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British treasure hunters have been warned to steer clear of a village in the Netherlands, where they have been digging up gardens and public land for Nazi-looted riches.
Fifteen people received a police warning and 100, including Britons, were found with a shovel searching for World War II treasure in Ommeren, a town in Gelderland province.
Treasure hunters began their search after hundreds of documents were made public by the Dutch national archive after 75 years under official secrets law.
They included a government file on Nazi treasure and a hand-drawn map, with an X marked between Ommeren and Lienden.
Maps leading to a possible Nazi treasure in Ommeren are seen during the National Archives’ annual Open Access Day in The Hague, Netherlands, on January 3, 2023.
In the photo: a general view of a street in the Dutch town of Ommeren, the Netherlands
Pictured: Sheep in the Dutch village of Ommeren, the Netherlands
According to Dutch media, the map was sketched by Helmut Sonder, a furniture maker from Baden-Baden. He was in a German parachute regiment near the front line during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.
He said his brigade buried necklaces, watches, precious jewelry and money, stolen during the Battle of Arnhem in the Netherlands in 1944, next to a roadside poplar tree.
Such items were looted by the German occupation forces in the war, which inspired several movies, including Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“It’s like a children’s book,” said Annet Waalkens, freedom of information adviser at the national archive. The Telegraph. “They heard a rumor from a German soldier in Germany that there was a hidden treasure, they decided to investigate, and that’s the file we have, from 1946 to 1947,” he said.
‘When we found this record and the treasure map, we were amazed. The Dutch wondered if they could trust the map and its history, and they seemed to believe him.
Map showing where treasure hunters look
Pictured: Treasure maps of a possible Nazi treasure in Ommeren at the National Archives during the annual Open Access Day
A map leading to a possible Nazi treasure in Ommeren is photographed during the National Archives’ annual Open Access Day in The Hague.
The Dutch national archive has released several documents after 75 years under the official secrets law. They included a government file on Nazi treasure, a witness statement, and a hand-drawn map, with an X marked between Ommeren and Lienden.
The post-war Dutch Institute for Asset and Property Management thought the German soldier’s story seemed plausible, as he might have been cooperating to reduce a prison sentence.
Over the years there have been multiple searches for the loot, but nothing has been found.
In an attempt to find him, the Dutch state even brought a Nazi officer into the country to help with the search.
A dispute broke out last year between enthusiasts looking for Nazi gold and historians who said they were looking in the wrong place.
The Silesian Bridge Foundation had been digging in the grounds of an 18th-century palace in the Polish village of Minkowskie, where they believed £200 million in Nazi gold and other valuables stolen by Himmler’s SS were hidden.
It broke out after the foundation said the location was revealed in a war diary written by an SS officer at the end of World War II.
A general view of a street in the Dutch town of Ommeren, the Netherlands
Fifteen people received a police warning and 100, including Britons, were found with a shovel searching for World War II treasure in the village of Ommeren (pictured)
In the picture: Ommeren in the Netherlands. According to Dutch media, the map published by the Dutch national archive, with an X marked between Ommeren and Lienden, was sketched by Helmut Sonder, a furniture maker from Baden-Baden.
But historians whom the foundation “invited to verify” the paper said their analysis was “not entirely positive.”
Posting on Facebook, historians from a group called the Discoverer Magazine Exploration Group (GEMO) said: ‘Our most important finding is that the village of Minkowskie is NOT mentioned in the ‘War Diary’.
“This may be difficult for the Foundation, because it is the only place where their excavation work is taking place at the moment.”
Authorities have said the use of metal detectors or digging without a permit is not allowed, and discoveries must be reported.
Dutch police have spoken of the possibility of unexploded bombs, grenades and land mines being discovered.