Search for multi-million dollar Nazi treasure in the Netherlands fails

The feverish search for an alleged million-dollar treasure that German soldiers would have buried in coffins in the Netherlands during the Second World War has ended without result. An association of historians in Ommeren, Gelderland, carried out excavations on Monday at a definitive location where the four boxes were suspected, public broadcaster NOS reports.

In August 1944, a bank in Arnhem was hit by a bomb, which hurled the contents of many safes. At that time, German soldiers are said to have collected jewelry, expensive watches and other valuables and buried them in coffins in Ommeren. The German Helmut Sonder from Baden-Baden testified in 1946 that he and his comrades had found the jewels. In his own words, Sonder, who was stationed in Arnhem at the time, and his comrades hid the treasure in ammunition boxes and buried it in the spring of 1945.

All this became known in January when the National Archives released an old sketched map with references to the hoard. This announcement sparked a real hunt for the suspected treasure, which is said to be worth millions of euros. The municipality of Ommeren then banned private searches and stopped people searching with metal detectors. The Association of Historians has now obtained a special permit to excavate in an area designated by an expert. But there was no trace of the boxes.

According to the file, the Dutch authorities ordered the search for the alleged treasure as early as 1946. Vain. Then Sonder was brought in to name the spot. On June 22, 1947, he himself dug the spade into the ground – but all he found was earth. He himself suspected that his former sergeant had secretly returned and retrieved the treasure. An international manhunt was unsuccessful.

Historians and authorities doubt whether the jewels are in Ommeren. Especially since no one had reported the loss of jewelry in nearly 80 years. (sda/dpa)