site of the train, which lies off a railway route between Wałbrzych and Wrocław (both cities lay on German territory prior to and during WWII).

The first team cleared for the oncoming task includes the two men who originally put forward evidence that the train existed, Pole Piotr Koper and German Andreas Richter.

The pair submitted a claim in August with Wałbrzych authorities, calling for 10 percent of the value of their supposed find. Their renewed work will begin next week.

The second team is made up of specialists from the University of Science and Technology in Kraków.

Preliminary GPR evidence provided by Koper and Richter prompted Deputy Minister of Culture Piotr Żuchowski's to state in late August that it is“99 percent” certain that the train exists.

However, Minister of Culture Małgorzata Omilanowska duly distanced herself from Żuchowski's remarks.

Murky past

Claims that the train had been found this summer sparked a frenzy of interest, both within Poland and abroad.

As Germans fled the advancing Red Army at the end of the war, innumerable valuables – many of them looted - were shifted from across Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.

Tales regarding a hidden train have lingered since the war.

The theory is not without foundation, as the Nazis did create a series of underground chambers in the region from 1943 onwards, in an operation known as Project Riese.

The Soviets took Wałbrzych (then known as Waldenburg) on 8 May 1945. Poland's borders were moved west - as finalised two months later at the Potsdam Conference - and the city became Polish. (nh/rk)

Source: PAP