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| Hot Time For The Nazis A hot reception was waiting for the Nazis as they entered the town of Vitebsk, Russia, when they found nothing but blazing buildings. 22/8/1941 |
The search for one of WWII's greatest missing treasures – an Amber Room worth £250million – could soon be over as treasure hunters say it may be inside a secret tunnel they've found in northeast Poland.
The room, built for Russian tsar Peter the Great in the 1700s and packed with amber, gold and precious jewels, was looted by the Nazis in 1941 and its contents mysteriously disappeared at the end of World War II.
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| Discovery: Treasures hunters hope that this hatch could lead them to the long-lost Amber Room looted by the Nazis in 1941. |
For decades, hunters have scoured Europe searching for the missing treasure without success.
But now, bosses at the Mamerki Bunker museum near the town of Wegorzewo say it could be hidden in a secret tunnel after finding a hidden entrance using geo-radar.
Bartlomiej Plebanczyk from the museum said: 'We can categorically say we've made a breakthrough in the search.
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| The hatch is currently obstructed by a tree - and government permission is required to move it |
'Thanks to the use of a professional geo-radar, we were able to determine the location of an underground tunnel.
'After digging up the place indicated by the device, we actually found a hatch, which has almost certainly not been opened since the war.'
He went on: 'Until the tree is cut down, there is no physical possibility of opening the entrance. The presence of a trunk proves that no one has opened the manhole for the last several decades.'
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| Breakthrough? This diagram shows how the hatch could lead to an underground shaft and tunnel, which researchers hope could lead them to the Amber Room |
Treasure hunters also need permission from the government before they can start digging, but the museum hopes this will be granted by the end of the month.
Rumours have long abounded that the site, which used to be the eastern headquarters of the German Army and close to Hitler's infamous Wolf's Lair, his first Eastern Front military headquarters, has been home to looted treasures, including the Amber Chamber.
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| The Amber Room (pictured in Russia in 1917), which was packed with amber, gold and precious jewels, was looted by the Nazis in 1941 and its contents mysteriously disappeared in 1945 |
The Nazis looted the room during their ill-fated invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
Upon their arrival at Catherine the Great's White Palace near St. Petersburg, they dismantled the room, putting the precious contents on a train to Koenigsberg Castle, in what was then East Prussia, now just two hours from the bunker.
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| The remains of the Amber Room after it was seized by the Nazis, who packed the amber panels in 27 crates and shipped them to Germany, where they vanished and have not been seen since |
In January 1945 it mysteriously disappeared after air raids and a savage ground assault on the city.
While some claimed it had been destroyed by bombs, others suggested the Nazis had spirited it away to safety.
Some purported witnesses reported seeing 40 wagons moving away from the castle under a cloak of secrecy after the city fell to the Red Army.
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| In 2003, Russia unveiled a reconstructed Amber Room that was made by Russian craftsmen with donations from Germany |
The search has been on ever since and bunker bosses now think they could finally have found it.
Plebanczyk said: 'Several dozen years have passed since the entrance was buried. At that time, on the original 1.5m x 1.5m plate, which closes the entrance, a tree has grown.
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| It was a gift from Friedrich-Wilhelm I of Prussia |
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| Gift: The room was built for Russian tsar Peter the Great in the 1700s and was packed with amber, gold and precious jewels |
He added that even if the tunnel does not lead to the Amber Chamber, it is possible to find historically valuable documents and more.
The original room was presented to Peter the Great in 1716 by the King of Prussia.
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| The room was initially a gift for Russian tsar Peter the Great |
Later, Catherine the Great commissioned a new generation of craftsmen to embellish the room and moved it from the Winter Palace in St Petersburg to her new summer abode in Tsarskoye Selo, outside the city.
'When the work was finished, in 1770, the room was dazzling,' wrote the art historians Konstantin Akinsha and Grigorii Kozlov.
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| Casualties of war: Inhabitants of Leningrad (now St Petersburg) flee after a German bomb attack in the winter of 1941 when the Nazis seized the Amber Room during their assault on the city |
'It was illuminated by 565 candles whose light was reflected in the warm gold surface of the amber and sparkled in the mirrors, gilt, and mosaics.'
In 2003, Russia unveiled a reconstructed Amber Room near St Petersburg, made by Russian craftsmen with donations from Germany.
