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A priceless treasure buried by a family fleeing World War II has been found 80 years later by the next generation.
The Glazewski family buried their silver and fled their property in eastern Poland in September 1939 after learning that the Russians were invading them.
Only Adam, the head of the family, was left behind to face the Russians, who drove him off his land and nearly executed him before his staff intervened.
Faced with a life under Soviet rule, her four children never returned to their home near Lviv – formerly part of Poland, now part of Ukraine – and settled around the world.
Now, 80 years later, Adam’s grandson Jan has finally rediscovered the family treasure using a treasure map hand-drawn by his father, Gustaw.
An amethyst cross (L) and the family’s ‘priceless’ silver collection, buried in 1939
A hand-drawn treasure map by Jan’s father shows the way back to the hidden silver and weapons.
Jan Glazewski where the treasure was recovered. A priceless treasure buried by a family fleeing WWII has been found 80 years later by the next generation
Mr Glazewski, 69, said: “My father was getting old and I was bugging him a bit, I said ‘please draw me a map, one day I might go to the farm and look for it.’
“He gave me that map in 1989, along with some instructions, and he drew it from memory 50 years after he left.”
Jan added: ‘The last sentence of these instructions said that you must find our silver and my hunting weapons.
“And when I read that, it was like a directive, and I got really excited because I had to fulfill this dream.”
Gustaw, who had settled in South Africa after fighting for the Allies in World War II, died in 1991.
That same year, Ukraine gained its independence, but it was another ten years before Khan made her first visit to the old family estate.
And it was only in 2019 that his search began.
It seemed like an ‘almost impossible task’.
Mr Glazewski, a retired professor of environmental law at the University of Cape Town, said: “It was a needle in a haystack situation.”
‘On this map, he drew where the original manor house was; By the way, it was destroyed by the Russians, but we found the foundations.
“But then there was a dotted line that crossed a cultivated field, today it is just bush, you have to walk about 100 meters and then go down a slope.
‘And then his instructions said ‘where the forest begins, you must dig for our silver.’
“And of course 80 years later, which is when I was there, you don’t know if the forest has receded or gone up the slope.”
There was also the possibility that the treasure had already been saved.
Jan said: ‘I thought ‘look, this is a bit like a wild goose chase’.
‘The people who worked there would have seen that all the money was taken away, they would have put two and two together.
They would have gone down the slope and found it.
Assisted by his niece, Layla, and two Ukrainian metal detectorists, they beat the odds.
A jeweler from the collection, which was buried underground near Lviv for 80 years.
A treasure stash jewelery box, which was buried with sentimental items and valuables after Russia invaded Poland in 1939.
The view of the Dniester river from the former Glazewski estate, mostly destroyed since then
The former home of the Glazewski family, an estate on the outskirts of Lviv, formerly the Polish city of Lvov
The four Glazewski brothers at the airport in Orly, France, during their meeting in 1967. From left to right, Gustaw, Konstntion, Ignacy and Andrzej
Jan instinctively felt that her father and uncles had not gone too far down the slope, where it became steeper and overgrown.
The metal detector proved him right by coming to life over the treasure.
“I was very, very excited,” he said.
Some of the items had been packed by Jan’s mother, who died when he was just seven years old and fled with Gustaw.
He said: ‘One of the things we took out was a jewelery box and inside were all kinds of trinkets.
‘And my niece said ‘those were probably packed by your mother; Those are your mother’s jewels.
“So here I was, playing things that she had packed up 80 years before. So it was very emotional for me.
There was even a christening spoon engraved with his father’s name and numerous artifacts with the initials of his grandmother, who died of Spanish flu in 1918.
The retired academic has been told the treasure is worth thousands of dollars.
But to him it is priceless, and he hopes some of the treasures will one day go on display in Ivano-Frankivsk, the closest city to the former family estate.
The winery (pictured) is all that remains of the former Glazewski family home 80 years later.
The treasure was found buried near the former estate, now mostly destroyed, in old Lvov.
“It’s hugely significant,” Mr. Glazewski said.
“It’s kind of the fulfillment of a life dream, as a little boy, to find the treasure.
But the most important thing is to fulfill a directive from my father.
‘And it has given me a great sense of satisfaction; I walk higher, I have more confidence.
The four Glazewski brothers never saw their father again, who died in Lviv in 1961.
They only saw each other once, meeting in France in 1967.
Jan himself nearly died before he could achieve his dream, being diagnosed with HIV after becoming infected with contaminated blood products while receiving treatment for hemophilia.
He tells his full story in his book, ‘Blood and Silver’, dubbed ‘a true story of survival and a son’s search for his family treasure’.